Jury selection in the trial of Emonte Morgan is set to begin Monday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building — more than two and a half years after he allegedly shot and killed the 29-year-old police officer.
Guns
It is the latest sports celebration in the U.S. marred by gun violence, following a shooting last year in downtown Denver after the Nuggets’ winning an NBA championship that injured several people, and gunfire last year at a parking lot near the Texas Rangers’ World Series championship parade.
Illinois’ assault weapons ban passed after a July 4, 2022, mass shooting in suburban Highland Park. The law banned the sale of AR-15s and scores of other guns beginning in January 2023. People who previously owned guns subject to the law are allowed to keep them, but the weapons must be registered.
From 2008 to 2017, about $12 million in federal research awards were granted to study pediatric firearm mortality each year – about $600 per life lost, according to a study published in Health Affairs. Motor vehicle crashes, the leading cause of death among children at the time, received about $26,000 of research funding per death.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the ban on the sale, possession and manufacture of a long list of firearms, high-capacity magazines and certain accessories in January 2023. State Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, quickly challenged it.
“Without this law, Illinois is putting targets on the backs of domestic violence survivors,” said Yolanda Androzzo, the director of the gun control advocacy group One Aim Illinois.
The law, named the Protecting Illinois Communities Act (PICA), has banned the sale of hundreds of specific guns and types of guns since Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed it in early 2023.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied to take up a petition filed by state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, that sought to overturn a ruling on a related case he’d brought before the Illinois Supreme Court.
National data from the FBI covering January to September 2023 showed an 8.2% drop in all violent crime, including a 15.6% drop in murders, compared to the same period in 2022. These declines were seen in cities over 1 million people and those under 10,000, and across all four regional quadrants of the US.
Chicago elected a new mayor, Illinois banned so-called assault weapons and the Boss played at Wrigley Field. Here’s what people were reading in 2023.
The law prohibits the possession, manufacture or sale of semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines. It takes effect Jan. 1.
The story of one Indiana store demonstrates how the more than 60,000 gun retailers in America have little financial incentive to say no to questionable buyers and face limited penalties for failing to prevent illegal transactions.
Firearm owners in Illinois will have to wait at least another month before knowing exactly what items they must register with the Illinois State Police under the state’s assault weapons ban, even as the deadline for submitting those registrations is less than three weeks away.
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday that people may obtain records about their own Firearm Owners Identification cards, but they may not use the state’s Freedom of Information Act to do so.
“In cities like Chicago dealing with the constant drumbeat of gun violence, it has turned these public health officials into battlefield experts,” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said. “They’ve seen the aftermath of bullets tearing through bone like it’s tissue paper.”
Since the Protect Illinois Communities Act became law in early 2023, the sale of numerous types of guns, cartridges and accessories has been illegal in Illinois. People who owned the covered guns prior to the law can keep them but are required to register them with the state.
