A gun store display is pictured in a file photo. (WTTW News)

Since the mass shooting at last year’s Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois has moved swiftly on gun control measures. The most controversial has been the ban on so-called assault weapons.

(WTTW News)

The Illinois State Rifle Association and other pro-2nd Amendment groups on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit claiming the ban “infringes on the rights of law-abiding citizens” to possess such firearms and extended magazines “for the defense of self and family and other lawful purposes.”

(WTTW News)

On Monday evening, the Illinois state Senate passed an assault weapons bill with some changes to the version passed by the House on Friday. The bill will now return to the House for a concurring vote before heading to the governor’s desk.

(WTTW News)
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Illinois legislators left Springfield a couple of weeks ago, but they’re already heading back. Here are some of the items on the docket.

Mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder, Colorado, have once again brought questions of gun control to the fore. One possibility with Democrats in power in Washington is a revival of a federal assault weapons ban. (WTTW News)

The last assault weapons ban expired in 2004, but a new study finds that had that ban remained in place, as many as 30 mass shootings could have been prevented. We speak with the study's lead author, Lori Ann Post, and Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association. 

(WTTW News)
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It’s been two years since an aggrieved worker at the Henry Pratt warehouse in suburban Aurora killed five people. Advocates for gun control say in that time, Illinois still hasn’t taken the necessary steps to fix problems with state firearms laws.