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Illinois House members vote on assault weapon regulations

By WEEK Producer
March 5, 2013 Updated Mar 5, 2013 at 11:22 PM CDT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Illinois House members voted Tuesday to approve half a dozen regulations on assault weapons, but the votes are not final.

The House approved three separate definitions of what constitutes an "assault weapon".

In one heated exchange, State Representative Dennis Reboletti accused Democrats of not following House procedure and using the assault weapons issue for political purposes.

"I didn't hear any testimony in Judiciary from the Chicago Police Department regarding what guns have been major problems," said Reboletti, (R) 46th District. "I do know they said less than 3 percent of crime they investigated, the homicides, dealt with assault weapons. At the end of the day, this is not about public safety. This is all about politics."

"These are human lives," said State Representative Edward Acevedo, (D) 2nd District. "Yes, the gang issues are correct. The drug dealers, yes, that's correct. What about the people in Aurora? What about the kids in Sandy Hook?"

Most Republicans did not vote on the amendments to the assault weapons ban and House members still need to vote on the entire proposal as a whole.

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