47th District rivals for state representative debate effectiveness of current gun laws

The effectiveness of current gun legislation in Illinois, including an assault weapons ban, was among the topics debated by Republican incumbent state Rep. Amy Grant of Wheaton and her crosstown Democratic challenger Jackie Williamson in a recent interview with the Daily Herald.

Grant is running for her third term in Springfield. The current race is a rematch from 2022.

Williamson said she supports the assault weapons ban as she doesn’t believe civilians need access to that level of firearms. She said strong Illinois gun laws leave little room for much more, but improvements are still achievable.

Grant said guns are always a controversial topic, which often makes difficult a rational assessment of the state’s situation.

“I sit on the (Judiciary-Criminal) committee and we talk a lot about crime and the crime rate in the state of Illinois,” she said. “Unfortunately, the most densely populated part of our state is Cook County, and we become very upset when things like Highland Park happen. That was a horrible thing that happened to Highland Park. But in the meantime, it happens every weekend in Chicago. And we need to stop just a knee-jerk reaction.”

Grant said her committee held a subject matter hearing on gun violence in which people came to voice their concerns, but such hearings aren’t intended to be an automatic pathway to legislation.

“And there were two mothers from bad areas in Cook County who said, ‘Wait a minute. This happens every weekend in our community,’” Grant said.

Williamson described her goals on the issue as identifying effective solutions and minimizing risks to law enforcement.

“I am going to listen to everybody who comes to me with a concern about gun violence,” Williamson said. “Two years ago, Rep. Grant hosted people from Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action in Springfield and she turned them away when they expressed their concerns. I think that’s unacceptable.”

She considers gun violence preventable and Illinois to be an example and potential partner for improvement of state laws in the Midwest until the federal government enacts something more sweeping than it has.

Grant believes Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should have kept the city’s contract with ShotSpotter, and said there is an epidemic of random gun violence across Cook County.

In contrast, Grant believes enforcement of gun laws in her own DuPage County are strong and effective.

“Criminals do not like to be caught here in (DuPage) County,” Grant said. “So we have to get the guns off the street. How they’re stolen and how these kids get them and why they decide to use them the way they do, I don’t have an answer for that.”

The 47th District covers all or parts of Bartlett, Carol Stream, Glen Ellyn, Lisle, Naperville, Warrenville, Wheaton and Winfield.