Highland Park activists, survivors to rally in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Families from Highland Park and other Chicago-area communities are taking their fight against guns to Springfield Thursday.

Wednesday marked six months since a gunman opened fire during Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade – leaving seven people dead and dozens more injured.

At the Illinois State Capitol, activists and shooting survivors will call on lawmakers to pass the ‘Protect Illinois Communities Act.’

The sweeping gun control bill was introduced last month by Illinois State Representative Bob Morgan who was at Highland Park's Fourth of July parade last summer when gunfire erupted.  

His proposed legislation consists of four main parts. First, it would ban assault weapons across the state, along with large-capacity magazines and rapid-fire devices. It would crack down on gun trafficking, raise the legal age to purchase a gun to 21, and finally, extend the length of a Firearm Restraining Order (FRO) from 6 months to one year.

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Highland Park community member and Harvard graduate student, Rachel Jacoby, is helping to lead the charge.

"Every single person in Illinois deserves to live their life free from gun violence and there’s no one magical piece of legislation that’s going to completely solve the gun violence problem that we have in our state and country, but that doesn’t mean that we should stop trying," said Jacoby. "We’ve heard that some legislators have plans to go home and take the weekend off, but I think our message to them is gun violence doesn’t take a break, so neither should you."

The new Illinois General Assembly will be sworn-in next Wednesday, Jan. 11.

Hundreds of people are planning to join the rally Thursday in Springfield, including activists from Evanston and the South Side of Chicago.