Springfield’s unwritten rule kept lawmakers from banning assault weapons

Diego Costales and his two daughters, 13-year-old Camila and 10-year-old Sofia, of Mount Prospect, hold signs calling for gun control measures in downtown Highland Park one day after a gunman opened fire on the suburb’s Fourth of July parade. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

There’s been sort of an unwritten rule the past several years in Springfield to stay away from doing things like ban assault weapons.

The votes to pass one have seemingly been there in both chambers, but the will of past Democratic leadership seemed to be to not overtly poke any big, cash-rich bears, like the National Rifle Association, or to alienate or electorally imperil conservative members of their Democratic caucuses.