State assault weapons ban moves ahead after Democratic deal and echoes of a child’s screams

Flowers sit on a curb near a child’s bicycle as members of the FBI’s Evidence Response Team Unit investigate in downtown Highland Park, one day after a gunman killed seven people and wounded dozens more by firing an AR-15-style rifle into the suburb’s Fourth of July parade. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file)

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois moved one step closer to banning the sale of assault weapons in the state — as the Illinois Senate on Monday approved legislation that would also halt the sale of large capacity magazines. 

Senators made several changes to the measure that cleared the Illinois House on Friday, and it must now go back to the Illinois House for concurrence.