Rauner Continues Playing Politics with Illinois Families’ Safety

Yesterday, Governor Bruce Rauner’s office quickly flip-flopped on whether the Governor even supported portions of his own public safety proposal. Rauner previously rewrote a gun safety bill in an effort “kill the bill,” so it was surprising to hear his criminal justice director tell legislators the Governor would be willing to drop the controversial items of his rewrite and sign stand-alone versions of his proposals:
“Rep. Will Guzzardi: So, what I’m asking you is to commit on behalf of the Governor’s office to enact a clean bill on a waiting period that the Governor’s office – on whose behalf you speak – admits will save the lives of Illinoisans without hanging it up on all these other provisions which are obviously very controversial. Is that a commitment that the Governor’s office can make to us today?
“David Risley (Governor’s Office): Let me put it this way, we’ve already prepared that bill. We would hope that it would reach the Governor’s desk with exactly the language that he has proposed in the amendatory veto, without limiting it as it was in the original bill to a certain class of firearms, of long guns. The Governor wants to extend it to all firearms and if that bill reaches his desk I would fully expect he would sign his own bill.”
Within hours Rauner’s office “walked back” his top aide’s claim. Rauner’s resistance to his own proposals is unsurprising – earlier this year, he vetoed another violence prevention bill and slammed bipartisan efforts to address his stated concerns with the legislation.
“Bruce Rauner is once again playing political games with the safety of Illinois’ families and children,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “And in the ultimate cynical move, Rauner will not commit to signing his own proposals. Did Rauner ever plan on signing violence prevention bills to protect families, or is this all a game to the failed governor?”

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