It’s easy to forget that anti-gun states have pro-gun lawmakers in office. We look at New York or California and think of them as big bundles of gun control. We may accept pro-gun citizens, but the idea that there are enough to elect pro-gun legislators is a little harder to grasp.

In Illinois, some such lawmaker is trying to make a valiant stand against gun control in his state.

One bill would tax ammunition, another would have police scour the social media accounts of people seeking to legally buy guns, a third would ban some common firearms, even from law-abiding gun owners.

One state lawmaker said that people’s rights are being threatened by the aggressive anti-gun agenda.

State Rep. Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, has been ringing the alarm bell on social media, highlighting bills she says go too far. She said she’s taking a stand against another proposal that would register privately held guns with the government.

“It is a serious issue that we are going to have to fight and that probably will be passed and you’re going to find law-abiding citizens in Illinois all of a sudden overnight become criminals,” McCombie said.

One measure, Senate Bill 107, would prohibit a range of rifles, pistols and shotguns and require every such weapon in the state to be registered with the Illinois State Police. Owners would pay a $25 fee for registration. A person found in possession of one of the prohibited weapons without registration could face a Class 3 felony, which carries a prison sentence of up to five years and a $25,000 fine.

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State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said the stack of gun control bills filed by Democrats in a Democrat-dominated legislature with a Democratic governor is the most aggressive yet, and out of touch with the bill of rights.

“There are people elected here in the legislature who think that the Second Amendment apparently is not worth the paper it’s written on in their view in the way that they file these bills, and who would never ever suggest that we treat any of our other civil liberties in this manner,” Righter said. “The fact that they think this is the answer to the problem [of violence] is disconcerting in and of itself.”

Righter said the only way to curb violence in some parts of the state is to address the breakdown of the family structure and other societal problems.

I tend to agree with Righter on part of the issue. I don’t think that’s all of it, but I do think that’s a good start. Especially when you consider that the majority of mass shooters appear to come from single-parent households. Working to address that breakdown becomes a good thing for society as a whole.

One anti-gun lawmaker commented that some of the more aggressive bills aren’t going to pass, which may well be true, yet that doesn’t mean their introduction isn’t alarming. While lawmakers will occasionally introduce a bill they don’t think will go anywhere, none of these appear to be those kinds of bills. These are things people legitimately want, and that’s terrifying.

Luckily, there are lawmakers in Illinois willing to fight. The trick is to get enough of them to make a difference.