The Illinois General Assembly postponed the discussion of two recent pieces of gun control legislation as the lame-duck session ended Tuesday.

Action was not taken on the bills because there may not have been enough votes to pass them on the senate floor once out of committee, said Mary Shaw, spokeswoman for state Sen. Tony Munoz, D-Chicago, a supporter of the bills. Although both bills advanced through the Public Health Committee of the Illinois Senate on Jan. 2, the bills were not discussed during last Sunday’s House judiciary committee meeting.

One proposal would ban the possession, delivery, sale and purchase of semiautomatic assault weapons, while the second would ban the use of high-capacity magazines that carry more than 10 rounds of ammunition. If made into law, both bills would go into affect Jan. 1, 2014. Those who already have the weapons would legally be able to keep them.

Both Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel endorsed the proposals in statements made Jan. 2, when the politicians thanked the senators who sponsored the bills, among them Munoz and state Sen. Dan Kotowski, D-33.

Both politicians also urged the senate to discuss the legislation quickly and pass the bills into law.

“As I have repeatedly made clear, there is no place in Illinois for weapons designed to rapidly fire at human targets at close range,” Quinn said.

Kotowski said he supports the proposed bans because there is a need to “pass measures like these to limit the damage and hold the gun industry accountable.”

Those in opposition to the bills have also publicly communicated their views concerning the bills.

The Illinois State Rifle Association kept members aware of the bills’ statuses on its website in the past week. The association also urged followers to vocalize their opposition to local representatives and senators, with executive director Richard Pearson calling the bills a “pending attack on your Second Amendment rights” in a statement from Jan. 4.

Pearson could not be reached for further comment.

The bill will likely affect the firearms business in the state. Dave Costley, owner of Dave’s Firearms in Urbana, said he sells the types of firearms legislators want to ban. He said the profits from these firearms now make up 70 percent of his business, up from 4 percent before the bans were proposed.

“People are going to buy them before they’re outlawed and banned,” Costley said.

He said lawmakers are also perceiving mass casualties as a firearms problem when it should be dealt with as a mental health problem.

“I have probably several hundred regular customers, and not one of them has ever been convicted of a felony or used a firearm in the act of a crime,” Costley said. “Let’s put a little more emphasis on the mental health rather than beat on my customers.”

Mark Rozinsky, junior in LAS, holds a Firearm Owner’s Identification, which allows him to legally purchase firearms in the state. Although he doesn’t currently own any firearms, he does hunt occasionally said he is “on the fence” about the bills.

“I am pro-guns,” he said. “I think that people should be able to have their guns. I feel like we don’t need those kind of weapons in our households, but we also have the need to protect ourselves from any sort of situation that may arise. Whether that requires a high-caliber weapon, I’m not sure.”

Rozinsky also said he thinks the bills are emotionally charged as a result of the recent shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Conn., last month.

“My fear is that this is an emotional time for anyone,” Rozinsky said. “When people are in fear of something, it’s easy for the government to take control and push forward bills that may or may not benefit the country.”

But Shaw said the bills were not advanced because of the recent shooting, saying gun-control legislation has been on-going for years.

Kotowski said it is possible that further discussion and debate regarding the issues will occur in the current session by the newly sworn-in 98th Illinois General Assembly.

“I think we’re going to see similar legislation,” he said. “You’re going to see measures that will rein in the excess and irresponsibility of the gun industry.”

An exact date for the next discussion about gun control has not been set. Both Shaw and Kotowski said there is a possibility for the issue to be discussed in the session of the 98th Illinois General Assembly.

Emma can be reached at [email protected].

Carina Lee contributed to this report.