ROSCOE, Ill. (WTVO) — A gun store in Roscoe, Illinois, is the latest dealer to raise concerns over a proposed “assault weapons” ban that would see several types of guns pulled from his shelves.

Brad Miller, who runs FlashPoint Firearms, says not only does he believe House Bill 5855 is unconstitutional, it could devastate the state’s gun industry.

Miller says the bill, called the “Protect Illinois Communities Act,” considers the majority of the guns he sells at his shop as “assault weapons,” a term he says continues to be used incorrectly.

“Assault is an action,” Miller said. “A weapon is an inanimate object, guns mainly because that’s what we’re talking about, right? Anything can be an assault weapon—a hammer, a screwdriver, an ax. Assault is an action. And these weapons are nothing more than tools and recreational items.”

Arguably, Miller says, a fully automatic machine gun used primarily by the military is the only weapon that should be considered an “assault weapon.”

Machine guns fire bursts of bullets with a single pull of the trigger. However, fully automatic weapons are already banned for the most part. Owning a machine gun requires a federal permit that are only issued to certain people, are extremely expensive, and only cover guns made before 1986.

The proposed Illinois law, Miller says, lumps all semiautomatic weapons in with machine guns, which he says has never been a fair comparison. Even AR-15s, he said, are not the same as machine guns.

“The AR-15s that we sell here legally, as of right now, are not assault weapons in a sense,” he said. “They may look like it, but they’re not. It’s one trigger pull, and one round comes out of the gun.”

Classifications aside, Miller says House Bill 5855 would make some standard handguns and long guns used for hunting and skeet shooting illegal in Illinois.

“It’s pretty much any semiautomatic weapon.” he said, “So all of your standard pistols, even revolvers, because there’s double single-action revolvers.”

Filed by state Rep. Bob Morgan, a Democrat from Deerfield, House Bill 5855 raises the age limit from to apply for a FOID card from 18 to 21 unless an applicant is in the military, and bans all guns and magazines that hold 10 or more rounds.

The bill lists 100 different types of guns and brands as assault weapons, including more than 20 pistols. People who own any of the guns on the banned list would have 300 days to register each gun with the Illinois State Police and pay a fee. Those owners could keep their existing guns, but would not be permitted to sell them in Illinois.

Miller said he’s glad guns purchased before the law is enacted would be exempt. But he says he still believes if House Bill 5855 passes and Gov. JB Pritzker signs it, the only people who will come out ahead are criminals—illegal gun owners who will continue using any type of weapon they can get their hands on. That he says, prevents law-abiding citizens from defending themselves.

“I need to be as well armed, if not better, than the criminals,” he said. “Because criminals are still going to have 30-round magazines. Criminals are still going to have AR-15s.”

Miller says he isn’t blind to mass shootings and other gun crimes in the state. He says something needs to be done. But he says disarming the public isn’t the answer. He says although arrests are being made, too many violent offenders are able to plea their way out of serious prison time.

“There’s needs to be stricter punishment for the crimes, plain and simple,” he said. “Keep the people locked up that are committing these crimes.”

FlashPoint is one of several gun shops to speak out against Morgan’s bill. Miller says unlike other shops in the state, he’s not taken any steps to file lawsuits if the bill become law. But he says he would join whatever effort necessary to stop the legislation.

“I will sign every petition I can to get this knocked out,” Miller said. “But, the problem with Illinois is, it’s such a heavily Democratic state and there’s so many Democrats that are against legal gun owners owning firearms. For whatever reason, they think that we’re the problem.”

Morgan, who witnessed the mass shooting in Highland Park last Fourth of July, says the ban is way to make a hard stop against gun violence.

“My community is still reeling from the Highland Park mass shooting,” Morgan said at a recent hearing about the proposal. “Communities across Illinois are suffering from the rampant gun violence in their own neighborhoods. Today is the day we all stand together and say enough is enough.”

Morgan hopes to pass the measure in early January. A final hearing about House Bill 5855 is scheduled for Tuesday in Springfield. Pritzker has voiced support for the proposal.