SPRINGFIELD – Chicago officials sparred Thursday with the National Rifle Association and more-conservative, downstate legislators over proposals being considered in the Illinois Legislature that would ban military-style assault weapons.

A two-hour House Judiciary Committee hearing on guns – its third in a week – produced virtually no common ground between the two sides in the decades-old debate over whether there is any reason for civilians to own semi-automatic guns capable of hosting high-capacity magazines.

“These weapons are designed for war, and these weapons are making their way underground to gangbangers and urban terrorists,” said Rep. Edward Acevedo, a Chicago Democrat sponsoring anti-assault-gun legislation. “Every one of us knows this isn’t going to happen any time soon. Don’t let the dysfunction in D.C. stop us from doing everything we can.”