Both U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel have made calls for an assault weapons ban in the wake of the Newtown elementary school tragedy.

Durbin says there should be a ban on military-style assault weapons and large capacity magazine clips that contain hundreds of bullets. The lawmaker says such a ban would not be an affront to constitutional rights.

“I don’t buy it,” he said. “Military assault weapons are for military and police purposes, period.”

Meanwhile, Emanuel continued his campaign today to keep Illinois' assault weapons ban in place and also called for one at the national level. 

"It's time that we as a city have an assault weapons ban, it's time that we as a state have an assault weapons ban, it's time that we as a country have an assault weapons ban," the mayor said at a Chicago Police Department graduation earlier today. "And I would hope the leadership in Congress now will have a vote of conscience. It is time to have that vote." Emanuel worked with President Bill Clinton to get the federal assault weapons ban passed that expired back in 2004.

Last week, a federal appeals court struck down the state's assault weapons ban, giving state lawmakers 180 days to figure out a way to let people carry concealed weapons in the Illinois.