Illinois House Bill would further limit demonstrators at military funerals

Illinois has a law limiting how close protesters can get to military funeral services, but a local lawmaker wants to make it tougher on protesters.

State Representative Frank Mautino, a democrat from Spring Valley, is supporting a bill that would expand the prohibited protest area to one thousand feet from a funeral or service and ban protests one hour before and one hour after services.

The Let Them Rest in Peace law was created after members of the Westboro Baptist Church began using military funerals to promote their agenda while deliberately offending family and friends of the deceased.

As it stands, protesters are not allowed within 300 feet of a funeral site, during a service and for 30 minutes prior to and following a memorial service.

The bill needs to be heard by the House Judiciary-Criminal Committee.