Rex W Sims
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Sep 2005
Location: top of the hill in ILL.
Posts: 5695 |
**** them corrupt ILL. politicians.......
.FORSYTH - Several Republican state representatives from Central Illinois reiterated a sentiment they've long voiced: Illinois should have some manner of concealed-carry law for gun owners, and Chicago lawmakers are to blame for the lack of one.
State Reps. Adam Brown, Bill Mitchell and Chapin Rose gathered Thursday at Mitchell's office in Forsyth to announce their plan for a bill that would allow individual county boards to set their own rules regarding concealed carry. With a recent measure passed in Wisconsin, Illinois is now the only state in the country with no option for concealed carry.
They were quick to point out that they would prefer a statewide law, but a county-by-county option is, as Mitchell put it, "better than nothing."
National Rifle Association lobbyist Todd Vandermyde disagreed.
"We understand and are sympathetic to people who live outside the Chicago metropolitan area, and we feel the state is being dictated and run by the city of Chicago through the General Assembly. That said, our review of this bill is that it's a bad approach and not something that warrants our support," he said Thursday. "You could have 102 different rules in 102 different counties. The concept seems greatly unworkable, and it raises a lot more questions than problems it solves."
Rose, R-Mahomet, said his constituents are voicing frustration, with the turn of events in Wisconsin marking Illinois as the last holdout.
"Every time I walk into a coffee shop in downstate Illinois, I get asked, 'When are we going to get concealed carry?' " said Rose, a Charleston native. "I think people are just fed up that we're the last state that doesn't have some form of it. We're tired of being dictated to about how to live our lives by Chicago."
A recent measure that would have legalized concealed carry statewide failed to pass the Illinois House in May, garnering just a few votes shy of the three-fifths majority Democratic leaders said they needed to supersede home rule laws throughout the state, such as Chicago's stringent gun control laws. Republicans are calling into question why a simple majority was not enough to pass it.
"I believe families want an opportunity to protect families," said Brown, R-Decatur. "The push-back we've had is from Chicago legislators."
Speaking on behalf of Macon County Sheriff Thomas Schneider, who in a statement supported the measure, Lt. Tony Brown said Macon County sheriff's officers can't be everywhere at once.
"I believe (a lack of concealed carry) handicaps the law-abiding citizen," he said. "Criminals don't play by the rules."
The legislation is House Bill 3794.
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06-24-2011 04:21 PM
