Illinois legislators are taking the lead of President Obama this week by proposing more measures to ensure gun control. The bill, which has yet to be named, will be reviewed by the State House sometime this week. The bill’s goal is to encourage better business practices by gun dealers and to keep guns out of the wrong hands. If passed, the bill would require gun stores to go further than the Federal Firearm License Holder (FFL) and force them to acquire a license from the state. Gun stores would also need to install surveillance equipment sufficient to videotape all gun sales and transactions, fill out new paperwork for each purchase, and to allow the Chicago Police Department to inspect and audit any gun store at any time.
Former Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords and coalition groups such as the Illinois Gun Violence Prevention Coalition support these efforts to stop gun violence.
“Gun trafficking and gun violence is a statewide problem that demands a statewide solution,” said Robin Lloyd, state legislative director of Americans for Responsible Solutions, Giffords’ national gun control PAC. “We hope that leaders from both sides of the aisle can come together to act/make Illinois safer.”
On the other hand, second amendment advocates believe the new bill proposal may be too severe. They state that the stricter gun laws disregard the rights of responsible gun owners. The new laws could also result in higher costs to gun store owners.
The Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) predicts, “A gun store’s additional overhead would add at least $100 to the cost of firearm purchased from a licensed retailer.” Nicole Rhim
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