Five DuPage House Republicans, including House GOP Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), voted Tuesday for a measure Illinois' independent local gun stores say would put them out of business.
Durkin, State Rep. Peter Breen (R- Glen Ellyn), State Rep. David Olsen (R-Downers Grove, State Rep. Christine Winger (R-Wood Dale), and State Rep. Patti Bellock (R-Hinsdale) voted for Senate Bill 337, which passed the Illinois House 65-49. Two other House members, Rep. Michael McAuliffe (R-Chicago) and Rep. Steven Andersson (R-Geneva) also voted for the measure.
It now moves to the State Senate.
The bill, aggressively opposed by all gun owner rights groups in Illinois, seeks to create a host of new state gun regulation boards, state regulations and licensing fees for Illinois' federally-licensed gun stores and their patrons.
Critics say the bill's backers, including sponsor State Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), a vocal advocate for not just gun regulations but also confiscation, want to use "onerous red tape and regulations" to shut down local gun stores.
“SB337 is designed to appeal to the hysterically uninformed and misinformed,” wrote Richard Pearson of the Illinois State Rifle Association, in an email to his members. “(The bill) is an attack on gun owners, dealers, distributors, wholesalers, and anyone else in the firearms industry that use and enjoy the Second Amendment.”
Four Democrats-- State Rep. Monica Bristow (D-Godfrey), State Rep. Natalie Finnie (D-Harrisburg), State Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Collinsville) and State Rep. Lawrence Walsh, Jr. (D-Joliet)-- voted with gun owner groups and against the measure.
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