Prairie State Wire

Seven Illinois House Republicans, including House GOP Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), recently voted for a measure Illinois' independent local gun stores say would put them out of business.

Durkin was joined by fellow state Reps. Peter Breen (R- Glen Ellyn),  David Olsen (R-Downers Grove, Christine Winger (R-Wood Dale), Michael McAuliffe (R-Chicago), Steve Andersson (R-Geneva) and Patti Bellock (R-Hinsdale) in voting for Senate Bill 337, which passed the Illinois House 65-49.

It now moves to the state Senate.

State Rep. Christine Winger (R-Wood Dale)

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 Reps. Monica Bristow (D-Godfrey), Natalie Finnie (D-Harrisburg), Jay Hoffman (D-Collinsville) and Lawrence Walsh, Jr. (D-Joliet) -- voted with gun owner groups and against the measure.