McHenry Times

After a heated debate between GOP and Democratic lawmakers last week in the House regarding gun dealer licensing, the bill was pulled from a vote until the legislation's language was clarified.

Though it eventually passed, SB1657, sponsored by Rep. Kathleen Willis (D-Addison), sparked controversy involving Reps. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee), Steven Andersson (R-Geneva) and Steven Reick (R-Woodstock) regarding the proposed gun dealer restrictions that will require a $1,000 license every five years, videotaping of firearm owners identification (FOID) card purchases and background checks for employees who sell firearms.

Willis said the bill would offer gun dealers more structure and strengthen better business practices, but the three GOP peers questioned whether the legislation could create issues for gun-related commerce throughout the state.   

“This is not a knee-jerk reaction,” Willis said during the debate. “In fact, this has been in the Senate for over a decade.”

Andersson asked Willis if her bill would affect the purchase, age, waiting period or type of firearm requirements that are now in effect, to which Willis said no. He then cited the Second Amendment and landmark case District of Columbia v. Heller that ruled the U.S. Constitution protects an American’s right to own a firearm.

“This bill is not impacting our Second Amendment rights,” Andersson said, adding many gun advocates would disagree with him and it is not a constitutional debate, rather a policy discussion that Illinois needs to have.

“We can’t simply rely on the federal law and federal structure to protect our state,” Andersson said. “Doing nothing is no longer an option.”

While Anderson saw the legislation as positive, Skillicorn questioned the bias shown to big-box commerce compared to small mom-and-pop business in the bill.

“The stores that do not do gun business, the stores that have minimum wage clerks like Wal-Marts and Targets that sell guns are going to be excluded,” Skillicorn said. “This not right and why should we exclude them if it is so important?”

Skillicorn said the legislation was not a gun bill or safety bill, it is an anti-small business bill and the last thing lawmakers “should be doing in Illinois is trying to drive out small businesses.”

Reick’s debate became so heated that Willis agreed to pull the bill until the Senate trailer legislation meets posting requirements. He argued the new gun licensing would require the state to conduct heavy audits and businesses with less than 20 percent gun sales would be exempt from review.

“I have been getting kick-back that if we make the fees too high we are going to hurt the mom-and-pop shops so, therefore, I took that into consideration and we put through the trailer bill that we will be seeing within the hour and that is the intent of making it more affordable,” Willis said.

“So basically what you are saying is that you are doing a sort of random choosing to who and who is not subject to audit meaning a whole bunch of guns shops are going to fall through the cracks, therefore, frustrating the intention of your bill,” Reick said, adding again Illinois cannot afford to perform the audits.

“You cannot put a price on safety of our citizens,” said Willis, who pulled herself and the vote out of the debate until the trailer bill was posted. 

When the bill came back up for vote, it was approved by the House and sent to the governor's desk.