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Concealed Carry & Assault Weapons

Bloomberg.com

It could be months before anyone can actually bring a gun outside the home in Illinois under the state’s new concealed carry law.

But a separate provision of the law has already taken effect.  Beginning this weekend, communities will no longer have the ability to enact restrictions on assault weapons.

The law legislators passed for July 9 gave communities ten days to place local limits on the sale, possession, and transport of so-called “assault weapons.” 

Nicole Chen called that “ludicrous” and a decision that shouldn’t be left to the state.

“Communities should have the discussion amongst themselves that they live with every day and that they coexist with every day, they should have that discussion within their communities,” Chen said. 

Chen, a mother of two from Western Springs, began lobbying for gun-control following the Sandy Hook school shootings last December.

She said there’s the only reason assault weapons ban were addressed in the concealed carry law is because it’s good for the National Rifle Association.

Chen’s town, Western Springs, is in Cook County so it’s covered by the county’s existing, but newly expanded and tougher, ban on assault weapons.

But a vast majority of the local governments in Illinois did not take action within the ten-day window.

Advocates of that approach say it’s with good reason – they say gun control should be left to the state or federal government.