Illinois Legalizes Concealed Carry; Local Residents React

Locally, State Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, voted in favor of overriding the veto. State Rep. Sam Yingling, D-Round Lake Park, voted against the measure. 

To see the House's full roll call on the concealed carry vote, click here. For the Senate vote, click here.

The new legislation requires a background check and 16 hours of firearms training to purchase a $150 five-year concealed-carry license; as a "shall-issue" law, Illinois State Police must grant the license to anyone with those credentials.

Illinois faced a Tuesday deadline to adopt a concealed-carry provision after a federal appeals court ruled in December 2012that the state's ban on concealed-carry was unconstitutional.

A law was approved on June 1 by the state Senate, but Gov. Quinn refused to sign it July 2 without several amendments, including limiting carriers to a single firearm with a limited magazine and banning guns from any establishment serving alcohol.

The override vote returns the law to its original form passed in June, which has fewer restrictions, but does include several prohibitions against carrying in certain places like bars, schools and government buildings.

Senators did approve three of Quinn's smaller changes in a separate bill, such as mandating carriers to declare to police that they are possessing a concealed weapon, the Chicago Tribune said. (As of this writing, the House had not yet voted on that bill.)

It was unclear exactly what the consequences would have been if a measure had failed to pass by Tuesday. Many gun-rights advocates said it would result in zero-restriction concealed carry, while gun-control advocates said local governments could start making their own superseding laws.

The Illinois State Police now have 180 days to develop a concealed-carry licensing program, and 60 days to license instructors and training courses, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Local residents sounded off Tuesday on the Grayslake Patch Facebook page regarding the concealed carry law.

"The safest countries in the world are the ones with the fewest guns...not that we can go back to a time of so few guns, but it'll be a good day in America when our lawmakers and citizens finally figure out that gun access correlates with more innocent lives lost," said Amy Burke Shriberg on the Grayslake Patch Facebook page. 

Others were happy to have concealed carry in Illinois. 

"I think it is our right to carry a gun for protection and I am glad it passed, killers are going to kill no matter how they do it and they don't care if guns are legal or not, they get them illegally anyway and carry them illegally, now us law abiding citizens can carry and protect ourselves and others," said Donna Turner Voss on the Grayslake Patch Facebook page.