Rauner Vetoes ‘Onerous’ Gun Dealer Licensing Bill

(Jim Bowen / Flickr)(Jim Bowen / Flickr)

A bill that would have placed more regulations on gun dealers goes down with the stroke of a pen in Springfield.

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Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday vetoed the bill known as the Gun Dealer Licensing Act, saying it created “onerous, duplicative bureaucracy that does little to improve public safety.”

The legislation would have required gun dealers to pay $1,000 for a five-year license, and would have required more employee training and videotaping in “critical areas” of the gun dealership.

Rauner says Illinois gun dealers are already licensed by the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. 

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called the move political.

“What I found disheartening was the governor kept saying he wanted to study the issue,” Emanuel said Tuesday. “When it became uncomfortable politically for him, he decided his study-hall time was over. And that’s absolutely wrong. This had nothing to do about studying, nothing to do about evaluating the merits. … Every issue he raised is somehow an issue the legislature, in a bipartisan fashion, addressed. This has everything to do with politics.”

“This has everything to do with politics,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday.“This has everything to do with politics,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday.

Supporters of the bill, which passed both bodies of the General Assembly a couple of weeks ago, say it would identify and eliminate straw purchasers who buy guns illegally, then sell them to criminals.

Follow Brandis Friedman on Twitter @BrandisFriedman


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