Today, the Illinois Senate voted 41-17 to override Governor Quinn’s veto, and they become the last state in the Union to allow civilians to carry firearms. This was a long, hard road for them, but the political maneuvering leaves Illinois residents with a problematic law.
The ball really got rolling with a 7th Circuit opinion last year, in which it was found that the state’s total ban on carry was unconstitutional. Attorney General Madigan was left in a delicate position. She could appeal the case to the Supreme Court, in which case Illinois would have likely suffered its third loss on 2nd Amendment issues (McDonald and Ezell were the other two). She applied for a stay and it was granted, but Wednesday would have been the cutoff. Had the legislature not passed a law, there would have been no statewide regulation on the carry of firearms, and Illinois would be like Arizona, Alaska, and Vermont. Continued...