"Following a weekend of horrific violence in Chicago in which at least 70 people were shot and 12 killed, this was the wrong move for public safety in Illinois," Democratic Governor Jim Quinn noted as lawmakers overturned his veto to allow Illinois to become the last state in the US to allow residents to carry concealed handguns. As the BBC reports [3], the governor warned that the new law will allow people to carry guns in pubs and bars (and carry virtual arsenals on their persons), we suspect, if Chi-raq (the slang for the anarchic gang-ridden areas of Chicago) is any example, that this is already occurring en masse in a wide population of the state. Gun rights proponents, meanwhile, celebrated, "this is a historic, significant day for law-abiding gun owners, they finally get to exercise their Second Amendment rights."
Via BBC [3],
Illinois has become the last state in the US to allow residents to carry concealed handguns, after lawmakers overrode the governor's veto.
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Mr Quinn vigorously opposed a concealed carry law, but the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal.
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On Tuesday, legislators in the House and Senate easily mustered a two-thirds majority needed to override Mr Quinn's veto, barely beating the court deadline.
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"Following a weekend of horrific violence in Chicago in which at least 70 people were shot and 12 killed, this was the wrong move for public safety in Illinois," Mr Quinn said in a statement after the vote.
He said legislators had "surrendered" to the National Rifle Association, a powerful gun rights lobby funded in part by weapons manufacturers.
He warned the new law would allow people to carry guns in pubs and bars, and allow people to carry virtual arsenals on their persons.
Gun rights proponents, meanwhile, celebrated.
"This is a historic, significant day for law-abiding gun owners,'' Representative Brandon Harris, a southern Illinois Democrat said, according to the Associated Press.
Referring to the clause in the US constitution that refers to gun ownership, he said, "They finally get to exercise their Second Amendment rights."