A law that was signed by Governor JB Pritzker to combat crime is actually hurting middle and lower class gun owners. This is the message that is being sent by State Representative Avery Bourne. The bill that was signed into law was the Firearm Dealer License Certification Act. This act created new, duplicative licensing costs and new regulations in an effort to prevent the selling of guns used in the commission of crimes. 

Bourne filed House Bill 5032 in an effort to amend the Firearm Dealer License Certification Act which not only hasn’t done a good job of preventing the selling of guns to criminals, it has hurt honest and hardworking gun store owners forcing many to close their doors.

Representative Bourne filed Bill 5032, calling the original legislation an extreme overreach into the constitutional right of Illinoisans. 

Representative Bourne says that once again we run into an issue where there are more laws on law-abiding citizens while people that don’t follow the law will continue to try to find ways around it.

The bill remains in House Speaker Madigan’s Rules Committee and has not yet been assigned to a substantive committee for a hearing.