ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – On his campaign site, State Senator Andrew Chesney (IL-45) holds a gun under his “Protecting Your 2nd Amendment Right” section.
“I hold concealed weapons permits in both Arizona and Illinois and am a Life Member of the NRA,” says Chesney on his webpage. After a ruling on Friday from a federal judge in Rockford, he – and any permit holders – could bring their guns onto buses and trains across the state.
“Bad people, that are doing bad things, don’t care what the law is,” says Sen. Chesney – criticizing what he calls the overreach of Illinois’ gun control. “Anybody could have a pistol at any time, and there’s not a law that can be written that will prevent that.”
According to the Republican, “bad people” will find a way to break the state’s gun restrictions; therefore, he isn’t surprised Judge Iain Johnston ruled part of the state’s concealed carry is unconstitutional.
That section revolves around public transit – whether Illinoisans can bring concealed weapons onto transportation like Rockford Mass Transit District, Metra and the CTA. The suit arrives from four Chicago-area residents, including one from DeKalb County.
In 2022, the group claimed Illinois’ concealed carry law prohibited them from self-defense on Chicago-area transit; concerned with the threat of prosecution for carrying concealed onto public transit.
On Tuesday, Governor J.B. Pritzker criticized the ruling as a “misunderstanding” of public safety: “The right to bear arms, it’s not the right to a shoulder-fired missile.”
Fellow democrat State Rep. Dave Vella (IL-68) worries what comes with guns on public transit. Invoking Monday’s mass shooting on Chicago’s CTA – leaving four dead –, the lawmaker believes things could have been worse with more firearms on board.
“Then when the other people pull their guns out and start shooting, other people can die,” says Rep. Vella. The Democrat also argues it’s unlikely for those with concealed carry to rise to the occasion in an emergency.
As a lawyer, Rep. Vella accuses Judge Johnston of “activism from the bench,” claiming, “Lawmakers write the laws. Judges interpret the laws. And the executive enforces the laws. This judge is trying to rewrite the laws.”
The lawmaker points to a conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court as expanding that activism as well. In 2022, New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen set a new standard for the Second Amendment – forcing laws to be “historically consistent.”
Sen. Chesney sees other laws infringing on constitutional rights, and hopes courts step in beyond Illinois’ concealed carry law: “We’re going to need the courts to to sort that out and what that looks like.”
The lawmakers expect an appeal from the defendants: Democratic Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Democratic State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Republican DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin.
Except for the four plaintiffs, Friday’s ruling doesn’t immediately change Illinois’ concealed carry laws.
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