CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Governor JB Pritzker was surrounded Thursday morning by anti-gun violence advocates at a West Side elementary school as he signed into law a bill that further regulates gun dealers in Illinois.
Governor Pritzker said the new law further regulating gun dealers is long overdue and should keep more illegal guns off the streets.
"The reason for it is to deter straw purchases so that we can prevent someone from buying a gun for someone else who is not legally allowed to own a gun," he said.
State Senator Don Harmon, who represents part of the West Side and West and Northwestern suburbs, introduced a version of the current bill in 2003.
"I can’t even imagine how many children we’ve lost in 16 years because of political dithering over whether or not we should do this," Harmon said.
Toward that end, Mayor Emanuel threw a dig at former Gov. Rauner while complimenting Governor Pritzker for signing the bill.
"While no law will stop all gun violence or bring back Tyesa or Tyler," she said, "this law will save lives."
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson acknowledges that criminals will try to find other ways to get illegal guns, but he says, "It’s always a concern that they’ll adapt to it but, they’re not smarter than us."
Supt. Johnson said Chicago police took off the street last year nearly 10,000 illegal handguns. He said that's more than one gun per hour for every hour of 2018.
The Illinois State Rifle Association said the new law is "another assault on our 2nd Amendment rights."
The organization plans to challenge the new law in court.
The new law would require gun shops to be licensed by the state of Illinois in addition to being licensed by the federal government. It would also require gun shops to have surveillance video systems, keep an electronic inventory of its guns, and to have its workers undergo training every year.
Governor Pritzker signed the law in the library of Ella Flagg Young Elementary School in the Austin neighborhood.
He said he has reached out to governors of neighboring states to see if they can work together to prevent illegal guns from crossing their borders.
The Governor also said he wants anti-violence groups, which saw state funding reduced under Governor Rauner, to start getting more money. Gov. Pritzker said those programs have been shown to work.