(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A legislative panel in Springfield has approved rules for how people cann register guns they owned prior to a state ban.
The vote by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules was along party lines and came despite an attempt by a Republican lawmaker to block permanent rules that many have found confusing, the Chicago Tribune reports.
State Rep. Ryan Spain, a Republican who co-chairs the panel said:
“I’m really quite frustrated that we could’ve approached this differently with a clear time frame and trying to resolve many of these issues much earlier on so that firearm owners throughout the state of Illinois trying to understand this very complicated and conflicting legislation, in many ways, could’ve had better guidance on what they need to do."
State Sen. Bill Cunningham, a Democrat who also serves on the committee, said he was satisfied by the number of changes made by the state police to their proposed rules before Tuesday’s vote, according to the Tribune.
The ban on so-called assault weapons has survived some legal challenges, but they are not over. State police said less than 30,000 Illinois owners have registered guns like some AR-15's that cannot be sold here now while more than 2 million residents have FOID cards.
However, it’s not clear how many of them own weapons covered by the ban.
Darren Bailey, a Republican congressional candidate from downstate who was defeated by Governor J.B. Pritzker in the 2022 governor’s race, has repeatedly stated that he will not comply with the new law.
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