Gov. Bruce Rauner Vetoes Gun Dealer Licensing Bill

SPRINGFIELD, IL — The governor vetoed a gun dealer licensing bill Tuesday and called for legislative leaders to form a new bipartisan working group instead. The morning after dodging repeated questions from reporters in Chicago regarding whether he would sign a bill establishing a state-level licensing scheme for firearms dealers, Gov. Bruce Rauner broke the news in an interview with a Carbondale radio station.

On Monday, Rauner's only response to queries about whether he would be signing the bill – SB1657 – was to say he supported a "comprehensive solution."

On Tuesday, the governor told Tom Miller on WJPF-AM that he had come to a decision after studying the dynamics of the issue and speaking with experts.

"We've been doing a lot of homework, doing a lot of research on this," Rauner said. "I am vetoing that bill. I'm gonna veto the bill. It's just not right. It's unnecessary burdensome regulation."

The Gun Dealer Licensing Act would have made the roughly 2,700 gun shops get issued licenses from the state's Department of Financial and Professional Regulation for about $250 a year. The department, along with rifle associations and gun dealers, opposed the bill, saying it was ill-prepared and under-funded for such a venture.

"It's redundant on top of existing federal regulations. It's crushing to our small business owners and creates bureaucracy that really doesn't help keep our communities safer," he told WJPF.

Opponents of the bill emphasized the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives already regulates firearms dealers.

Supporters of the bill argued that the federal system is insufficient to regulate the state's gun shops and pointed to data indicating states that pass their own gun shop regulations lower their rates of gun crimes.

A Chicago Police Department 2017 report into illegal firearms recovered by cops recommended gun dealer licensing legislation at the state level to reduce the number of "crime guns."

The bill was sent to Rauner's desk Feb. 28 and the governor had another nearly six weeks to make a decision on whether to veto the bill before it became law. A spokesperson for the governor told reporters he would veto the bill Tuesday afternoon.

Rauner told WJPF he looked forward to coming up with other common sense measures to make schools safer, such as "highly trained, highly well armed security personnel at our schools that are very, very talented."

The governor's veto message said focusing only on guns "exaggerates the divide in society over constitutional rights" instead of building solutions on common ground. He suggested starting with getting guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.

“These are starting points that ought to bring us together for serious conversations about how to secure our schools, combat crime, and make everyone in Illinois safer,” Rauner said.

He disputed the suggestion that gun dealer licensing would reduce the amount of illegal guns used in crimes.

“We have ample proof that such narrowly focused legislative responses make for good political cover, but they do little to stop the illegal flow of guns into Illinois or prevent people from committing thousands of crimes in our state each year with illegal guns,” the governor said.

After vetoing the bill Tuesday afternoon, Rauner called on Democratic and Republican leaders in both state houses to each appoint four members to a new "Legislative Public Safety Group" to offer bipartisan solutions to problems of crime, mental health and school safety.

“Safety is not a partisan issue. It is an obligation, and we owe it to our citizens to come together to ensure their protection. I urge our legislators to join with me so we can get to work on this critical mission,” Rauner said.

» EARLIER: Governor Bruce Rauner Dodges Questions About Gun Dealer Bill

After Tuesday's veto announcement, the governor's opponents unanimously described it as a politically motivated move aimed at shoring up his conservative base ahead of next week's Republican primary in which he is being challenged by Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton.

"We will believe it when see it," said Ives spokeswoman Kathleen Murphy. She noted that Rauner had claimed he would veto a bill expanding state funding for abortion that he later signed and suggested the veto announcement was due to the threat posed by Ives' primary challenge.

"He'll betray conservatives again down the road. He does whatever he feels is politically expedient. That's why he's refused to answer the NRA candidate questionnaire," Murphy told Patch.

The National Rifle Association described the bill as an infringement upon Second Amendment rights.

"The bill Gov. Rauner vetoed today was a dramatic overreach designed specifically to close as many Illinois federally licensed firearm dealers as possible," NRA spokesman Lars Delseide said. "Punishing legitimate businesses for the criminal actions of others is exactly why communities continue to suffer as their elected officials are more worried about headlines instead of the real problem – actual criminals."

Chicago Mayor Raum Emanuel, who had sent a letter to the governor urging him to sign the bill, accused the governor of putting politics ahead of public safety and called Rauner's move "cruel."

"This veto is a slap in the face to crime victims, faith leaders and police who have pleaded with Governor Rauner to protect public safety by signing the Gun Dealer Licensing Act. This failure will be his legacy," Emanuel responded.

Democrats seeking to run against Rauner in November's election wasted no time issuing statements condemning his veto.

Frontrunner J.B. Pritzker called the gun shop licensing law a "commonsense bill" and said he intended to treat gun violence as a public health epidemic.

"High schoolers are leading a nationwide movement and parents in our state are demanding change, but Bruce Rauner has provided nothing but empty rhetoric and absent leadership," Pritzker said. "This is a governor who is telling children across the state that he cares more about winning his primary than doing his job to protect them."

State Sen. Daniel Biss, the only lawmaker in the race, aligned his legislative record with the bill.

"After weeks of waffling on this critical issue, carefully weighing political consequences in the absence of any moral conviction, Bruce Rauner has announced he’ll veto a bill I cosponsored to stem the flow of illegal guns in our communities," Biss said. "Instead of standing up to do what’s right, he’s putting his fealty to the NRA first, once again proving himself a coward incapable of governing."

Chris Kennedy, who has cited the firearm death of his father – as well as the son of running mate Ra Joy – on the campaign trail, called the veto "disgusting" and representative of Springfield's culture of political self-preservation.

"Students across Illinois will walk out of class tomorrow to protest this decision and urge our elected leaders to take action to prevent the next shooting. I stand with those students. Springfield has abandoned its leadership role in our state and it’s the students who are showing us the way forward," Kennedy said.

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