The Illinois House Thursday night voted down a concealed carry plan backed by gun-rights activists. Legislators are under a court order to pass a law by early June that will allow people to carry guns in public.
Backers including Representative David Reis, who's from Willow Hill in southern Illinois, describe this plan as one of the strictest in the country. He says it's a measure whose time has come.
“The criminals are always going to have the guns, they don't have a FOID card, they don't have a background check. You're never going to be able to control them. You control 'em by having an armed society."
But opponents including legislators from Chicago say the measure did not do enough to punish people for carrying gun in restricted areas like on college campuses, or at bars. They also say more places like playgrounds should be off limits.
The vote came a day after a far more restrictive concealed carry measure failed by an even greater margin.