CHICAGO (WLS) -- An historic gun bill that would ban assault weapons in Illinois is running into trouble in the Senate Sunday night.
An amendment filed by the Senate president is now causing backlash in the House and the governor's office.
But what are the possible changes and the concerns being raised?
Senate President Don Harmon is causing a stir Sunday night with an amendment he filed to the assault weapons bill passed early Friday morning by the Illinois House.
The amendment removes language that would require current owners of assault weapons to report to the state police the serial numbers of the weapons they would be allowed to keep under a grandfather clause.
"Frankly, the amendment is taking away the real teeth to the bill. So an assault weapons ban that has no way of being enforced isn't really going to do very much," said Lauren Harper, the Illinois legislative lead with Moms Demand Action.
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The move also prompted harsh criticism from House Speaker Chris Welch, who helped the bill clear the House early Friday morning with his own amendments.
"I will not accept a watered-down version of legislation that falls unacceptably short of the comprehensive solutions that the people of this state deserve," Welch saying in a statement.
The governor along with the First Lady, were equally critical while, as they hosted an open house in the old State Capitol.
"The people of this state deserve a real assault weapons ban, one that has a real accounting of the weapons currently in circulation... and the current version in the Senate falls short," Governor JB Pritzker said.
"I don't believe we're gonna water it down. This is a critical issue that the governor of the House and the Senate Democrats all agree on. We just want to make sure the bill we put on the governor's desk is the best bill possible," Harmon said.
ALSO SEE: Illinois House passes assault weapons ban, advances to Senate
Gun safety advocates once again making the trek to Springfield, keeping up the full court press on lawmakers, with the historic legislation seeming so close to becoming reality.
"We've been speed dating senators going door to door and knocking on their doors and talking to them what we really need in the bill. We want to see serialization and registration put back into the bill," Harper said.
The group is also concerned the law effective date could be delayed allowing people time to stockpile weapons that would become illegal
The Senate is expected to make further modifications to its bill over the next day or two before bringing a final version to the floor for a vote. But if it does not go far enough, the needed approval from the House could be in jeopardy.
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January 08, 2023 at 05:51PM
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Illinois assault weapons ban 2023: Senate President Don Harmon getting backlash after filing amendment filed to historic gun bill - WLS-TV
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