Lake County Gazette

Marilyn Smolenski dreads that Senate Bill 107 is just the start of more anti-gun legislation to come.

“With having [Gov. J.B.] Pritzker in office along with a Democratic supermajority, I think we will definitely see more of a push for this kind of rigid and unfair legislation,” Smolenski, who designs a line of concealed-carry wear for women and previously ran for state representative in the 55th District, told the Lake County Gazette. “It’s something lawful gun owners will definitely have to keep an eye on.”

SB 107, which would ban so-called assault rifles, has already prompted an alert to all members from Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) executive president Richard A. Pearson.

“With the election of Gov. Pritzker and many new members of the Illinois General Assembly that ran on an anti-gun platform, we expected to see numerous anti-gun bills filed,” Pearson wrote about the bill introduced by longtime anti-gun advocate, Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield). “We are certain this will not be the last anti-gun measure we will see in the coming months from Sen. Morrison and other anti-gun members of the Illinois General Assembly.”

Smolenski said she believes SB 107 may be so overreaching that it’s actually unconstitutional.

“If this were to pass, it would lead to all kinds of quick court challenges,” she said. “On top of that, there would be a lot of pushback from Democrats in collar counties where anti-gun ban measures are extremely unpopular.”

Smolenski said she believes the measure would also directly hurt small business owners like herself.

“For someone like me who wants to be a strict and legal gun owner, a lot of these laws being put forward make it difficult and expensive to express your Second Amendment rights,” she said.