Illinois governor Pat Quinn signed a stricter gun-control law Sunday that increases background checks to cover all gun purchases in the state and requires gun owners to report lost or stolen guns to police within 72 hours.
Quinn, a Democrat, said that before this law there was a loophole that made it easier to sell guns between private parties, which could be dangerous.
The law also states that buyers must have firearm owner’s identification cards, which they obtain from police by passing a screening of state criminal and mental health records. Sales or transfer of firearms between private parties has to follow the same protocol.
According to Reuters, Quinn tends to get more support about stricter gun-control in the cities over rural areas.
State Senator Kwame Raoul co-sponsored the bill.
We’re closing a loophole that can deter some of the gun traffickers from transferring guns to people that we know will do harm to others,” Raoul said, WGNTV reports. “It makes my officers safer and it makes our communities safer.”
The new law will go into effect Jan. 1, 2014.