MARION, Ill. (WSIL) -- A bill to ban assault weapons in Illinois has a local gun shop worried about its future.
Among the latest changes to the house bill include keeping the legal age to own a gun to 18, increasing the magazine ban from 10 rounds to 12 and charge violators with a misdemeanor plus a fine.
Brian Norman, a worker at Pro & Indoor Gun Range in Marion, says this kind of bill could hurt gun shops across the state.
"Probably 75% of the guns in this store would be on that list," Norman said. "Most of the pistols here, they're semi automatics, have the capability of holding more. You don't have to have the clip, it has to be commercially available."
State Sen. Dale Fowler (R-Harrisburg) says fellow Republican senators introduced a new bill to counter the Democratic bill.
The Republican version of the bill eliminates the magazine ban and would not require owners of assault-style weapons to register their guns' serials numbers to Illinois State Police.
"There is movement in the right direction," Fowler said. "The way things stand there's nothing I can support about this legislation. I stand behind the law-abiding gun owners."
Gun owners like Kelly Bates, of Creal Springs, Illinois, agree with an assault weapons ban but only for those who present a danger to the public.
"They need to do better background checks on people but for the people who actually abide by the law I think they should be able to keep their guns," Bates said.
Norman plans to attend a town hall meeting next Tuesday at the Marion Cultural & Civic Center at 6pm to continue the discussion.
"They're trying to make us law-abiding citizens felons," Norman said. "It's a tough deal."
Lawmakers are expected to vote on the measure Monday night but that vote could be pushed to Tuesday which is the final day of the lame duck sessions. The new Illinois General Assembly will be sworn in on Wednesday.