// a href = ./ //

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Illinois legislation allowing public possession of concealed guns has passed the House Judiciary Committee. It was a compromise backed by Speaker Michael Madigan.

The measure was endorsed Thursday 13-3 and goes to the full House Friday. It comes two weeks before a June 9 deadline set by a federal appeals court for Illinois to abandon its prohibition on the public possession of weapons.

The legislation would require the Illinois State Police to issue concealed carry permits to qualified gun owners. It's patterned on a bill introduced by gun-rights advocate Rep. Brandon Phelps, a southern Illinois Democrat.

But Madigan's version significantly adds places that would be off limits to guns. Those include mass transit - a must for violence-weary Chicago Democrats.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - An Illinois Senate proposal to allow the carrying of concealed weapons would let large cities add to the list of places considered off limits to guns.

Sen. Kwame Raoul told The Associated Press Tuesday he doesn't expect many cities to declare separate gun-free locales because there already are many statewide restrictions in the bill.

Lobbyist Todd Vandermyde says the National Rifle Association will oppose "any local control" on concealed carry. The local option would be limited to "home-rule units" - generally cities over 25,000 in population. Raoul's legislation includes a statewide gun prohibition in schools, liquor stores, stadiums, amusement parks and more.

Illinois has until June 9 to comply with a federal court order to enact a law allowing concealed guns in public.

CHICAGO (AP) - Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is proposing a county concealed-carry ordinance if lawmakers in Springfield can't come up with a statewide law.

A federal court has ruled Illinois' ban on the public possession of firearms is unconstitutional and gave the state until June 9 to come up with a concealed-carry law.

But the Chicago Sun-Times reports that Dart worries that if lawmakers don't come up with anything by then, it will be legal for anyone with a firearm owners' identification card to carry a gun anywhere, so he wants a countywide ordinance ready to go just in case.

The ordinance would give the sheriff the authority to approve and reject licenses to carry concealed firearms in the county and applicants would have to pay $300 fee for a license.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gov. Jay Nixon's administration says a Missouri House computer was used in an effort to access a secure website with the list of people who have a concealed weapons permit.

The Office of Administration filed an open records request to determine who did it. Spokeswoman Misti Preston said Friday the user tried unsuccessfully to view the list 23 times.

She says the website was accessed using log-in information that state officials previously provided to a federal agent. That agent told a Senate committee this week he wanted the list of permit holders for an investigation into Social Security fraud.

Preston says the log-in information was made public during the Senate's investigation but the data was removed from the website in March.

Missouri House officials were not immediately available for comment.

   JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Republican lawmakers are raising new questions about whether Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon's administration has tried to comply with the federal Real ID Act.

   Senators on Wednesday released a copy of a form letter sent in March 2010 by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to Nixon thanking him for his efforts to comply with Real ID.

   Nixon signed a 2009 state law prohibiting Missouri from taking steps intended to comply with the goals of the 2005 federal identity law, which sets stringent requirements for photo identification cards.

   Nixon has previously denied that Missouri is trying to implement Real ID. His administration reasserted Wednesday that it's not complying with Real ID and said the letter is meaningless. It distributed similar form letters sent to governors in several other states.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Missouri House has passed a bill that would allow county sheriffs to issue concealed weapons permits instead of the Revenue Department.

Missouri sheriffs already have the responsibility of receiving concealed-carry applications, reviewing applicants' backgrounds and issuing paper permits. But under current law, recipients take the paper permits to a local licensing office overseen by the Department of Revenue to receive a photo ID card noting their concealed-carry status.

Republican lawmakers want to allow sheriffs to print the permits after learning the Revenue Department compiled a list of concealed weapons permit holders to share with a federal agent at the Social Security Administration.

The measure passed 123-34 Monday. It would also allow designated school personnel to carry concealed weapons in schools buildings. It now heads to the Senate.

   SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is holding fast to his position that legislation calling for the carrying of concealed weapons should allow city governments to decide their own standards.

   But the Democratic governor's preference goes against lawmakers, who have given such ideas a chilly reception.

   The General Assembly has until June 9 to end Illinois' last-in-the-nation ban on concealed carry because of a federal appeals court ruling.

   Quinn wants larger cities such as Chicago to be able to set up their own standards for gun-toting citizens.

   Gun-rights advocates say that would create a confusing "patchwork" of laws and put gun owners in jeopardy.

   A plan in the Senate would give Chicago-area police the ability to deny gun permits. Gun owners and Republicans are cool to the idea.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri senator says a subpoena has been issued to a federal investigator who sought a list of Missouri concealed gun permit holders.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer said the Senate issued a subpoena Friday to Special Agent Keith Schilb of the Office of Inspector General in the federal Social Security Administration. Schaefer scheduled a committee meeting next Wednesday to hear from Schilb.

An official at the Social Security Administration did not immediately respond Friday to a question from The Association Press about whether Schilb had received the subpoena and planned to testify.

Republican lawmakers have raised concerns that a list of concealed gun permit holders was twice provided to Social Security fraud investigators. The agency says a computer disk never was read and was destroyed.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A key Illinois senator says legislation allowing public gun possession will carve out an exception for Chicago.

Republican Senator Tim Bivins says the measure he and Democratic Senator Kwame Raoul negotiated would allow Cook County authorities to deny a concealed carry permit even if an applicant passes the required background checks.

The former county sheriff from Dixon says the rest of the state would be governed by a so-called "shall issue" law — anyone meeting requirements would get a carry permit.

Bivins says the bill is being written. He says it's not ideal but gun-rights advocates have to compromise.

A federal court has ordered Illinois to adopt a concealed carry law by June 9th.

A statewide "shall issue" bill failed Thursday in the House.

   SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The Illinois House has defeated a proposal allowing the carrying of concealed guns in public.

   The vote of 64-45 in favor of the bill failed because it needed 71 votes. A super-majority was necessary because the law would preempt the home-rule powers of several cities.

   The legislation sponsored by Democratic Rep. Brandon Phelps of Harrisburg would have required authorities to issue concealed-carry permits to anyone who passed background checks.

   Phelps used a legislative procedure that will allow him to recall the bill later for another vote.

   Illinois is the only state in the nation that prohibits possessing guns in public. A federal appeals court in December ruled the law unconstitutional and gave Illinois until June to adopt a new law.