SPRINGFIELD — Despite the urging of Gov. George Ryan, state lawmakers failed to vote Monday on a proposal to rewrite and restore the Safe Neighborhoods Act into law. Key legislators worked throughout the day to forge a compromise that would allow a new version of the law to be passed. But Ryan, who called the special session after the Supreme Court threw out the original law on a technicality, would not budge from his insistence that the new law retain a... (GunPolicy.org)

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Ryan and Senate President James "Pate" Philip (R-Wood Dale) remained publicly at odds Monday on an anti-crime package, but behind-the-scenes talks on a possible legislative deal on guns edged forward. On the General Assembly's first day of a special session to re-enact the Safe Neighborhoods Act, Ryan and Philip continued to disagree over how harshly to punish people who have been charged with illegal possession of firearms. The issue has landed... (GunPolicy.org)

The besieged gun industry received some more good news, as a Florida state judge dismissed Miami-Dade County's lawsuit against handgun manufacturers. Yesterday's ruling by Circuit Court Judge Amy Dean in Miami followed a similar decision Friday by a Connecticut state judge, who dismissed a suit against the industry filed by Bridgeport, Conn. The industry has now succeeded in having three of the 19 suits filed against it by 28 cities and counties thrown out. Only one... (GunPolicy.org)

LOS ANGELES — The West's largest gun show is moving to Las Vegas from its longtime home at the Los Angeles County fairgrounds, even though a federal judge has temporarily blocked the county from enforcing an ordinance banning firearms sales on its property. Chad Seger, manager of the 31-year-old Great Western Gun Show, said Monday that shows at the Las Vegas Convention Center will begin March 31. A court injunction issued in September by U.S. District Judge Richard... (GunPolicy.org)

In a shift that troubles gun control supporters and divides police chiefs, Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona has forged ahead with a promise to ease restrictions on concealed weapon permits, boosting the number of licenses by more than half over the last year. As of early December, the Orange County Sheriff's Department had signed off on 482 concealed weapon permits, according to figures released Monday. That compares with 308 at the end of last year, when Sheriff Brad... (GunPolicy.org)

For Stephen Young and other parents of murder victims, this week's legislative special session to wrangle over the recently overturned 1994 Safe Neighborhoods Act is a matter of life and death. "It's not about politics," said Young, whose son, Andrew, died in 1996 in Evanston when a teenager randomly shot him with a black market gun in a gang initiation. "It's about people burying their children, husbands burying their wives." Young and a coalition of gun-control... (GunPolicy.org)