The state of Illinois didn’t think gun dealers had enough of a headache to deal with. I mean, they’re already licensed by the federal government and have a mountain of paperwork to maintain because of that, but nope, not enough.

So these brainiacs decided it was in people’s best interest to make these dealers get licensed again, this time through the state.

The measure was met with the kind of remarks you’d expect. It’s hard to imagine anyone thinking this was a viable idea.

Now, Democrats in the Land of Lincoln are admitting defeat…for now.

Wednesday was the final day for the Senate to hold a vote to muscle through SB 1657 to the House for concurrence. Rauner had rejected the legislation saying it would add “a largely duplicative state level of licensing and regulation” to the already existing federal oversight on legal gun dealers without improving public safety. Supporters of the bill, who argued adding more regulation to gun shops would take weapons off Chicago’s streets, feel they had the numbers in the Senate to make a move, but couldn’t say the same about the House.

“While I am confident that I had the votes in the Senate to override the veto, I could not assure my colleagues that the House would vote against the governor, particularly given his vociferous and unreasonable opposition to this measure,” said state Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, who went on to say that he was reintroducing the measure as an amendment to another bill to keep it alive.

“Licensing gun dealers at the state level is a sensible step to reduce gun violence, and I will not give up. I am sure we will enact this measure – under this administration or the next,” Harmon said.

Of course, no one could illustrate how such a thing would reduce gun violence. After all, gun dealers are already licensed by the federal government via the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. They have to adhere to numerous regulations, and failing to follow even a single one to the letter can not only result in losing the license, but could land the dealer in prison.

But that wasn’t enough for Harmon. Oh no. He figured the state needed to get in on that action, too. He fails to understand that the people he needs to be worried about are those who are breaking the law to obtain their firearms in the first place. They’re either using straw buys–which dealers are already on the lookout for as it is–or they’re buying straight off the black market. Last time I checked, black market gun dealers weren’t interested in getting licensed.

In other words, this is nothing more than an anti-gun politician trying to make a name for himself by making life difficult for the law-abiding rather than dealing with anything even approaching the real problem.

It’s a good thing this measure is dead. Now, it needs to stay dead.