MACON COUNTY, Ill. (WAND) – If you pawned an assault style weapon before January 10, 2023 you may have trouble getting it back. Guns provided to dealers to be sold on consignment before the same date fall into the same category.

State Representative Dan Caulkins, (R) Decatur, tells WAND News the new ban on the sale and purchase of assault style weapons in Illinois is creating a number of problems. If you pawned your gun and have now made all of your payments you can not legally get it back. If you had a gun on consignment to be sold by a dealer and want the gun back the dealer can’t legally return it to you.”

“Legally the government has the right to do that,” Caulkins said in Decatur this week. “Morally, I think it’s reprehensible.”

Dan Cooley at The Bullet Trap in Macon says he is hopeful a number of lawsuits against the state will help change the situation so guns can be returned to their owners. Cooley, Caulkins and other gun dealers in Macon County are filing a lawsuit in Decatur on Thursday.

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