FORSYTH - Several Republican state representatives from Central Illinois reiterated a sentiment they've long voiced: Illinois should have some manner of concealed-carry law for gun owners, and Chicago lawmakers are to blame for the lack of one.

State Reps. Adam Brown, Bill Mitchell and Chapin Rose gathered Thursday at Mitchell's office in Forsyth to announce their plan for a bill that would allow individual county boards to set their own rules regarding concealed carry. With a recent measure passed in Wisconsin, Illinois is now the only state in the country with no option for concealed carry.

They were quick to point out that they would prefer a statewide law, but a county-by-county option is, as Mitchell put it, "better than nothing."

National Rifle Association lobbyist Todd Vandermyde disagreed.

"We understand and are sympathetic to people who live outside the Chicago metropolitan area, and we feel the state is being dictated and run by the city of Chicago through the General Assembly. That said, our review of this bill is that it's a bad approach and not something that warrants our support," he said Thursday. "You could have 102 different rules in 102 different counties. The concept seems greatly unworkable, and it raises a lot more questions than problems it solves."