The Illinois General Assembly Monday overruled Gov. Pat Quinn’s veto and approved the state’s new concealed-carry law.

Illinois passed its law two years after Wisconsin became the 49th state to legalize concealed-carry, and on the same day as a deadline from a federal judge that said that banning concealed-carry is unconstitutional. The Chicago Tribune reports:

While gun owners may have questions about how soon they’ll be able to carry guns in public, other state residents may also have questions about where they can expect to find people armed with deadly weapons.

The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto has an answer for those “other state residents”:

That’s an easy one to answer: You can expect to find people armed with deadly weapons in just about any dodgy Chicago neighborhood.

Taranto’s proof comes from the Associated Press …

Some lawmakers feared failure to pass something [and thereby triggering the Seventh Circuit’s injunction] would mean virtually unregulated weapons in Chicago, which has endured severe gun violence in recent months — including more than 70 shootings, at least 12 of them fatal, during the Independence Day weekend.

… to which Taranto replies:

Wait, how could Chicago have all those shootings when it’s illegal to carry a gun? Don’t street criminals have any respect for the law? Oh wait, of course they don’t — which is why Chicago already had “virtually unregulated weapons.” The new law will allow honest citizens, those who do comply with regulations, to defend themselves.

In fact, the ban on concealed-carry has worked so well specifically in Chicago that, according to KMOV-TV in St. Louis …

Gun violence in Chicago is so severe that a state lawmaker wants state police and the National Guard to assist the local cops.

State Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) is making the request.

“I am requesting with this press conference that Gov. Patrick Quinn order the Illinois National Guard (and) the Illinois State Police (to) come to Chicago and work with our mayor Ron (sic) Emanuel to provide safety for the children, especially,” she said at a news conference in Springfield.

You may recall there were predictions that Wisconsin would become the Wild West with passage of concealed-carry. You may have noticed that is not the case.

More Tribune reporting may seem familiar too:

Reaction from law enforcement has been mixed.

Several Chicago police officers who work in high-crime neighborhoods said they support the law, in part because law-abiding citizens who live in dangerous neighborhoods may have a better chance to defend themselves. The officers, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified, agreed that there would be a learning curve for police officers encountering people permitted to be armed.

“I think it’ll be a little bit of a rough start in the beginning,” said one officer who works in a South Side district. “I’m happy for the average citizen who is not up to no good.”

That attitude is not in step with the Chicago Police Department’s top brass. Superintendent Garry McCarthy and Mayor Rahm Emanuel have opposed concealed carry, saying that more people carrying guns is the last thing that’s needed in Chicago, home to some of the most violent neighborhoods in the country.

Big-city police chiefs apparently are not the protectors of your constitutional rights. Then again, “some of the most violent neighborhoods in the country” have been that way during Illinois’ concealed-carry-free era. As Taranto pointed out, criminals don’t respect laws, including gun laws.