WILLIAMSON COUNTY — A Democratic state’s attorney in southern Illinois says he wouldn’t put otherwise law-abiding gun owners behind bars if lawmakers ban many types of common firearms.

Williamson County State’s Attorney Brandon Zanotti read the language of Senate Bill 107, a proposed state law that would ban many pistols, shotguns and rifles and charge those who violate the law with a felony. He predicted that the bill could potentially put many people he knows in his county on the wrong side of the law.

Because of this, he announced that he wouldn’t prosecute first-time offenders under the proposed gun ban.

He sympathizes with the Illinois State Police, who he says are overburdened anyway and would be responsible for the massive undertaking should the ban become law.

Zanotti intends to speak to other state’s attorneys about the enforceability of the law.