Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) says president Barack Obama’s executive actions to expand background checks on gun sales has popular support, and was something he and 23 other senators had asked the president to do back in November. But Illinois Republicans say the actions violate the 2nd Amendment and will not survive a court challenge.

John Reifsteck is chairman and president of GROWMARK, Inc, a regional agricultural cooperative in Bloomington, Ill.  Reifsteck, who is also a grain farmer, told lawmakers that unless Congress backs a national standard and blocks individual state laws, American agriculture will be harmed.