CARBONDALE, IL (IRN) - With the Connecticut school shootings coming just days after a court ruling that orders Illinois to pass a concealed-carry law, there’s pressure from both sides of the gun debate.

Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon says, “I think what we need to look at is from the point of view of ‘how do we keep ourselves safe,’ and that’s a different answer, depending on where you are in the state.” Traditionally, everywhere in the state outside Chicago and the suburbs is pro-gun, and Simon is from southern Illinois.

Simon says the gun enthusiasts she knows are hunters, and her opinion is that you don’t need an assault weapon to hunt. She says she did not grow up in a gun-owning family, though many of her in-laws are hunters and farmers who own guns.