CHICAGO – Illinois gun manufacturers are developing a strategy to address Gov. Pat Quinn’s push to ban semi-automatic weapons in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting rampage.

Mark Westrom, owner of Geneseo-based ArmaLite, told Lee Enterprises newspapers in Illinois that his company and other state gun makers are considering a possible response.

Westrom said there shouldn’t be a rush to judgment following the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, and he said the issue of semi-automatic weapons might better be addressed at the federal level rather than by Illinois lawmakers.