The article and its conclusions drawn here are incorrect.
1. This statute had nothing to do with "stand your ground".
2. Illinois was not a duty to retreat state.
3. In 2003 there were several self-defense shootings in Chicago suburbs which "banned" handguns (remember, this was pre-McDonald). These cases were not prosecuted (nor were the cases in African-American neighborhoods in Chicago). However, there was much concern that they could be prosecuted.
4. In 2003-04 Obama, then a state senator living in Hyde Park, was approached by George Soros's consultants and told he need to "pro-gun" it up as his background of supporting gun bans and his history with the New Party would not do well nationally.
5. This statute, making it a defense to a gun ban prosecution if gun used in self-defense, was a "safe" vote for Obama as it merely recognized reality, that people were ignoring the gun bans. Ignoring gun laws is commonplace in Chicago and accepted among all levels of the SES.
This law had absolutely nothing to do with "standing your ground"/abolishing the duty to retreat (as it did not exist).