It’s time for an over-ride! Tuesday, July 9th!

State Senator Chapin Rose nails it on the head…

And, for the record, Brandon Phelps has filed for a veto over-ride today.  The governor’s proposed scheme isn’t even going to get considered…

I wrote earlier today that Governor Quinn’s asinine proposal was deader than dead.  And indeed, it’s just that.

Sources say the House will take up the over-ride on Tuesday, July 9th (National N0-bra day, by the way) at 11:00 a.m.

Dear Friend,

Today Governor Quinn vetoed the conceal carry bill that previously passed the Illinois legislature in an overwhelming, bi-partisan fashion.  As I indicated in my previous emails, I’m not “thrilled” with the bill as passed and had filed a separate bill that was much better.

That being said, many constituents have asked, “why does the legislature need to pass a bill at all?” Or, “with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeal’s ruling set to take effect next week striking down Illinois’ unlawful use of weapons statute, why not just let that go into effect rather than pass anything?”

So let’s clear up some basic confusion on this point.  Many media accounts have misconstrued this ruling as allowing “Utah-style” Constitutional carry anywhere in Illinois – and if it did, I would agree that the appropriate course of action would be to not pass a bill.  HOWEVER, this is not a completely accurate portrayal of what the Court case did.

Rather than provide the guaranteed, unfettered right to carry as reported in the media – it has left open the ability of units of local government to regulate and control the issue which is already beginning to cause headaches for Illinois’ citizens and we aren’t even at July 9th yet.

I-72 splits the 51st Senate District in half and the residents that live along it from east to west make up well over half the citizens of the district.  In Macon County on the west, the State’s Attorney has issued his own guidelines for when/where local citizens will be allowed to carry.  In Champaign County on the east, the State’s attorney intends to continue prosecutions, and in the middle, Piatt County, the State’s Attorney has said she will not prosecute at all.  Three different standards in three different counties.

Champaign, Urbana, and Decatur are all “home rule” municipalities which means they could further create their own rules for when/where you could carry separate from the county ordinances. Obviously, I use the I-72 example for simplicity, but no matter where you live, you can see the problems coming without a statewide preemption of these local rules.
Finally, the most atrocious problem of not having a statewide standard: Governor Pat Quinn’s State Police are still going to arrest you anyway!

That is correct, the State Police have said that even though the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals has ruled this law to be unconstitutional that they will still arrest you!  Just yesterday, I talked to Macon County Sheriff Tom Schneider about this and he has informed the State Police that they will not be allowed to detain otherwise law-abiding citizens in his county’s jail!

I salute Sheriff Schneider for taking this position and I will be polling the other 9 Sheriff’s in the 51st District shortly on their position.  But why on earth are we here at all?  Because Governor Quinn waited until less than a week out to issue this veto.

I would love to be the lawyer representing the first law-abiding citizen to be slapped into handcuffs and unlawfully restrained by the state police trying to enforce a law that has been ruled unconstitutional!  But that would mean that an honest citizen was being trampled on – something that in a truly free society should never happen.

Getting back to my example, imagine living in Decatur or Clinton or Moweaqua and trying to go to a U of I football game this fall – you’d travel through 3 or more different sets of county rules and you could still get arrested anyway!  Today many work 30, 45, 60 minutes away from home – what a nightmare it will be just trying to get to work each day if you cross county or municipal lines.

This is exactly why, while not perfect (far from it), Governor Quinn should have signed – not vetoed – the conceal carry bill as it would preempt all of these local rules and the coming chaos.

Finally it is beyond irritating and more than a little ironic that Governor Quinn chose this week that we are celebrating the birth of democracy in our nation and freedom from tyranny to issue this veto.  In doing so, he is overruling the clear will of the people of Illinois as evidenced by the bi-partisan, supermajority of votes in the democratically elected legislature.  It is my understanding the legislature will be returning to Springfield shortly to attempt to override this veto.

As always, I will keep you posted as circumstances warrant. Thanks for your interest!

Sincerely,

Chapin Rose

State Senator