by John Boch
(Guns Save Life) – Good news for freedom lovers across our increasingly tattered nation!
It’s been a rough few days for the leftist, freedom eschewing gun grabbers out there, both at the national level, and here at home in Illinois.
Everywhere they turn, they are stymied with the will of the majority of Americans who unlike the low-information voters (and low-information non-voters), are reluctant to cede their Constitutional rights for promised security. The promised security of gun control doesn’t seem so attractive when they look at the violence in gun control utopias like Chicago.
At the national level, President Obama has for the umpteenth time since the election, clamored for gun control. With demagoguery, treachery, and outright lies he’s promoted his efforts to recreate past tyrannies with either outright bans on America’s favorite guns or setting up nationalized registration of future gun owners by mandating that all PRIVATE gun transfers must be logged and approved by Big Brother.
The Axis of Evil – Obama, Schumer, Bloomberg, Feinstein, to name a few – along with the rest of the nanny-state low-information activists like to call their latest efforts background checks. We call it gun registration and we all know what happens after guns are registered…
The good news for us is that the Axis of Evil is running into greater and greater resistance from a bunch of good guys supporting the Constitution and the ideals our national was founded upon. Instead of supporting failed gun control policies that have left many people subjected to tyranny and brutality at the hands of criminals and their governments, these legislators are supporting freedom and liberty.
At the national level, gun rights leaders generally thought we were weakest in the U.S. Senate, which has served as the location the Axis of Evil have pushed their gun control schemes most vigorously (they apparently thought they were strongest in the Senate).
It hasn’t gone nearly as smoothly as the gun control advocates would have thought.
First Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz stood up and pledged a filibuster against any gun control legislation.
And while a single Senator can filibuster for as long as his bladder can handle it, two can filibuster a lot longer as bathroom and food breaks are now available.
So imagine the consternation in the Axis of Low-Information when thirteen or more Senators have now declared they will filibuster gun control legislation. It’s looking as though the Senate is a dead-end for gun grabbers and the Axis of Evil is left with name calling and public shaming as their only response.
In short, not only is Dianne Feinstein’s gun ban for the most commonly owned guns used for self-defense effectively dead (although it’s on life support and may be resurrected by witch doctors and come back for further consideration), but so is the latest effort to register guns by eliminating the ability of America grandparents to give a gun to their children or grandchildren without involving Big Brother – or a person to loan a gun to friend for a weekend activity at the range.
In Illinois, the landscape is a little different. Gun owners are weaker in the Illinois House in terms of legislative support.
Gun grabbing leftists are under federal court mandate to enact some sort of reasonable carry permit legislation here in Illinois prior to June 9th.
Thus far, with less than two months to the magic date, Illinois gun grabbers have been disinterested in bringing a bill supported by the National Rifle Association, the Illinois State Rifle Association, Guns Save Life and other organizations up for a vote.
Instead, House Speaker Michael Madigan has played the political games he’s famous for and taken two runs at ramming though a poisoned carry bill. He’s entertained all sorts of goofy and unreasonable provisions, some downright laughable. Examples you ask? Postpone implementation until 2016, $500 licensing fees, mandatory insurance, etc.
Both the highly restrictive bill he introduced and the NRA bill (House Bill 997) have now been poisoned with anti-gun amendments are are dead.
Lt. Governor Sheila Simon’s shill “Governor’s Task Force” to delay, deny and obfuscate the discussions about right-to-carry (much less passage of a bill) met a few times and lost the only two Republican members simply trying to come up with a list of bullet points for proposed legislation.
While on the whole, her task force was a farce and a distraction to delay the process by “studying it”. On the other hand, it’s got some of the more moderate anti-gun legislators (as opposed to the hard-core leftists who will oppose right-to-carry to their dying day just as some politicians opposed school desegregation to their dying days) recognizing that right-to-carry is coming to Illinois and that they should be a part of a solution to mitigate what they feel are the risks of unregulated carry.
The closer we come to June 9th, the more these same legislators are becoming aware of something gun owners nationwide have admired: Constitutional Carry.
Constitutional Carry is where law-abiding citizens don’t need a “government permission slip” to exercise their constitutionally protected right to carry a loaded firearm for personal defense. In short, for the lay person, it’s unregulated carry.
Constitutional Carry works just fine in Arizona, Vermont, Alaska and Wyoming. We believe it would work well in Illinois, however we must acknowledge that a super-majority of our current crop of legislators in Illinois would fear it enough to vote against it.
However, once the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down Illinois prohibition on carry firearms outside the home takes effect (on June 9th), Illinois will have Constitutional Carry when it comes to carry unless a legislative remedy is implemented. We don’t mean passed and not signed by the governor – but implemented.
What’s going to happen in the remaining fifty-nine days and change (you can see the exact countdown here), we can’t say for sure but we can make an educated guess.
We expect that Madigan to take another shot or two (pun intended) to ram through a restrictive bad bill to saddle Illinoisans with another bad bill.
Yes, it’ll require you to make more calls to your legislators and to Madigan’s office to express your displeasure at his shenanigans, and to tell legislators you want a good, shall-issue carry bill, not a restrictive may-issue bill.
Once Madigan has determined that a bad bill will not pass the Illinois House, he will do a “hurry up” bill in late-May, very similar to the original House Bill 997, suspending the usual rules and procedures in order to expedite passage.
In the Illinois Senate, where gun owners enjoy super-majority support of freedom-appreciating Senators, it will likely pass and probably end up on the Governor’s desk sometime in early June.
Why are we less than thrilled with the “Constitutional Carry” option?
Well, while it sounds good in theory, when the rubber meets the road, we may have gun owners getting themselves arrested for local ordinance violations regarding transportation, ownership and gun bans. Unless you’re a legal expert, navigating a patchwork of local ordinances will be a pain in the butt.
Let’s take downstate Danville, IL, who the last time we checked had a home-rule local ordinance from the sixties or seventies mandating that firearms must be transported so they are inaccessible. Sure, that law would be struck down by the Moore v. Madigan decision, but that might not stop local cops from arresting you and confiscating your gun pending a resolution in court.
If downstate cities in Illinois may have local ordinances like this, imagine what navigating the Chicago suburbs would be like.
As Barack Obama would say about the inability to implement his leftist schemes, “that’s not optimal”.
It is for that reason that we believe a good carry law, similar to Missouri or better still, Indiana, would be nearly ideal in the great scheme of things, given the political climate we “enjoy” in Illinois and the degree of support we have from our pro-gun caucus of legislators.
If Madigan, Cullerton or Quinn decide to test the court’s will though, we’re prepared to strap on our heaters on June 9th and learn the local ordinances. It’ll also give us time between now and then to line up a good lawyer for a federal civil rights lawsuit under Section 1983 of the U.S. Code against local authorities who would arrest us under unconstitutional local ordinances.
United States Code Section 1983 is a law that allows people whose constitutional rights have been violated by government officials the chance to sue those officials in court.
In fact, it’s such an important law that entire books have been written about it. Here is what the law says:
Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress…
So, there you have it. The latest from the legislative front, both nationally and at home in Illinois.
In short, freedom lives another day, but it seems like it’s under perpetual assault.
This will fight will never end. We will be called to resist these tyranical lunacies
Till the good lord sees fit to end this world. That is why teaching our children and invloving
Them in it is so important.what one generation sacrifices so much to gain can be lost
In the next if we are not carefull. Ask any WWII Vet.
Keep up the pressure, not only on legislators, but with letters to the editor.
Just as the statewide ban ONLY fell by direct challenge in court, the only way the local ordinances fall is to be judicially struck down. Precedent is CLEARLY on our side in this respect. Incorporation makes the Second enforceable against local governments just like state governments. It’s a simple fact. So why be scared of it? Why use the scare tactic if local government infringement as a reason to bow to the madigans?
It’s like saying nationally that FEINSTEIN should be bowed to because some states will enact assault weapons bans anyway.
Shall issue permission slips are a mistake. It’s the opposite direction we should be going. Carrying should be regulated by individuals and property owners. As a matter if code we should be pointing law at ABUSES and regulating heavily and punishing harshly those who act nefariously. Accepting poll taxes and preconditions is a mistaken premise and if accepted those doing so will regret it. For it will no longer be grabbers responsible for the infringing policy, it will be the advocates bearing the burden.
Ther isn’t mandate to produce permission slip structures. There is only a mandate to eliminate offending code legislatively or it will be done judicially. 997 bans the carrying of rifles and leaves in place bans on carrying blades (and other arms). It’s a mistake. It’s wrong. Indeed it’s just gun control lite.
“The New York State Police are suspending the handgun permits of people in the state who are prescribed anti-anxiety medication, ”
So an article linked from drudge says.
Such is the trap of permission slips……
I know there is merit in trained and practiced gun ownership and carrying.
I know also there are people who shouldn’t do either.
But there are people who shouldn’t speak and people who shouldn’t vote too
Giving government authority over Rights via even a “shall issue” appearance ends up being abused. That’s why we should not create here what does not exist and why I say it’s a step in the wrong direction. We’ve already been taken many miles and that’s why I say not one more Inch…..