* Governor Quinn Steps Up Attacks On Law-Abiding Firearm Owners
CHICAGO, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the ISRA Political Victory Fund (ISRA-PVF):
Law-abiding Illinois firearm owners are under a renewed attack by Gov. Pat Quinn's re-election campaign. After receiving the endorsement of a radical gun control group last week, Quinn's campaign is now the apparent mastermind of a plan to place a referendum on the November ballot that would call for the banning of a wide variety of popular hunting and target firearms.
Petition documents filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections show the title of the proposed referendum as being "Petition to Ban the Sale on Semi-Automatic and Assault Weapons." Notarized signatures on over 100 pages of petitions show one "Maz Jackson" as being the petition circulator. Maz Jackson is a top field operative for the Quinn gubernatorial re-election campaign.
"It appears that Pat Quinn plans to attack hunters and sportsmen from every angle," commented ISRA-PVF spokesman, Richard Pearson. "First he throws in with the likes of gun control extremists Jim and Sarah Brady, and now his campaign staff is circulating petitions seeking to ban most of the privately owned firearms in the state. Once again, Pat Quinn has shown himself to be more in step with Mayor Daley and the Chicago power structure than he is with the vast majority of Illinois citizens."
The ISRA-PVF is a political action committee affiliated with the Illinois State Rifle Association. Donations to the ISRA-PVF are not tax deductible. A copy of our report is available for a fee from the Illinois State Board of Elections, Springfield, IL
SOURCE ISRA Political Victory Fund
* Town Hall meetings
Edgar, Douglas, Vermillion, Champaign Co.
Right To Carry Educational Town Hall Meeting
Monday July 12, 2010
7:00-9:00 pm
Hawthorn Suite, 101 Trade Centre Dr, Champaign, IL
McLean County Right to Carry Town Hall Meeting
The New Lafayette Club, Bloomington, IL.:
Tuesday September 21,2010
6:30p - 8:30p
* Second Amendment Freedom Rally
Friday, July 9 - Second Amendment Freedom Rally in Chicago
Friday July 9, 2010 from 11:00am - 1:00 pm at the
James R. Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph St. in Chicago
The rally that celebrates the restoration of the right to keep and bear arms!
Don’t miss this event at the Thompson Center commemorating
the Supreme Court Victory in McDonald v Chicago!
Second Amendment Freedom Rally sponsors, Illinois State Rifle Association and IllinoisCarry.com, welcome the plaintiffs from the case! Other special guests include WVON's Charles Butler & several local activists! Cisco Cotto from WLS-AM will MC this event!
Event Details
It is important that we put our best foot forward and present the best image of Illinois firearm owners - friendly, courteous, and respectful of the other attendees and our surroundings. Suggested attire is casual/business casual. The rally is outside on the plaza, bring sunscreen if you are so inclined. There is a food court in the downstairs portion of the Thompson Center if you need to grab a quick bite before or after the event. We have been instructed to keep the entrances to the Thompson Center clear and also that we stay out of the street and not cause a traffic hazard.
There are many ways to get to the Thompson Center via public transportation: CTA Trains and buses, Metra, Amtrak. Go to ChicagoRally.isra.org for more details.
Volunteers
Additional volunteers are needed for ground crew at the event, and will meet at 10:00 at the stage on the plaza. Contact Don Gwinn if you can help out, send mail to: dongwinn@thefiringline.com.
More Info
Go to ChicagoRally.isra.org for more details.
Email questions to ChicagoRally@isra.org.
* Chicago Handgun Ban Overturned
U.S. Supreme Court Rules
Chicago Handgun Ban Unconstitutional!
The U.S. Supreme Court announced its 5-4 decision today overturning the decades old Chicago ban on handguns! Following on the heels of the Heller vs DC decision two years ago which ruled DC's ban unconstitutional, the landmark case of McDonald vs Chicago finally brings the Second Amendment guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms to the states.
This decision is a huge win for the entire nation but especially for Chicago residents who have for decades been denied the right to possess a handgun in their home. Increasing opposition to the ban has been fueled by residents of the city demanding the right to protect themselves from the horrendous number of violent crimes in their neighborhoods.
The ruling is also a tremendous win for Illinois citizens whose state constitution holds that the right to keep and bear arms is "subject to police power". The Court ruled the 14th Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment to the states meaning " . . . the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" is a right protected even from local and state governments. While this decision does not immediately change state law it does throw open the door to re-examination of current law and a whole new era of defining the words "shall not be infringed".
What does it all mean in our efforts to see a Right to Carry law passed in Illinois? It means a great deal in the IL General Assembly where some fence-sitters on the issue have been waiting to see "if" the Second Amendment truly does apply to the states. It will almost assuredly add votes to our side of the tally board and will make it increasingly more difficult to pass new laws restricting the right of a law abiding citizen's to keep and bear arms.
Mayor Daley has vowed, regardless of the Supreme Court decision, to continue do everything he can to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of the people of Chicago - but he can't do it alone - he must have the votes of the aldermen on the city council. If you are a resident of Chicago, contact your alderman TODAY and demand they support your constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Demand they put an end to Mayor Daley's fanatical attack on their right to protect themselves and their families.
This is a great day in the history of this nation, the state of Illinois, and for the people of Chicago!! IllinoisCarry extends our heartfelt gratitude and respect to the courageous plaintiffs who stood before the courts on behalf of all Americans - Adam Orlov, David and Colleen Lawson, and lead plaintiff Otis McDonald. Thank you to the Illinois State Rifle Association, Second Amendment Foundation, lead attorney Alan Gura, and Chicago attorney David Sigale for making it happen!
A copy of the ruling can be downloaded at SCOTUSblog.com.
* Daleys gun ban emboldens thugs
BY ALAN GOTTLIEB AND DAVE WORKMAN
Mayor Daley doesn't get it about firearms and personal safety. After the highly publicized self-defense shooting in East Garfield Park on the West Side on Wednesday, he should fold his tent, shut his mouth and go away.
The U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to nullify Chicago's draconian handgun ban, and nothing clarifies Daley's dilemma with guns more dramatically than the slaying of home invader Anthony "Big Ant" Nelson, a 29-year-old career thug who has, according to the Chicago Tribune, a "13-page rap sheet that includes a number of drug and weapons convictions dating to 1998, according to police and court records." This neighborhood predator made what nationally recognized self-defense expert Massad Ayoob calls "a fatal error in the victim selection process."
Nelson reportedly fired a shot from a handgun -- you know, they're banned in Chicago, and convicted felons like "Big Ant" aren't supposed to have them anyway; yet another failure of gun control -- through the bedroom window of an 80-year-old Army veteran who served in the Korean War.
Most likely to Nelson's great, and terminal, surprise, the older man fired back, with his own handgun that almost certainly was not registered in the city. Had he followed the law, this gentleman, his wife, and possibly their 12-year-old grandson, who was in the next room, might all be dead right now.
Fortunately, thanks to the Illinois Legislature's override of Rod Blagojevich's veto of SB 2165 in November 2004, the older gentleman will not face prosecution. That was the "Hale DeMar" act, which protects homeowners who shoot in self-defense even if there is a local ordinance against handgun possession.
DeMar shot a burglar in his Wilmette home and was initially charged with violating that community's handgun ban, but public outrage forced the Cook County prosecutor to drop the charge.
The question remains in this case whether the old gentleman will get his gun back from the police when the investigation is completed.
Daley wants his citizens, including elderly people, to remain disarmed while only someone living in monumental denial would believe that creeps like Nelson might be deterred from packing guns illegally.
Daley has practiced anti-gun demagoguery for years, but that may soon come to a screeching halt, not only because of an affirmative high court ruling in the case of McDonald vs. City of Chicago -- the Second Amendment Foundation's case before the U.S. Supreme Court -- but also because public reaction to the Nelson shooting is decidedly in support of the man who shot him.
Chicago residents have grown weary of living in dangerous neighborhoods where, because of Daley's anti-gun policies that defend the city's ban, they have been stripped of the tools to fight back. It is their plight against armed criminals like Nelson that compelled the Second Amendment Foundation to join with the Illinois State Rifle Association and four Chicago residents to sue the city.
Reaction among Chicago residents to Wednesday's fatal shooting clearly demonstrates that the public supports this lawsuit.
While Daley appears at a press event and suggests he might like to poke a gun barrel into the rump of a reporter and fire a round, neighbors of the Army veteran who killed Nelson in self-defense, along with Chicago Sun-Times columnist Stella Foster, are telling the mayor that he needs to "come up with a better solution [to crime] than just saying 'turn in your guns.' "
Daley's stubborn defense of his city's handgun ban shows him to be so out of touch with the public, and with the reality of his city's crime problem, that he may not even be jolted to good sense by a Supreme Court loss.
Well, here is the reality: Richard Daley's policies are directly responsible for people like Nelson, because the Chicago gun ban has emboldened Windy City thugs to prey on good people they know will be disarmed. Tough luck for Nelson that one courageous older man -- a man who had been robbed at gunpoint last year in his own home for $150 -- had the fortitude and good sense to arm himself in spite of Daley's ban, and now his neighborhood is "one short" of the kind of scum that the Chicago ban has essentially protected for more than a quarter-century.
Alan Gottlieb is executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation. Dave Workman is senior editor of Gun Week. They are co-authors of 'America Fights Back: Armed Self-Defense in a Violent Age.'
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