Posted on 06/27/2008 12:56:30 PM PDT by RKV
Following Thursdays (5-4) ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual civil right to keep and bear arms, and that a municipal gun ban violates that right, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) filed a federal lawsuit (complaint) challenging the City of Chicagos long-standing handgun ban.
Chicagos handgun ban has failed to stop violent crime, SAF founder Alan Gottlieb stated. Its time to give the Constitution a chance.
In addition to SAF and ISRA, plaintiffs include Chicago residents Otis McDonald, a retiree who has been working with police to rid his neighborhood of drug dealers, and who wants to have a handgun at his home; Adam Orlov, a former Evanston police officer; software engineer David Lawson and his wife, Colleen, a hypnotherapist, whose home has been targeted by burglars. Attorney Alan Gura, who argued the District of Columbia challenge before the high court, and Chicago area attorney David G. Sigale, represent the plaintiffs.
Our goal, Gura said is to require state and local officials to respect our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Chicagos handgun ban, and some of its gun registration requirements, are clearly unconstitutional.
The right to defend our homes and families against those who would do them harm, whether a random criminal, violent ex-domestic partner, or other wrongdoer, is one of the principles upon which America was founded, Sigale said. It is time the City of Chicago trust its honest, law-abiding residents with this Constitutional right.
The city has been denying gun owners their civil rights for a long time and I think this lawsuit could have a profound effect on their registration law, ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson added.
Under the gun law currently in place, firearms must be re-registered annually.
Each time, Gura said, a tax is imposed, forms must be filled out, photographs submitted. A person who owns more than one gun will find herself or himself constantly in the process of registering each gun as it comes due for expiration. If registration is to be required, once is enough.
He further noted that Chicagos bizarre requirement that guns be registered before they are acquired often times makes registration impossible. The penalty for failure to comply with the registration scheme is that a gun not re-registered on time can never be registered again. Gura likened it to a requirement to dispose of a car if it is not re-registered on time with the Department of Motor Vehicles.
http://www.chicagoguncase.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/complaint.pdf
From the complaint: “By banning handguns, Defendants currently maintain and actively enforce a set of laws, customs, practices, and policies under color of state law which deprive individuals, including the Plaintiffs, of their right to keep and bear arms, in violation of the Second and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.”
This will be interesting since Obama has come out applauding the USSC ruling reversing the DC ban. Now his Illinois constituents will be under attack.
One of the more subtle digs alleged in the complaint (and I know the facts of the allegation to be true based on news reporting) is that Chicago’s Aldermen have special privileges to own guns. Specifically one screwed up on his registration and has passed a bill to allow himself and his cronies to get right. I expect that the jury will not like that one bit. Heh.
Also, Hussein has come out with the idea that localities can make up their own gun control laws. That is so rich. It’s pretty much like saying localities can ban blacks from voting no matter what the Feds say.
Come on be a good sport,,
Someone has to pay for the corruption of Mayor Dailey and the Chicago politicians.
If you look at the NY Sullivan laws and find out a bit about Sullivan himself, you’ll find a corrupt Tammany Hall politician who used gun laws to put his opponents in jail. One went so far as to have his suit pockets sewn shut, so that they couldn’t slip a pistol in his pocket then arrest him. Interesting correlation between gun control laws and political corruption...
Our goal, Gura said is to require state and local officials to respect our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.”
State and local will do as they damn well please, as thay HAVE been doing all along. I want to see someone TRY to buy, say a nice 1911, in Suffolk County NY tomorrow or next year.
Very appropriate.
Celebrate Heller by donating to SAF!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.