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SAF Files Lawsuit Challenging Chicago’s Handgun Ban
Chicago Gun Case ^ | 25 June 2008 | Alan Gottlieb

Posted on 06/27/2008 12:56:30 PM PDT by RKV

Following Thursday’s (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 Chicago’s long-standing handgun ban.

“Chicago’s handgun ban has failed to stop violent crime,” SAF founder Alan Gottlieb stated. “It’s 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. Chicago’s 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 Chicago’s 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.


TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: banglist; chicagoguncase; heller; rkba; secondamendment; shallnotbeinfringed
Alan Gura and the SAF - at it AGAIN! The guys who brought you Heller are out to knock down unconstitutional gun laws. This is the BIG once since INCORPORATION is on the table. Link to the complaint in US District Court for NE Illinois.

http://www.chicagoguncase.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/complaint.pdf

1 posted on 06/27/2008 12:56:34 PM PDT by RKV
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To: RKV

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.”


2 posted on 06/27/2008 12:59:51 PM PDT by RKV (He who has the guns makes the rules)
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To: RKV

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.


3 posted on 06/27/2008 1:02:23 PM PDT by Slapshot68
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To: Slapshot68

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.


4 posted on 06/27/2008 1:05:43 PM PDT by RKV (He who has the guns makes the rules)
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To: Slapshot68

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.


5 posted on 06/27/2008 1:07:18 PM PDT by RKV (He who has the guns makes the rules)
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To: RKV
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.

Come on be a good sport,,

Someone has to pay for the corruption of Mayor Dailey and the Chicago politicians.

6 posted on 06/27/2008 1:25:25 PM PDT by TYVets (In Chicago & New York,,The rights of a criminal shall not be infringed while committing a crime.)
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To: TYVets

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...


7 posted on 06/27/2008 1:28:52 PM PDT by RKV (He who has the guns makes the rules)
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To: RKV

“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.


8 posted on 06/27/2008 2:36:42 PM PDT by TalBlack
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To: RKV

and the RATS, take another one in the..................HA ha!!!

9 posted on 06/27/2008 4:42:43 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist ©® - CTHULHU/SHOGGOTH '08 = Nothing LESS!!!)
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To: Chode

Very appropriate.


10 posted on 06/27/2008 5:14:59 PM PDT by RKV (He who has the guns makes the rules)
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To: RKV

Celebrate Heller by donating to SAF!


11 posted on 06/29/2008 9:44:53 AM PDT by publiusF27
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