ILLINOIS GUN-CONTROL SHOWDOWN LOOMS

St Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | 03/02/09 | Kevin McDermott

[epow]

Showdown Looms on Gun Control By Kevin McDermott POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU 03/02/2009

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Springfield is headed toward a political showdown over guns, with both sides loading up like they haven't in years. bullet Quinn puts Ill. governor's mansion to work bullet Line forms to succeed Burris

The gun owners lobby is close to getting a floor debate in the Legislature on its pinnacle goal of allowing residents to carry concealed handguns in Illinois, which is one of just two states that still outlaw it. (Wisconsin is the other.)

"It's heating up. We think we're close," said Todd Vandermyde, a National Rifle Association lobbyist who has pushed the concealed-carry proposal in Springfield before. "You've got 48 states that have this. That's a statement."

Gun control advocates are firing back with bills to create new restrictions on the sale and transfer of those guns, while trying to stop the concealed-carry movement.

"Arming this state is going to make more and more people feel that they need to protect themselves, and it could escalate all the handguns that are out there," said state Rep. Harry Osterman, D-Chicago, a leading opponent of the concealed-carry proposals.

The trigger for the surge in gun-related political activity, many say, was a U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer that struck down as unconstitutional a gun ban in the nation's capital.

Gun control advocates say the case, District of Columbia v. Heller, didn't directly deal with a concealed-carry law and shouldn't have any bearing on that issue.

"There's certainly a lot more noise about it … (ba

[epow]

Breaking news, downstate IL Democrats discover that there really is a 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution. Chicagoland Democrats ask "uuuhh, what's a Constitution"?

[mgc1122]

Illinois ... take a day of vacation, and start marching in Springfield. Surround the capital and be as loud as you possibly can.

[rjsimmon]

"Arming this state is going to make more and more people feel that they need to protect themselves, and it could escalate all the handguns that are out there," said state Rep. Harry Osterman, D-Chicago

This is such a tired old canard. The only thing that has escalated gun violence is the increased restriction on free men keeping and bearing arms!

[theBuckwheat]

The fight for liberty is rarely easy. In Missouri, their CCW law passed by one vote.

[MediaMole]

Wisconsin had the 2/3 votes for CCW in both houses, but Gov. Doyle vetoed the bill and got two rats who had voted for the bill to change their votes when time came to try and override his veto.

[LimaLimaMikeFoxtrot]

escalate all the handguns

That phrase doesn't even make sense. If he means that more guns would be owned by law abiding citizens as a defense against thugs who ignore gun laws, I don't see the down-side.

[Tolkien]

These dems are freedom-hating kooks.

It's obvious that the police can't protect you nor are they required to.

People are forced to protect themselves from criminals and more importantly, the government.

And since DemonRats want bigger government, which side are they going to be on?

Demonrats want people defenseless and poor and yet they get votes from those very same people.

[LimaLimaMikeFoxtrot]

Good grief buckwheat. I feel for you in WI. The idiots there and in IL know that a carry permit can deter or reduce crime. It certainly would have if a loved one of mine had been allowed to carry while in a downtown MIL parking structure.

In TN our permits are called HCP (handgun carry permit). You may carry open or concealed. Common sense dictates which.

Always carry. Never tell.

I may or may not have a permit.

I may or may not be carrying.

[prismsinc]

Illinois is a totalitarian regime. The red states need to declare war on the wimpy Illini....

[Lurker]

Gun control advocates say the case, District of Columbia v. Heller, didn't directly deal with a concealed-carry law and shouldn't have any bearing on that issue.

Which is a damnable lie. Heller was quite clear. A State may ban open carry or it may ban concealed carry but it may NOT ban both.

L

[BobinIL]

Which is a damnable lie. Heller was quite clear. A State may ban open carry or it may ban concealed carry but it may NOT ban both.

Open carry works just fine for me.

“You gonna skin that smokewagon or just stand there and bleed”?

[epow]

"Arming this state is going to make more and more people feel that they need to protect themselves,

Surely the IL citizens aren't stupid enough to believe such irrational nonsense. Armed citizens are one of the most effective ways to reduce violent crime, as has been well proven in every state that has passed a shall issue carry law.

I was living in FL in the mid-1980s when the first shall-issue CC permit law was passed and signed by Republican governor Martinez after having been vetoed by the previous liberal Democrat governor Bob Graham. The media went into a frenzy, predicting wild west style shootouts at every traffic accident and blood running in gutters all over the sate. Instead, FL's murder rate dropped by 27% (IIRC) within the next 5 years and has continued to drop since then.

It doesn't require a PHD from Harvard to understand that criminals will not obey any law that restricts their criminal activities. Criminals don't obey gun laws or any other law, that's why they're called criminals. That's just common sense, and it should tell anyone with an IQ higher than that of a turnip that anti-gun laws only prevent honest, law abiding people from having the most effective means of protecting themselves, while the criminal element laughs at the liberals' gun laws that have exactly the opposite effect they were intended to produce.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Arming this state is going to make more and more people feel that they need to protect themselves,"

The moron who said this obviously thinks such an attitude change is a BAD THING, when the precise opposite is true.

[epow]

the liberals' gun laws that have exactly the opposite effect they were intended to produce.

Allow me to change that phrase to read, "the liberal's gun laws that are INTENDED to disarm and render helpless the law abiding citizens while the liberals' PETS roam the streets carrying any illegal weapon they choose".

There, that's a more accurate statement.

[Condor51]

"Arming this state is going to make more and more people feel that they need to protect themselves, and it could escalate all the handguns that are out there," said state Rep. Harry Osterman, D-Chicago, a leading opponent of the concealed-carry proposals.

District Information
5535 N. Broadway, Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 784-2002, (773) 784-2060 (fax)

One of Osterman's top public safety and law enforcement issues is the fight for safe, sensible gun-control legislation in the Illinois House. Osterman was a co-sponsor of the successful re-enactment of the Safe Neighborhoods Act, which made unlawful possession of a loaded weapon a felony. He also sponsored legislation to ban the sale, manufacture and possession of semi-automatic weapons in Illinois. Osterman even took on the NRA, blocking attempts by the gun-manufacturing lobby to undo Chicago's local gun control ordinance.

A lifelong resident of Chicago's Northside, Osterman has served as President of the Edgewater Community Council, a member of the Edgewater Development Corporation and as a Deputy Commissioner in the City of Chicago's Streets and Sanitation Department.

Gun Grabber to the 10¹⁰ degree. But the Streets and San thing is interesting. That's where 80% of the CORRUPTION in Chicago goes on. Its also where the Mob goes for 'legal jobs'.

I wouldn't doubt if Fitz has him on tape.

[virgil]

IL is a failed state