ISRA Asks: 'Is Gun Control Worth Dying For?'

Contact: Richard Pearson of the Illinois State Rifle Association, 815-635-3198; Web: http://www.isra.org

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., April 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):

Rep. William Delgado (D-Chicago) is one of a handful of Illinoisans who believe that gun control is worth dying for. Delgado proved that assertion today by using his power as chairman of House Judiciary Committee II to effectively kill an important piece of victim's rights legislation.

Earlier this legislative session, the Illinois Senate passed SB2165 with strong bipartisan support. SB2165 would provide an affirmative defense to a violation of a municipal ordinance that prohibits, regulates, or restricts the private ownership of firearms if the individual who is charged with the violation used the firearm in an act of self-defense or defense of another. The bill was drafted in response to a home invasion in Wilmette, Ill. during which the homeowner shot and wounded the home invader. Subsequently, the homeowner was arrested and charged with a crime because Wilmette prohibits its residents from owning handguns. The homeowner's arrest sparked nationwide outrage over the fact that a citizen could be arrested for protecting his family from harm.

After passage in the Senate, SB2165 moved to the House for consideration. Delgado utilized parliamentary procedure to hijack the bill to prevent it from being voted on by the full House. SB2165 is now effectively dead.

"SB2165 passed the Senate by a wide margin and was on the fast track for passage in the House as well," commented ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson. "SB2165 is common sense legislation that merely affirms that law-abiding citizens have a right to defend their homes and families from criminals."

"SB2165's untimely death is yet more evidence that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has a stranglehold on the Illinois General Assembly," continued Pearson. "It's the Daley way or the highway. You can bet that Delgado got a call from the 5th Floor of Chicago City Hall and, moments later; SB2165 became nothing more than a historical footnote. Delgado's actions today send a clear message to law-abiding citizens across the state. That message being that Mayor Daley and Rep. Delgado would rather see you laying dead on your kitchen floor with your skull bashed in than to see you with a gun in your hand."

"We see no hope in resurrecting SB2165," said Pearson. "But you can bet that we'll bring back similar legislation next year. After all, the vast majority of Illinois citizens do not believe that gun control is worth dying for."

The ISRA is the state's leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. For over a century, the ISRA has represented the interests of over 1.5 million law-abiding Illinois gun owners.

Here's a Letter to the Editor that appeared in the Arizona Republic a few years ago. I called the author, who said he'd gotten quite a few supportive phone calls on it.

With all of the hysteria of late, we seem to be forgetting that the entire Bill of Rights is under assault, not just the Second Amendment.

On the positive side, a federal judge in Texas has just ruled the Clinton-Gore crime bill in violation of both the Second and Fifth amendments to the Constitution. The government has appealed, and the case may now go before the Supreme Court. The entire issue stems from what "the people" means in the context of the Second Amendment.

In a 32-page argument going back as far as A. D. 690 in English law, the judge argued that "the people" has an identical and consistent meaning in the preamble of the Constitution and in all of the amendments in which it is used. It means "the peaceable citizens" in every case, not the states or the federal government.

The Bill of Rights is not a "Bill of Privileges" that an administration, or special-interest group can alter, limit or take away with impunity. They are rights that people have fought and died for, and presumably are willing to fight and die for again. Infringing on any of these rights makes the infringer a "domestic enemy of the Constitution," and there are literally millions of Americans who have sworn a sacred oath to defend the Constitution (note that - not the government, but the Constitution) of the United States from "all enemies, both foreign and domestic."

More than a million of them are currently in uniform, and pretty much despise their commander-in- chief as a liar, philanderer and military bungler. A crime bill is one thing - but if we don't all tread carefully here, we could be looking at another civil war. In the face of so much hostility to our nation abroad, that would be tantamount to national suicide. Are we that scared of crime?

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