Posted on 01/18/2006 10:37:29 AM PST by neverdem
Both plan to make it top priority this year
After several failed attempts to pass a statewide ban on assault weapons, Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said Tuesday they will make the initiative a top priority in the current session of the state legislature.
In a joint news conference, the two Chicago Democrats called on the General Assembly to support their proposal to ban the manufacture, sale and possession of semi-automatic and .50-caliber weapons.
Blagojevich said his plan would do away with some of the most powerful guns on the market, and that it therefore doesn't affect the rights of law-abiding gun owners who want weapons for self-defense or hunting--a point vigorously put forth by gun-rights groups.
"We don't need to have TEC-9 assault weapons, Uzis or AK-47s to protect our homes, protect our neighborhoods or to go hunting," Blagojevich said. "And you certainly don't need the .50 caliber sniper rifle to do anything but act as a terrorist and be a criminal and a gangbanger."
The governor will make a pitch directly to the General Assembly when it convenes for his annual State of the State Address on Wednesday. That speech comes two years after the expiration of the federal ban on assault weapons, after Congress failed to re-enact it.
Even before the expiration, law enforcement officials and gun-control advocates have been trying to enact some form of assault-weapons ban at the state level. Seven states have done so but in Illinois, efforts have failed by a handful of votes.
Still, Blagojevich and Daley think there may be some momentum behind their efforts. Last year, lawmakers sided with gun-control groups on several votes, including one to require background checks for all sales at gun shows.
Daley said the next step is to get rid of assault...
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
For those not familiar with these cases ---
Link to -- Presser v. Illinois
Link to --- U.S. v. Miller, et al
Link to ---descriptions of Supreme Court gun cases
The description of Presser doesn't capture the effort by the State of Illinois strategically to restrict RKBA by statute.
The Court's opinion in Cruikshank is a cloud of squid ink, deliberately obscurantist IMHO, but I took the salient points from it that, notwithstanding the enforcement clause of the 14th Amendment, the Court chose to uphold neither the Civil Rights Act of 1866 nor the Enforcement Acts of 1870 (there were two of the latter, the later a refinement of the first), and indeed abrogated any federal role in the incorporation of the "privileges and immunities" clause and the Bill of Rights generally to the States.
They threw the black complainants in the original federal case on the mercy of the white-supremacist government of Louisiana. To the wolves, in other words.
Cruikshank wouldn't withstand inspection for more than about 15 minutes today, again IMHO.
I would be interested in finding where these SVT's would be available at that price.
Thanks
Joe
How about giving Chicago, Milwaukee, and Madison their own state to rule over? It would work out alot better.
Remember... in NY, most Republicans are Democrats, and most Democrats are Greens.
And then the Democrats will spy on those suspected of having guns with out warrants.
You might check through that channel, to FFL's specializing in Russian weapons and accessories. I passed on the SVT bayonet, which was going for approximately the same price as the gun itself (!), and settled for an aftermarket sight mount, the original "clawfoot" issue mounts having been bid up to a ridiculous level like the bayonets.
Blagojevick, you Son of a B.... !!!
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