Federal court rules Illinois concealed carry ban is unconstitutional
Illinois was the only state in the union with a statewide ban on concealed carry but that changed today when the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s ruling and declared the outright ban of concealed carry is unconstitutional.
The decision was stayed for 180 days to allow the state legislature to rewrite its gun laws. Here is what the court had to say,while siting the Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v Heller:
We are disinclined to engage in another round of historical analysis to determine whether eighteenth-century America understood the Second Amendment to include a right to bear guns outside the home,” Judge Richard Posner wrote in the court’s majority opinion.
“The Supreme Court has decided that the amendment confers a right to bear arms for self-defense, which is as important outside the home as inside. The theoretical and empirical evidence (which overall is inconclusive) is consistent with concluding that a right to carry firearms in public may promote self-defense,” he continued.
“Illinois had to provide us with more than merely a rational basis for believing that its uniquely sweeping ban is justified by an increase in public safety. It has failed to meet this burden,” Posner wrote.
The Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Second Amendment therefore compels us to reverse the decisions in the two cases before us and remand them to their respective district courts for the entry of declarations of unconstitutionality and permanent injunctions
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has decided to wait until the new laws are written before deciding what action to take next, if any, so it seems likely she won’t challenge the concealed carry decision itself. In light of the Supreme Court decision in Heller, which was a ruling on Washington DC’s handgun ban, it seems highly unlikely the Supreme Court as currently constituted would overturn this decision and Attorney General Madigan probably realizes this.
Today we won one and it feels good for a change!
America's Watchtower 
At last! Sanity from the Illinois courts!
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Amen to that!
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Isn’t it nice that there is some judges who have read the constitution?
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It sure is! It seems as if most of them would rather read into the constitution what they feel should be there rather than what is in there.
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As a resident if the Peoples Republic of Illinois I fully expect the General Assembly and Lisa Madigan to drag this out as long as possible. For those of you that aren’t familiar with our state government Lisa’s father Mike Madigan is the House of Representatives leader and the current ruler of the Illinois machine. Lisa is in line to usurp our idiot governor’s seat and Papa Mike has his way with the Senate or else. The last time I checked he had 230+ full time staffers whose only job is to animate at election time and get the machine on track and rolling. Remember this is a state where a community organizer rose from street trash to the Presidency in an inordinately short time.
That being said I expect them to craft legislation that will be challenged in court line for line making the law unusable and ineffective while Lisa rises to prominence fighting the gun lobby just in time for General Elections.
If your interested in Illinois politics, we call it graft, greed and corruption, keep tuned into the process.
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Thanks for your insight Phillip, I know that Chicago is considered to be one of the most corrupt cities in America but I didn’t realize the incestuous nature between the AG and the legislature, this story certainly isn’t over and it appears as if the AG has this lined up to benefit her personally instead of looking out for the people. I look forward to hearing Lou’s take on this as well.
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Haha! My take on it is that they are buying some time to talk it over with “Chicago” and to see if they have anything in the files on this Judge. They have lots of “files”. It would be wonderful to have CC here, but I am not holding my breath right now. They live and breath to fight those big bad guns. Remember Rahm wants to pattern American after the great city of Chicago….there are no guns there, well except for the illegal ones, but that doesn’t count. I would NOT live there without one, but doing so would make ME a felon if it was found out I had one. Crazy, isn’t it? We have the RIGHT to keep and bear arms, remember? I hope that this can hold for us, we are the last hold out in the nation to make it illegal to carry, but I doubt that suprises anyone, does it?
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Oh NOOOO! It posted me as Anonymous!!! What happened? Please change it, Steve…I so do NOT want to be called by that name.
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Thanks for your input Lou, you know the system there better than I do so there probably is something going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about. Rahm saying he wants America to be more like Chicago should send chills down everyones’ spines.
It is absurd to think that these politicians would want to disarm law abiding citizens all the while knowing that the criminals will still have the weapons.
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All changed over Lou, I don’t know what happened either but when I saw “Anonymous” I was looking forward to seeing how THE “Anonymous” was going to turn this into a chance at spouting class warfare rhetoric. 🙂
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Actually anonymous has had a cwp and loves shootin’ stuff! I bet no one saw that one coming.
A few years back my roommate’s girlfriend’s brother was a wannabee gang banger, and was all pissed off at my roommate. The only reason he, and his friends didn’t mess with us was the fact that my roommate was a former marine, and I has a few assault weapons, and they knew it. We were waaaaaay better armed than them…..
And Steve, the class war is long over. It is now class genocide.
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You are right, I didn’t see that one coming at all!
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Lou222, I’m in Joliet. I grew up at 37th and Parnell. 3 blocks from the king of Chicago. We need to connect!
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Grew up in East St Louis, a transplant to Decatur the last 25 years, Phillip. We know what goes on in this state and it can be directly related to what will go on for the US, if Obama has his way. There is not a more corrupt state around, so people should take warning when decisions are made by someone with most of his contacts and administration coming from here. They need to look no further than our state government in Springfield to see how things roll. Pay and Play, as they say!
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It’s good to see a little constitutional sanity from the courts, instead of an all-out assault on our rights.
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It sure is Larry!
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Does everyone here agree that we all have the right to not get shot by some heavily armed nutcase?
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Yes, and we also have the right to not get assaulted by an unarmed nutcase and also to defend ourselves in either case.
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You are absolutely right. The problem is you are 9 times more likely to shoot yourself or a family member than an intruder. I stopped carrying years ago. It wasn’t worth the risk.
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STEVE this puts a whole new meaning to ” MAKE MY DAY ” . To JUDGE RICHARD POSNER I SAY THANK YOU!!!!!
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One Judge one opinion. As stated the Democrats in Illinois live under their own rules. They can break even a sitting Applet Court Judge. This is a state Huey Long would be proud of. Bought and bought for good.
As I said it isn’t over with yet!
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It feels good doesn’t it, as Phillip said this isn’t over yet so we must always keep our eyes on these people.
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Here is the best part:
“We are disinclined to engage in another round of historical analysis to determine whether eighteenth-century America understood the Second Amendment to include a right to bear guns outside the home,” Judge Richard Posner wrote in the court’s majority opinion.
“The Supreme Court has decided that the amendment confers a right to bear arms for self-defense, which is as important outside the home as inside. The theoretical and empirical evidence (which overall is inconclusive) is consistent with concluding that a right to carry firearms in public may promote self-defense,” he continued.
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I loved that part as well!
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For some reason the msm isn’t carrying the story. 🙂
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I wonder why. 😉
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