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Illinois State Rifle Association
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CHAIRMAN'S COMMENTS
The suspense is mounting as the day comes near…the day the Supreme Court will finally hear the McDonald case. This has been a long time in coming. Many, many years in fact…far too many years, according to some gun rights organizations. They have long felt that we needed to have the Supreme Court hear a gun case to, once and for all, say if the Second Amendment is indeed an individual right or not. So in 2008, we finally got a chance for the Supreme Court to hear a case, ironically a case based in Washington DC. The case was won in a split decision, 5 to 4, in our favor. It stated that Washington DC did not have the right to restrict gun ownership to law-abiding citizens. After their long-awaited decision was announced in June of 2008, it was applauded by gun owners and people who believe in the Constitution and condemned by anti-gunners and Mayor Daley as ridiculous and crazy, supposedly opening up the country to lawlessness. This, despite the fact that it has been proven time and time again that gun control actually increases crime. Most cities with their now illegal gun bans had their city councils rescind the bans to avoid the inevitable law suits the ISRA and other pro-gun organizations promised would be coming. One notable exception, which was no surprise, was Chicago. The Mayor boldly stated that Chicago would not change their draconian, anti-citizen anti-gun policy. Chicago’s opinion, as well as a few other cities, was that the Heller case only applied to Washington DC; that it was a federal jurisdiction and didn’t apply to individual states. That being the case and anticipated by both the ISRA and Second Amendment Foundation, four plaintiffs living in Chicago came forward. They all felt very strongly that their 2nd Amendment, along with their 14th Amendment rights, were being violated. They sued the city of Chicago for that violation on 12.18.08. It was also anticipated that the case would lose in the Chicago court system, as it did. It was also anticipated it may lose in the 7th Appeals court when it was taken there on 6.2.09. As was expected, it did lose in the appeal court and our hope for it to go to the Supreme Court was realized on 9.30.09 when the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. The case is scheduled to be heard on March 2nd with Alan Gura (who won the Heller case) being the main attorney to present this case to the Supreme Court. Being present to hear the testimony will be Richard Pearson, Executive Director for the ISRA, along with Don Moran, its President. Even though the case is heard in early March, the decision will not be rendered until June; the anticipated date is June 28th. Both pro and anti-gun groups are predicting we will win the case. But the case will not be over until the decision is announced, so don’t break out the champagne out yet. Once the announcement is made, assuming it is in our favor, there still will be huge amounts of work to be done. Chicago and other cities will not fold up their anti-gun tents willingly. Just as after the Heller decision, Washington DC tried many other routes to stifle legal gun ownership and, in fact, is still fairly successful in curtailing fair and normal access to gun ownership. The new Washington, DC laws say that firearms owners must register their guns every three years and undergo criminal background checks every six years. Anti-gun groups have promised to step up their methods to limit and restrict gun ownership. Don’t forget…their supply of money is not hampered. The many foundations that support anti-gun crusades like the Joyce Foundation and George Sores, etc. are still cash rich and will continue to fight. They will figure out new laws and roadblocks to thwart our every effort in order to deny us our right to keep and bear arms. The fight to protect our rights, sadly, will never be over. IGOLD is a tremendously effective way for us to affect our lawmakers. Just as the Supreme Court case will have been heard by the time you read this, IGOLD will be over and, hopefully, will have been even more effective than last year’s tremendous event. A great thing about IGOLD is that different pro-gun groups have gotten together to sponsor this event, such as the ISRA, Illinois Carry and Champaign County Rifle Association. Instead of arguing and fighting about the most effective way to maintain and gain rights such as concealed carry, we are working hand in hand. The same thing has happened with the McDonald Supreme Court Case. We are working with the Second Amendment Foundation to fight and win this case. The ISRA Range Open House is yet another example where we are working with the NRA. Almost all groups fighting for any cause have either slightly or radically different views as how to attain their goal. This is normal and probably a good thing, as the more different views that are produced, the more the likelihood that there will be several good ideas revealed. The bad thing that can all-too-often happen is that infighting between these groups can be more destructive to the common cause than the actual enemy. The ISRA is fortunate to have some excellent leadership and is respected nationally by most, if not all Second Amendment rights groups. We were again the winners of the best Association by the NRA and Affiliate of the Year by the Citizens Committee to Keep and Bear Arms...quite an honor and well-deserved for all that ISRA does for gun owners in both IL and the entire country. We have won this honor three times from the NRA and four times from the Second Amendment Foundation, a feat never accomplished by any other gun rights organization. I am very proud of our organization and all that it has accomplished. Hopefully, you are a proud member as well and will do your part to instill in everyone you know the need to join the ISRA and join us in the fight to preserve, promote and protect our rights as provided to us by the Constitutions of both the USA and the State of Illinois. Doug Mayhall
*** All opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ISRA, Will County Grassroots, or any of it's members or officers.*** ------
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