PEORIA -- Here's a fascinating appeal from a group working to stop concealed carry in Illinois, and a petition to sign to send to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
If she wants to run for another office, governor or senator for example, she better act on this!
From Lee Goodman of the Stop Concealed Carry Coalition:
On December 11, a
three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit federal appellate court threw out
Illinois' ban on carrying weapons in public. Illinois Attorney General
Lisa Madigan had a two week deadline to ask the entire Circuit Court to
review the decision, but she received an extension until January 8. She
has not yet announced whether she will ask the court to review the
decision.
If she doesn't
ask for the Circuit Court review, she could try to get the U.S. Supreme
Court to take the case on appeal. But if she does nothing, the decision
will become law, and it will be legal to carry concealed weapons in
public in Illinois.
Some
people think that Madigan is waiting to appeal the decision in hopes
that the Illinois legislature will enact a new law that includes some
controls on guns that were not in the old law. However, because the
court decision said that the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to
carry guns in public, unless the court decision is overturned, any new
law would have to include a provision allowing people to carry guns.
The
only way left to keep guns out of stores, schools, churches, parks,
streets, and other public places is for Lisa Madigan to appeal the
court's decision and for the legislature to refuse to enact a law that
allows carrying concealed weapons in public. If the legislature
enacts a law allowing guns in public, the appeal will become moot;
neither the 7th Circuit nor the Supreme Court will take the case, and
the court decision will stand forever.
Some
newspapers have reported that Madigan may be hesitant to appeal because
an unfavorable decision by the Supreme Court could require New York and
California to revise their relatively strict gun laws. But Madigan is supposed to represent the people of Illinois, not those other states.
If we win in the Supreme Court, we could continue to ban public guns,
and the entire country would have a favorable ruling it could rely on.
If we lose in the Supreme Court, we are no worse off than right now.
Members
of our coalition like you have sent emails and made phone calls to
Madigan urging her to appeal. We will be ramping up our efforts to
encourage the appeal between now and the January 8 deadline, but first we need to increase the number of people in our coaltion.
Can you get one or two more people to sign up online? Please, right now, shout out to the person in the next room and ask that person to sign up at www.StopConcealedCarry.org.
If no one else is home, send an email to a couple of friends or
relatives, or phone them. And while you are at it, ask a few more of
your friends to urge Madigan to appeal. Madigan can be reached at
[email protected] or 312-814-3000.
This
is an all-volunteer coalition. We don't have a staff. We rely on you to
build the coalition. All we are asking is a few moments of your time.
All we can offer in return is a higher level of personal safety for you
and everyone you care about. Please help.
Thank you,
Lee Goodman
-30-
Thanks for helping to spread the word about the danger of concealed weapons in public.
Posted by: Lee Goodman | December 30, 2012 at 10:56 AM
If someone wanted to bring a gun into any of these places, whey will find a way. You can't stop them.
Posted by: sarah | December 30, 2012 at 02:27 PM
Trust me, Madigan doesn't want to appeal this wonderful ruling, if she does, it will backfire and we will end up with constitutional carry. Concealed carry is coming wether you want it or not. It's about time too.
Posted by: chris | January 03, 2013 at 12:12 PM
Law abiding gun owners do not shoot innocent people.
Changing laws to criminalize law abiding gun owners will only mean more criminals in the streets with guns.
It's time to start thinking for yourself, people of Illinois.
Stop letting other people think for you & think the gun issue all the way home. You can not legislate away evil. It will not work. It never has.
Posted by: MovieGo | January 11, 2013 at 01:03 PM