Chicago Sun-Times Archives -

Just Like Clockwork

It didn’t take long for the Chicago Sun-Times to call upon Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to appeal the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in the joint cases of Moore v. Madigan and Shepard v. Madigan.

In their lead editorial today entitled “Madigan should appeal gun ruling”, the Sun-Times opines:

Illinois’ status as the only state that does not allow the carrying of concealed loaded guns was threatened Tuesday when a federal appeals court gave the state 180 days to change its law.

But that doesn’t mean Illinois should immediately allow anyone who feels like it to start toting a pistol.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who said Tuesday that she is reviewing her options, should appeal the overbroad ruling by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. And if the courts won’t extend the deadline while considering the appeal, the Legislature will have to craft a law that meets the court’s standards while providing as many protections as possible for citizens who don’t carry guns.

The Legislature might even be able to find a way to continue banning concealed carry while rewriting the law to satisfy the appeals court, which said the current law doesn’t rest on sufficient justification. Short of that, the Legislature could consider a narrowly crafted law, such as that in New York, which has concealed carry in theory but does not grant many permits.

Reading the full editorial, one can’t help but get the feeling that the editors of the Sun-Times are the residents of the 35th floor of the Park Tower of whom Judge Posner said had less need for concealed carry than people living in rough neighborhoods.

Frankly, I hope Ms. Madigan does pull an “Adrian Fenty” and appeal the ruling. Without the hubris of former Washington, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, we would never have had the Heller decision confirming the Second Amendment protects an individual right. Likewise, without cases like this one being appealed, we will never get a decision from the Supreme Court on the right to carry outside the home.

A Tale Of Two Chicago Newspapers

One Chicago newspaper had a column today that espoused a voice of reason with regard to semi-automatic firearms. Its competitor calls them “extreme weapons of slaughter.”

Steve Chapmen, writing in his Chicago Tribune column, called Gov. Pat Quinn’s amendatory veto “a pointless gesture.”

If allowing these guns stimulated more killing, the national murder rate wouldn’t have declined by 13 percent after the ban expired. But that’s what happened.

Prohibiting “assault weapons” is a pointless gesture. Those who propose a ban are only proving they don’t understand basic facts about guns and violence or don’t care.

The Chicago Sun-Times, by contrast, is happy that Gov. Quinn is exploiting the shootings in Aurora. When Illinois State Sen. David Luechtefeld (R-Okawville) accused Quinn of exploiting the tragedy, the Sun-Times said, “Damn right he is — and good for him.”

Showing that they really don’t understand the bill and just how extreme the restrictions that would be imposed if the Illinois General Assembly concurs with Quinn’s amendatory veto, they say the veto won’t limit handguns. Then they make the nonsensical suggestion to single out only AR-15s.

Quinn didn’t dilute his moral argument by calling for any other form of gun control, such as new limits on handguns.

But let’s go the governor one better. How about we agree to ban only assault weapons, putting off for another day the debate over high-round magazines?

Better yet, let’s ban only certain assault weapons, such as the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle used in the Colorado theater rampage. The AR-15 can rattle off 30 rounds as fast as you can pull the trigger.

Let’s bang the drum for a ban on just these extreme weapons of slaughter to make the point, if nothing else, that even the most conservative gun control proposal will always be shot down by one extremist organization, the National Rifle Association.

The problem with their argument is that as the veto reads firearms such as the Glock pistol would end up being banned due to the existence of the Glock 18. Read the amendatory veto here and see if you don’t agree. See Sec. 24-1.9 (a)(1)(C)(vi).

The Sun-Times editorial tries to make the NRA the whipping boy in this matter and accuses them of being the extremists for sticking up for the Second Amendment and constitutional rights. What if a bill was passed that said newspapers were restricted to letter presses such as Ben Franklin used that could only print a page at a time. Those high capacity web presses would be forbidden as they were never imagined by the Founding Fathers when they passed the First Amendment. This is analogous to their arguments and just as ridiculous.