ISRA

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Wise Words

December 28, 2012 by 5 Comments

Richard Pearson, Executive Director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, had this advice in his ISRA Thursday Bulletin. I consider them to be very wise words from someone who has been fighting in the trenches for gun rights for a long time.

As you are aware gun owners have been taking a pounding from the anti-gunners and their allies- the main stream media. Those two groups have declared war on gun owners and we will be maligned, degraded, demonized, and bullied in an effort to turn one group of gun owners against another. Don’t fall for it. I am a strong believer in the Farmer Doctrine.

The Farmer Doctrine was adopted at the first Gun Rights Policy Conference in 1985. The Farmer Doctrine is patterned after the NATO Doctrine. The Farmer Doctrine is as follows: Be it resolved that an attack one group of guns and gun owners shall be considered an attack on all guns and gun owners. Therefore we should all rise to the defense of each other.

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ISRA On Today’s 7th Circuit Win

December 11, 2012 by 3 Comments

The Illinois State Rifle Association welcomed the ruling by Judge Posner in the joint appeal of Moore v. Madigan and Shepard v. Madigan today. However, they recognize that with the focus shifting to the Illinois General Assembly, it is time to get to work so that a sham carry law isn’t shoved through the legislature by the anti-gun, anti-carry forces.

From ISRA’s Urgent Alert sent earlier this afternoon:

7TH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS DIRECTS ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO PASS CONCEALED CARRY BILL

BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT:

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has rendered a decision in the Shepard/Moore v. Madigan case that states that Illinois’ ban on concealed carry is unconstitutional. The court further directs the legislature to pass a concealed carry bill within 180 days. Although the announcement of this court ruling would appear to be good news for self-defense advocates, it is really nothing more than the first volley in what will be a heated battle to preserve and protect our gun rights. The gun control movement, headed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, will be introducing a concealed carry bill of their own for the sole purpose of satisfying the court order. Madigan’s bill is sure to be a sham that will be so restrictive and impractical that only very few Illinois citizens would even qualify for a carry permit – most citizens would remain unprotected from criminals. Information obtained from within the Madigan organization indicates that the anti-gunners will piggyback an “assault weapons” ban and other onerous gun control legislation on the concealed carry bill. In order to prevent Madigan from hijacking concealed carry, Illinois gun owners need to step up and let their voices be heard on this issue.

HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO GET A GOOD CONCEALED CARRY BILL PASSED:

1. Contact your State Representative and State Senator. Politely advise them that you are a law-abiding firearm owner and that you support the court of appeals decision in the Shepard case. Politely advise them that you want them to vote against any sham concealed carry bill that Lisa Madigan will try to push. Politely tell them that you want them to vote for HB 148, the Family and Personal Protection Act. Advise them that you will not support any concealed carry bill that contains provisions that would discourage the average citizen from seeking a carry permit such as exorbitant fees, impossible training requirements, or excessive red tape. Advise them that you will only support a “clean” concealed carry bill that does not try to sneak through gun control schemes. If you do not know who your State Representative and/or State Senator is, please visit the Illinois State Board of Elections website link here.

2. Pass this alert along to your family and friends. Encourage them to contact their representatives as well.

3. Post this alert to any and all internet blogs or bulletin boards to which you may belong.

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Quinn’s Amendatory Veto Overridden In Illinois House

December 4, 2012 by 2 Comments

The Illinois State House of Representatives has overridden Gov. Pat Quinn’s amendatory veto of SB 681 by a vote of 78 yea to 28 nay. The breakdown of the vote by representative can be seen here.

Quinn used his amendatory veto power to graft on a ban on certain semi-automatic firearms, standard capacity magazines, and .50BMG rifles to a bill that would allow Illinois dealers to sell ammunition by mail order.

The Illinois State Rifle Association issued this legislative alert on the override this afternoon:

SB681 Bill Has Been Over-ridden By The House of Representatives and the Governors Veto!

Today, the Illinois House of Representatives has voted to over ride SB681 and the Governors veto. By a vote of 78-28-0, the bill is now considered dead.

SB681 as previously reported had to do with restriction of shipping ammunition to Illlinois residents.

Thanks to the Illinois State Rifle Association membership and gun owners throughout the state, along with the many phone calls made to legislators, we were able to stop this bill from becoming law.

 As a point of clarification, Quinn’s substitute language is dead and the original language of the bill restored meaning that Illinois dealers can now ship ammo to FOID card holders.

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IGOLD 2013

November 29, 2012 by 3 Comments

One of the major annual events for the Illinois State Rifle Association is their Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day. This is the day that gun owners from across the Illini State gather to lobby the Illinois General Assembly.

ISRA recently set the date for the 2013 event. It will be held in Springfield, Illinois on Wednesday, March 6th.  You can download their flyer for the event here.

To get an idea about the turnout, check out these pictures on the Days of Our Trailers blog. By contrast, here is the turnout for a Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic) event outside the White House.

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Shepard V. Madigan – A Loss In District Court

March 31, 2012 by 6 Comments

US District Court Judge William D. Stiehl granted the State of Illinois’s Motion to Dismiss yesterday in the NRA-ISRA challenge to Illinois carry laws. The case, Shepard v. Madigan, was brought in US District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. Judge Stiehl granted the state’s motion to “dismiss pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim”. At the same time he denied the plaintiffs’ motions.

The NRA has indicated that they will appeal the ruling:

“Late today, a federal district court in Illinois wrongly ruled that the Second Amendment does not protect a right to carry firearms for self-protection outside the home. The NRA funded this challenge to Illinois’ ban on citizens’ ability to carry firearms legally outside their homes and businesses for self-defense, and will also be supporting an immediate appeal to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals–and to the Supreme Court if necessary.

The decision in the case of Shepard v. Madigan misreads the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment decisions and will continue to deprive law-abiding Illinoisans of the right to protect themselves effectively against crime on the streets.  It also conflicts with a growing body of case law elsewhere in the country, where courts have increasingly recognized that the right to bear arms for self-defense doesn’t end at Americans’ front doors.

“The NRA’s legal efforts will not end until the right to carry firearms for self-defense is fully recognized throughout our land,” said NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox.

Judge Stiehl found that intermediate scrutiny was the appropriate standard of scrutiny in this case. He then pointed to the 4th Circuit’s ruling in Masciandaro. However, unlike the judges in Woollard and Bateman, he read it differently, saying:

The defendants assert that the State of Illinois has significant governmental interests in protecting the safety of the public by restricting the availability and use of handguns in public. The Supreme Court has previously recognized that under intermediate scrutiny cases, the government’s interest need not be compelling. Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network, 519 U.S. 357, 376 (1997). As the Fourth Circuit noted in United States v. Masciandaro, 638 F.3d 458, 473 (4th Cir. 2011), “[l]oaded firearms are surely more dangerous than unloaded firearms, as they could fire accidentally or be fired before a potential victim has the opportunity to flee.” The State of Illinois has determined that, for purposes of protection of its residents, a citizen’s interest in carrying a firearm in public should be subject to the governmental interest in safeguarding the welfare of the public at large from the inherent dangers in a loaded firearm. This Court FINDS that the state has, therefore, established a substantial interest in the regulations at issue.

It seems to me that Judge Stiehl was grasping for straws in this decision. It will be interesting to see what the 7th Circuit makes of his logic. 

The full opinion can be found here.

UPDATE: Prof. Eugene Volokh of UCLA Law and the Volokh Conspiracy examined the decision yesterday. He offers the opinion that Judge Stiehl misreads the 7th Circuit’s Ezell opinion regarding intermediate scrutiny.

I’m not claiming that Ezell clearly selected “a more rigorous” standard than intermediate scrutiny for law-abiding-citizen Second Amendment claims — it may be that its selection of that standard is limited to restrictions that interfere with gun possession in the home. (The Ezell plaintiffs “claim[ed] that the range ban impermissibly burdens the core Second Amendment right to possess firearms at home for protection because the Ordinance conditions lawful possession on range training but makes it impossible to satisfy this condition anywhere in the city.”) But I am saying that Ezell did not select “intermediate scrutiny” as the general standard for law-abiding citizen Second Amendment claims outside the home, and the district court was mistaken in concluding that Ezell did so. Rather, the district court should have recognized that the issue had not been decided by the Seventh Circuit, and the court should have accepted the responsibility for itself making the choice, rather than asserting that the choice was made for it.

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Two Weeks Until The Gun Rights Policy Conference!

September 8, 2011 by 2 Comments

The 2011 Gun Rights Policy Conference is just two weeks away! It is hard to believe it is almost here. I’ve had my plane tickets and hotel reservations for months now and I’m ready to go.

The Illinois State Rifle Association will also be holding its annual meeting in conjunction with the conference. The conference will be held in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont which is near Chicago O’Hare Airport. In other words, in the belly of the beast!

If any of my readers are planning to attend, let me know either in the comments or by e-mail (jpr9954@gmail.com) as I would love to meet you there. Of course, for those that can’t attend, I will be blogging about the event and the speakers throughout the conference.

The release below from the Second Amendment Foundation has some updates on the speakers at the conference.

The 26th Annual Gun Rights Policy Conference attracts over 700 leaders from across the country, including speakers Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms; Joseph Tartaro, president of the Second Amendment Foundation; Sandy Froman, former president of the National Rifle Association Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association and many others.

Also scheduled to speak: Attorney Alan Gura, winner of the landmark Second Amendment Heller, McDonald and Ezell cases; John Fund, Wall Street Journal and Fox News contributor; Larry Pratt, executive director, Gun Owners of America; Hawaii State Sen. Sam Slom, and gun rights leaders from New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Virginia, as well as international activists from Canada and Italy.

The Gun Rights Policy Conference offers an opportunity for grassroots gun rights activists from across the country to gather under one roof for the opportunity to network, exchange strategies and hear from national gun rights leaders on major issues relating to firearms litigation and politics.

This year’s agenda includes panel discussions on, Gun rights litigation, the UN threat to gun rights, Federal and State legislative updates, Media Bias, Self-Defense and Right-to-Carry, Open Carry and Guns and the “Fast and Furious” Obama Administration fiasco.

If you don’t know, the conference is FREE. You will come home with a stack of books and other gun rights material that is at least a foot tall plus a wealth of knowledge that you won’t get anywhere else. The only requirement is that you register for the conference. You can pre-register by going to this link.

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ISRA Response To 7th Circuit Win On Ezell

July 7, 2011 by

The Illinois State Rifle Association is obviously pleased with the decision by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that mandates a preliminary injunction against the City of Chicago’s previous ban on shooting ranges within the city limits. As one of the organizational plaintiffs in Ezell v. Chicago, they not only got the preliminary injunction but their status as an organizational plaintff was reaffirmed by Judge Syke’s opinion.

The official response from ISRA and their in-house counsel Victor Quilici is below.

Firearm Law & Commentary
by Victor D. Quilici, ISRA Attorney

7TH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS GRANTS PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION IN EZELL V. CITY OF CHICAGO GUN RANGE CASE

July 6, 2011

One day after the Supreme Court decided McDonald vs. City of Chicago, the City explored a legislative response to the decision and shortly thereafter the ordinance banning handguns was repealed and the City passed its now infamous “Responsible Gun Owners Ordinance.”

The new ordinance contained a sweeping array of firearm restrictions, including a ban on firing ranges within the City, although the ordinance contained a provision requiring aspiring gun owners to complete one hour of range training as a prerequisite to acquiring a Chicago Firearm Permit which is mandated for lawful gun ownership in the City. Immediately, ISRA was joined by three Chicago residents, the Second Amendment foundation, and Action Target Designs, and a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO), a preliminary injunction, and a permanent injunction against the City’s firing range ban.. As the appellate court noted, the lawsuit alleged that the range-ban “impermissibly burdens the core Second Amendment right to possess firearms in the home for self-defense because it prohibits, everywhere in the City, the means of satisfying a condition the City imposes for lawful firearm possession.”

The District Court judge denied the relief sought by the Plaintiffs, and on appeal the appellate court tribunal found that the lower court’s acceptance of the City’s “confused approach to the case” led the District Court to err in failing to recognize “ the scope of the Second Amendment right as recognized in Heller and applied to the states in McDonald, and the standard of review of laws alleged to infringe Second Amendment rights.” The appellate court also noted that the City failed to produce any empirical evidence of any kind, “and rested its entire defense of the range ban on speculation about accidents and theft.”

The appeals court concluded by noting that at this stage of the proceedings “the firing range ban is wholly out of proportion to the public interests the City claims it serves.” Thus, the court determined the plaintiffs showed irreparable harm, no adequate remedy at law, and a strong likelihood of success—all prerequisites to obtaining injunctive relief. The District Court’s decision was reversed and the case remanded (returned) to the lower court with instructions to enter a preliminary injunction consistent with its decision. A First Amendment violation alleged in the lawsuit was not addressed and considered surplusage based on the court’s findings and its decision based on the Plaintiffs’ Second Amendment claims.

Illinois State Rifle Association members and its friends should keep in mind that this is only round one of a continued fight to protect our fundamental rights to ownership and possession of firearms for self-defense, and other lawful purposes, as our United States Supreme Court clearly pronounced in its ground-breaking decisions in Heller, and McDonald. We owe a big round of applause and “thanks” to the attorneys involved— Alan Gura and David Sigale.

Victor D. Quilici
ISRA Counsel

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ISRA Responds To Chicago Police Head’s Racist Rant Against The NRA And Gun Owners

June 24, 2011 by 1 Comment

Richard Pearson, Executive Director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, released this alert and statement regarding Chicago Police Superintendent Gerry McCarthy’s racist rant against gun owners, Sarah Palin, the NRA, and Federal firearms laws delivered to the primarily African-American congregation of St. Sabina’s Catholic Church in Chicago. If you haven’t seen the video, I posted it here a couple of days ago.

ISRA URGENT ALERT: NEW CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT LAUNCHES ATTACK AGAINST LAW-ABIDING FIREARM OWNERS

Fellow Law-Abiding Firearm Owners:

As many of you may already know, Chicago’s new police superintendant, Gerry McCarthy, recently delivered an address on the topic of gun control to the parishioners of Fr. Pfleger’s St. Sabina’s Church. For those of you who have not seen the video of McCarthy’s address, you may find it at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIX4j2sormY&feature=player_embedded

Certainly, none of us would expect McCarthy to discuss how traditional gun control policies seek to disarm law-abiding citizens while ignoring violent criminals. Likewise, we wouldn’t expect to hear McCarthy place the blame for violent crime on a justice system that woefully fails to apprehend, convict and rehabilitate society’s most dangerous elements. No, we’d never expect to hear McCarthy utter the truth about one of the most contentious issues of the day.

As much as we wouldn’t expect to hear McCarthy speak in opposition to gun control, it is equally certain that few of us were prepared to hear what actually came from McCarthy’s mouth when he spoke to the St. Sabina’s congregation. After several minutes of gratuitous self-promotion, McCarthy launched into a racially-charged tirade in which he accused the NRA and law-abiding gun owners of participating in a government-sponsored program to kill Black people.

Like most of you, we believe an assertion such as McCarthy’s is too nutty to dignify with a response. But listening to McCarthy’s rant causes us to pause and ponder the Chicago Police Department’s own record on race relations. Furthermore, given McCarthy’s background, would any of the readers venture a guess as to who McCarthy blames for crime and violence when he’s safe at home among his family and personal friends?

Gerry McCarthy’s verbal attack on law-abiding citizens serves as an affront to law-enforcement officers everywhere. But, then again, any suggestion that McCarthy is a law-enforcement officer is a sham. Rather, McCarthy is merely another in a long line of political hacks who have resided in the office of police superintendant. McCarthy’s job description has nothing to do with law-enforcement and everything to do with enforcing the political agenda of his boss, Rahm Emanuel. Of course, as we know, Emanuel’s agenda seeks the eventual prohibition of private firearm ownership.

Probably the most ironic thing about McCarthy’s speech to St. Sabina’s parishioners is that McCarthy delivered his address while standing only a few feet away from Rev. Mike Pfleger. Let us not forget that, a few years ago, Pfleger urged attendees at a gun control rally to go out and murder gun shop owners and politicians who vote against gun control laws.

McCarthy’s speech at St. Sabina’s is a mere preview of what law-abiding firearm owners can expect out of the Emanuel administration in the months ahead. Watch the video of McCarthy’s performance at St. Sabina’s and you will see what we’re up against. And, as always, we really need your financial support to help contain and defeat the Emanuel Gun Grabbing Machine. So, once you’ve watched the video, please make a generous donation to the ISRA so that Emanuel’s dream of a gun-free Illinois doesn’t wind up becoming your nightmare.

Also, please pass this alert on to your friends and relatives. Be sure to post this alert to any and all Internet blogs and bulletin boards to which you belong.

Remember, gun control is a disease and you are the cure.

Sincerely,

Richard A. Pearson
Executive Director
Illinois State Rifle Association

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Status Of Concealed Carry In Illinois

May 27, 2011 by

Richard Pearson is the Executive Director of the Illinois State Rifle Association. He is on the front line every day in Illinois dealing with the legislature and fighting for gun rights. He released this yesterday regarding concealed carry and HB 148. Also, see Don Moran’s note that ISRA’s fight against the Cook County Assault Weapons Ban is continuing.

There has been a great deal of conjecture out there about what we are going to do after placing HB148 on postponed consideration. First let me explain what postponed consideration means.

It simply means the sponsor with drew the bill before the vote could be recorded. The bill is still alive and will be until the second Wednesday in January 2013. This means we can bring the bill back during veto session, next session, or next veto session.

You will not see HB148 brought up again before May 31st ,which is the end of the Spring 2011 session. There is no way to do it and have any better results. Long before the vote it was decided that if the bill did not pass we would sue the State of Illinois over the inability of Illinois citizens to defend themselves outside of their home. Illinois is the only state that does not allow either open carry or concealed carry. We have now begun the legal challenges to the Illinois laws with the NRA. The is another challenge from the Second Amendment Foundation on a similar basis. Illinois is now facing two law suits over the inability of Illinois citizens being able to defend themselves outside their homes. Brandon Phelps the CCW sponsor warned the House of Representatives that they would be in court if the bill was not passed. Within seven days we delivered on that promise. If we get CCW by court order I am happy with that. If it comes by court order the legislature will have to still enact some legislation but they will find their hands are tied. We offered a good bill and they turned it down.

These lawsuits will take time to make their way through the court system. There is a great deal of work that goes into these suits every day before they are heard in court. It is not a simple thing to file a law suit. There is always on going work behind the scenes. Be patient.

We promised that in 2011 we would get a up and down vote on CCW and we did. We had
to probe and find out the other side’s strengths, weakness, and reactions. We have done that. There were a few surprises but not many. We have a lot of work to do in the next few months. This effort has taken a toll on our resources and our energy. We have to develop new strategies and reinforce old ones that work. We are not quitting. Remember we fiercely believe in the Second Amendment and the right to self defense. We will win this battle. As I reminded one of our opponents – “You don’t defeat us- we just fall back reload and attack again.”

Note by Don Moran, ISRA President: This summer will see a lot of activity in relation to HB-148 and all the pending litigation ISRA is involved in, Ezell v Chicago (Chicago range suit), Wilson v Cook County (Cook County Assault Weapon Ban), ISRA v ISP (FOID Privacy), and ISRA v Madigan (Carry suit). It is very important that we are able to contact as many of you and your friends as possible quickly when action is needed. I know you get tired of hearing it, but funding all this
requires constant vigilance as well. We’ve put on even more lobbyists this year and we are now involved in an incredible amount of litigation on behalf of Illinois firearm owners. When people ask you, who is the ISRA, or what has ISRA done for me lately, let them know all of the above, and then ask them what have they are doing for the fight RIGHT NOW? We need their help as well.

UPDATE: Wilson v Cook County, the ISRA’s suit seeking to overturn the
Cook County Assault Weapon ban, was granted leave to appeal by the Illinois
Supreme Court yesterday, meaning the Court will hear the case.

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ISRA Says Anti-Gun Legislators Only Have Themselves To Blame For Lawsuits

May 17, 2011 by

The Illinois State Rifle Association release the following which notes that the failure to pass HB 148 robs the Illinois State Police of money needed to upgrade their background check system and is directly responsible for the lawsuits filed by the NRA, ISRA, and the Second Amendment Foundation.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., May 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):

Illinois gun control advocates and their allies in the General Assembly delivered a “triple-whammy” against public safety recently when they sabotaged passage of HB148.

Under the provisions of HB148, well-trained, well-qualified Illinois citizens would be permitted to carry defensive firearms to protect themselves and their families from violent criminals. At the same time, HB148 would have provided upwards of $40 million in permit fees to the Illinois State Police to pay for upgrades to the state’s antiquated gun buyer background check system.

But, thanks to the short-sighted efforts of the gun control movement and its friends in the Illinois House, tens of thousands of law-abiding Illinois citizens will continue to suffer at the hands of murderers, robbers and rapists because they cannot lawfully defend themselves. Likewise, the gun control movement can take credit for saddling the state police with a background check system based on software developed in 1959.

Rounding out the triple whammy-against the citizens of Illinois is the fact that the actions of gun control advocates are to blame for a pair of lawsuits filed this week in federal court against the State of Illinois. Both lawsuits – one filed by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), the other filed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the ISRA – contend that the state is damaging law-abiding citizens by prohibiting the carrying of defensive firearms.

In a nut shell, the gun control movement’s efforts the kill HB148 have ensured that Illinois remains one of the most dangerous places to live in the United States. In addition to causing the loss of $40 million for better background checks, the gun control movement is now responsible for Illinois having to shell out millions in taxpayer dollars to pay legal bills related to the SAF and NRA/ISRA lawsuits. Once again, the extremist views of the gun control movement are costing the good people of Illinois dearly.

“The ISRA is very excited about being a plaintiff in the NRA/ISRA lawsuit,” commented ISRA Executive Director, Richard Pearson. “This lawsuit defines the cutting edge of one of the most important questions of the day. That is, does the state have the right to decide who is worth defending and who is not?”

“The fact that two lawsuits have been filed against the State of Illinois this week is proof-positive that this issue is not going to go away,” continued Pearson. “The behind the scenes political gamesmanship that resulted in the scuttling of HB148 has not diminished the resolve of the good people of Illinois. Whether it is in the courts, in the legislature, or at the ballot box, we will relentlessly push forward until the citizen’s right to self defense is restored in Illinois.”

The ISRA is the state’s leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. For more than a century, the ISRA has represented the interests of millions of law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.