• A major triumph – IllinoisCarry, the ISRA, and NRA joined forces to produce an all new Right to Carry bill for Illinois. This bill was voted on in the House on May 5, 2011, the first such vote in decades! In a near triumph, we fell just 6 votes short of the needed super-majority of 72! The narrow miss can be blamed directly on Gov. Quinn and the city of Chicago who pulled out all the stops in the final days before the vote to campaign against the measure. The bill, HB148, was put on postponed consideration and can be recalled for another vote between now and Jan. 2013. All supporters are working tirelessly to secure the needed handful of votes.
• A major triumph - the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in Ezell vs Chicago. The court ruled the Second Amendment must be given the same measure of respect as the First Amendment, accused Chicago of thumbing its nose at the U.S. Supreme Court, and basically instructed the city to get their act together in regards to the individual right to keep and bear arms.
• A major triumph - the barrier against Right to Carry is beginning to crack in the city of Chicago and Cook County. Elected officials are actually beginning to consider Right to Carry and are even hosting their own town hall meetings on the issue. This is new ground and could be just the break we need to garner the support needed to pass HB148. We feel this movement is due in large part to a group of dedicated IllinoisCarry, Second Amendment Sisters, ISRA and NRA members in Chicago’s black community. They have worked very hard on this issue holding several town hall meetings comprised of local Chicago folks. Our hats are off to these fine folks for their hard work and determination.
• A major triumph, two lawsuits were filed challenging the ban on the Right to Carry for personal protection. IllinoisCarry is honored to be a plaintiff in the Second Amendment Foundation’s lawsuit Moore vs Madigan and the ISRA is spearheading a lawsuit with our feisty friend Mary Shepard. A favorable ruling from either of the court cases could expedite Right to Carry in Illinois.
• IllinoisCarry spokesperson, Valinda Rowe, was awarded the prestigious Grass Roots Activist of the Year by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. This national recognition reflects the diligence and commitment to excellence our organization has come to represent.
• We have held many, many town hall meetings from one end of the state to the other, printed mountains of fliers, and marched in parades. We have helped turn Right to Carry into a topic of conversation all over the state. We have seen legislators, who once laughed at the notion of Right to Carry, attending these meetings and even conducting their own town hall meetings to discuss the issue.
• IllinoisCarry members have been regular contributors to newspaper, radio and TV programs all over the state, but most importantly inside the city of Chicago. They have testified in committees, met with legislators, marched on the capitol, gone to court, raised funds, produced videos and a host of other activities. All this from a grassroots, all volunteer organization that owns no equipment or property!
• IllinoisCarry membership has grown tremendously in this past year, over 600 new members were added to our roster. That’s 600 more voices dedicated to being heard, and hopefully 600 more members to add to the nearly 7,000 who will attend IGOLD on Mar. 7, 2012. Our Illinois-specific web site is heavily trafficked by thousands of the most dedicated and involved members and elected officials in the state. This is the result of a lot of people doing a lot of work and doing it right!
• We are ready to start our Winter Tour 2012 of Town Hall Meetings in an effort to gain the handful of votes we need to pass Right to Carry. We don’t need all the legislators to vote for the bill, just enough of them.
There was a time when talking to legislators about right to carry they would laugh at us…WELL, THEY AREN’T LAUGHING NOW – now they are asking “How can I help”?!
Join us at IllinoisCarry.com and find out how you can help win back our Right to Keep and Bear Arms!!
A very special thank you to Barry Bourdage and the folks at Techpro for hosting the IllinoisCarry website.
11/16/11
Despite the usual anti-gun rhetoric, despite the same old hysterics about blood in the streets, and despite the outright lies about concealed carry license holders, real common sense prevailed and H.R. 822, the National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act, passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives today with a vote of 272-154 . The measure simply requires states to honor Right to Carry licenses from other states, just as driver's licenses are recognized.
Unfortunately, an amendment which would have extended the Right to Carry in Illinois to IL residents who have out of state licenses failed to make it out of committee and was not included in the final passage of the bill.
H.R. 822 now moves to the U.S. Senate where it faces a tougher challenge.
With Wisconsin's new concealed carry law going into effect Nov. 1, leaving Illinois the last and only state without such a law, the issue of Right to Carry has been brought into focus like never before. Law abiding citizens are now demanding to know why they should be denied their right to personal protection simply because they live in Illinois.
(Image of Sunrise in Chicago was authored by Daniel Schwen, who made it available via Wikimedia Commons. No endorsement of Illinois Carry is implied.)
Second Amendment Foundation's Gun Rights Activist of the Year!
*****Last weekend, a few hundred hard-core civil rights activists gathered in Chicago for the Gun Rights Policy Conference to spend two days listening to grassroots activists and organizers, authors, scholars, lawyers, politicians and others speak about the state of "gun rights" in these United States. The authors talked about books, the lawyers talked about cases before the courts, and the activists, including Illinois Carry's own Spokesperson Valinda Rowe, spoke about activism . . . but first, the SAF had something to say about her: Valinda has been selected as the SAF's Second Amendment Activist of the Year.
The choice is an apt one; without Valinda Rowe and her steadfast husband, Mike, Illinois Carry would likely be unrecognizable. The SAF cited accomplishments like IGOLD, Right-to-Carry town hall meetings in Chicago and across Illinois, and the key role Valinda has played in recruiting plaintiffs who've made history in courtrooms from Springfield to Chicago to Washington, D.C.
Congratulations, Valinda Rowe, from all of us at Illinois Carry!
Words by Don Gwinn . . . Photograph by Chris Conmy.
IllinoisCarry would like to take this time to honor those brave souls who rushed to the rescue on 9/11, the passengers on Flight 93 who gave their lives for others, the innocent victims who were killed, and to those who survived -
