[Positrack]

Contact your state reps and ask them to support House Bill 245! This bill outlines a very reasonable "shall issue" concealed carry law.

Here's a link to the bill's status:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=0245&GAID=10&GA=96&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=40361&SessionID=76

Here's a link to the actual bill itself:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=76&GA=96&DocTypeId=HB&DocNum=0245&GAID=10&LegID=40361&SpecSess=&Session=

I think the House is set to vote on this Wednesday (2/25), and it stands a good chance of passing. The vote in the Senate may be a bit more difficult, but many think it just might pass there too. Getting the Governor to sign it is the biggest hurdle and is admittedly pretty unlikely, but with enough pressure, who knows? Here is a link to the Governor's contact info:

http://www.illinois.gov/helpdesk/contact.cfm


EDIT: There is another nearly identical bill (HB 462) pending as well. I don't know why they have proposed two nearly identical bills, but anyway, I'd gladly take either!

[stonecutter2]

Message to the Governor sent.

[Smithiac]

I'm sending one as well. Best I can tell from all of the BS is that we don't know yet. Correct me if Im wrong here.

[metallic]

I'm cheering for y'all. Any word on if this will apply to Chicago?

[stonecutter2]

Here's the legislator lookup feature for any Illinois residents who want to know who their legislators are.

http://www.elections.il.gov/DistrictLocator/SelectSearchType.aspx

In light of this morning's violence, your voice needs to be heard more than ever. Ask the legislators to allow you to defend yourself and your loved ones.

[Positrack]

@ metallic-

As it is written now, it would be a statewide law overruling Chicago's "home rule" ordinances, so yes, it would apply to Chicago. However, that may be a nail in it's coffin since nothing happens in this state without the approval of Daley and the other Chicagoland folks who basically run state politics. In the interest of "High Road" principles, I will refrain from commenting further on that whole corrupt political mess.

From the research I've done, there seems to be a LOT of downstate support for this, but it will never pass in the NE counties, and I just can't imagine our new (Chicagoan) governor signing the bill if it did make it through the legislature. :banghead: That's not going to stop me from actively supporting it though.

[ilbob]

better and more complete information is available at

http://www.illinoiscarry.org

its hard to tell just how hard quinn is willing to push back if this gets through the legislature.

[Rat Robb]

Hopefully the incident in Maryville, IL on Sunday helps gain support for this instead of derail it.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,506820,00.html

-Robb

[Don Gwinn]

Hey, everybody's going to IGOLD 2009 (http://www.igold.isra.org) tomorrow, right? We need you.

If you can't make it, there's a complete list of legislators to call and fax on my blog. (http://thearmedschoolteacher.blogspot.com)

[6_gunner]

Even though I would love to see Chicago adopt CCW, I think this bill would have a much better shot of passing if they let Chicago do their own thing.

If it passes, I wonder if they'll recognize permits from any other states. Doubt it.

[Yellowfin]

It may take several tries to do it, but it can get done even if not the first, second, or even fifth or tenth time. Missouri took 12 tries I'm told.

[Positrack]

@6 gunner-

Yeah, I agree. Chicagoland could just become it's own state as far as I'm concerned...

And yes, as it's written, the bill will actually recognize any other state's permit as long as that state recognizes IL's, and if (IIRC) that state's CC requirements are at least as stringent as those in the proposed bill.


@yellowfin-

It's been tried here a few times already, though I'm not sure how many. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that tragic and baffling church shooting the other day will probably not help the atmosphere. This despite:

1. CC is not legal here and <GASP> shootings like this happen anyway. That must mean <GASP II> people looking to break major laws (such as murder for instance) are clearly not too likely to obey the more minor ones (like illegally carrying a weapon).

2. This happened in a church, one of the places in which CC would be forbidden under the proposed bill anyway.

3. The obvious elephant in the room nobody seems willing to see or talk about; if someone other than the shooter had been armed, this might have been stopped before the preacher was murdered and several congregants wounded from the shooter's knife. I heard on the news the preacher stopped the first two bullets with his Bible! :what: If someone else had been armed, this very possibly could have ended with nobody killed or injured (aside from the shooter of course).

It's really frustrating, but some people are just so closed minded they see only the answer they want to see and don't acknowledge to themselves that there could be other possibilities. It was the same way when the NIU shootings happened. There was a general outcry against guns, and the store who sold the kid the weapons went out of business IIRC, but very few brought up the notion that if any of the students/faculty had been armed, the shooter could have been stopped before he killed 5 and wounded 16.

Sorry for the somewhat off-topic rant; I'll step off the soapbox now...

[Jaybird78]

Emailed the gov. My local reps all ready support. I'm sure I have been "listed", with all the personal info I had to give just to comment to the gov. :scrutiny:


We can HOPE for CHANGE I guess. :neener:

[Geneseo1911]

Yep; Tony's Guns and Ammo in Champaign. No longer in business. The transaction was completely legal, too; the FFL did nothing wrong, but closed his business due to receiving death threats. Ironic, no?

Has anyone heard what happened today with SB 1976? If I have my info straight, this is the only CC bill in the Senate, and it was heard today in the Public Health committee, which isn't very gun friendly. I believe they have killed a CC bill every year for several years now.

[stonecutter2]

SB 1976 was rejected by the State Senate Public Health Committee.

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2009/03/11/news/doc49b6ea204cbf0577910297.txt

Very frustrating. Especially the comments about the House bills going nowhere once they reach the Senate.

[Geneseo1911]

Yep. I don't know why I still get excited every year.

[Positrack]

That's great... Ya' gotta ask if it's really democracy when a small handful of like-minded legislators can control what the rest of OUR legislators are allowed to vote on. Just unbelievable. :banghead:

Like I said, Chicago needs to just become its own state...

[BridgeDr]

So is this dead, or do we still have a snowballs chance?

[Smithiac]

Dead as far as I can tell

[swan hunter]

There are still 4 carry bills in the House. One of them...2257 lets Chicago Opt. out. This will also allow a simple majority to pass instead of super majority to override Chicago.
Lots of obstacles in the way but, we are going after them one at a time!

IGOLD was AWESOME! Great volunteer help and Great participants!!!