Sangamon County Rifle Association
Right Reason on Second Amendment Rights
Springfield, Illinois

Illinois and Wisconsin are the only states that don't have some sort of concealed carry law allowing their citizens the means to protect themselves from criminals.  Any government that denies its citizens the means to defend themselves is neither compassionate or protective, but barbarous.

Our Founding Fathers believed that being armed for defense of self, family, community and country was more than a right or necessary practical consideration.  And in a free society being armed for self-defense is a moral obligation of citizenship.  From the days of Greece and Roman antiquity the worldwide view held is that good citizens must always be prepared to defend themselves and their society.

Both Illinois and Wisconsin have anti-gun Governors whose administrations have been rocked by scandals.  Both have vetoed pro-gun legislation passed by their legislatures.  The Wisconsin legislature had passed a concealed carry law but failed to override Governor Jim Doyle's veto.  This was his second veto of concealed carry law legislation.

The single most powerful Illinois politician in the State, Chicago's Richard M. Daley, is a huge stumbling block to concealed carry.  His city administration has also been rocked by scandals and federal investigations, but he still remains a potent anti-gun foe.  Chicago due to its large population sends 40 percent of the legislators to Springfield, and most of them are beholden to Daley politically.

In Illinois, much potential legislation requires a "super-majority" of 60 percent to pass.  With 40 percent against it from Chicago, along with an anti-gun Governor, makes it extremely hard to pass a concealed carry law in Illinois.  While not impossible to pass it will take 100 percent support of the state's firearm owners, hunters and gun organizations.

Take away the means of self-defense and every other right becomes irrelevant.  If you can't defend yourself or the lives of your family, then your property rights are worthless.  Nor do your rights to religious observance, free speech, or freedom of the press.  Your right to a jury trial or to be free from cruel and unusual punishment are irrelevant if you're dead.

Women benefit more than men in states that have right-to-carry laws.  Carrying a concealed handgun increases a woman's ability to defend herself, while men are better able to rely on their size and strength.  It also allows those of smaller size, handicapped, or older people to better defend themselves.

Courts have judged time and again that you have no right to police protection.  You are on your own and police may arrive after a threat is ended, or even after you are dead.  Then police merely become historians, and if they are lucky might even solve the crime.  Nothing obligates them to be there when you need them - even if you or your estate can show in court that the police knew you were in danger.

The vast majority of researchers agree that concealed handgun laws significantly deter crime, and not even those researchers who are against concealed carry have argued that allowing citizens to legally carry handguns increases crime.

The concept that free people have the god-given right to defend themselves is as old as civilization.  Under ancient Greek, Roman, and Anglo-Saxon law, the ceremony of freeing a slave included placing a weapon in his hand "as a symbol of his new rank."

"The right  ---- having and using arms for self-preservation and defense --- is justly called the primary law of nature, so is not, neither can it be in fact, taken away by the law of society."

Blackstone,
Commentaries on the
laws of England.