Il to petition supreme court over Heller decision

[middlefinger]

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Three Chicago-area Democrat state legislators have introduced a resolution petitioning the Supreme Court to overturn its Heller ruling, which found that the Second Amendment (like the rest of the Bill of Rights) applies to individuals, not some collective.


Representatives Emanuel Welch, Pamela Reaves-Harris, and Jaime Andrade, Jr. are behind the resolution and claim that Chicago's epidemic of gun violence is due to insufficient gun control laws, claiming that "The Heller decision and other pro-firearm industry court rulings have resulted in a proliferation of guns in numerous communities and have diminished the security and freedom of our citizens to enjoy a life free of gun violence.”

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1 HOUSE RESOLUTION

2 WHEREAS, Gun violence is an ever present problem in the
3 State, as well as nationwide; an example of which is 8 persons
4 dying in Chicago in one week in October due to gun violence;
5 and

6 WHEREAS, In the past few years, court rulings, including
7 the United States Supreme Court in District of Columbia V.
8 Heller, in interpreting the Second Amendment to the United
9 States Constitution have overturned long standing precedent,
10 which had supported state and local authority to deny gun
11 possession when necessary to promote and protect public safety;
12 in order to reach its decision, the 5 member majority of the
13 United States Supreme Court either ignored or misinterpreted
14 much of the clear and plain wording of the Second Amendment;
15 and

16 WHEREAS, As stated by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stevens in
17 his well-thought out dissent on behalf of 4 Justices in Heller:
18 "The Second Amendment was adopted to protect the right of the
19 people of each of the several States to maintain a
20 well-regulated militia. It was a response to concerns raised
21 during ratification of the Constitution that the power of
22 Congress to disarm the state militias and create a national
23 standing army posed an intolerable threat to the sovereignty of

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1 the several States. Neither the text of the Amendment nor the
2 arguments advanced by its proponents evidenced the slightest
3 interest in limiting any legislature's authority to regulate
4 private civilian uses of firearms. Specifically, there is no
5 indication that the Framers of the Amendment intended to
6 enshrine the common-law right of self-defense in the
7 Constitution."; rather the Second Amendment's original purpose
8 was to act as a check on federal gun-making policy, not to
9 prevent individual states from creating gun policy as they saw
10 fit; and

11 WHEREAS, The legal view of the Second Amendment as a
12 collective, militia right, and not an individual right, held
13 for over 200 years until the Heller decision in 2008, which
14 invalidated a law barring individuals from possessing a handgun
15 not registered before the law took effect and annual
16 registrations for the remaining handguns; and

17 WHEREAS, The Heller decision and other pro-firearm
18 industry court rulings have resulted in a proliferation of guns
19 in numerous communities and have diminished the security and
20 freedom of our citizens to enjoy a life free of gun violence;
21 living with the fear of gun violence is contrary to living in a
22 free society; high levels of gun violence are a threat to the
23 security of whole communities; and

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1 WHEREAS, The cost of gun violence has been pushed onto
2 everyone except the people and companies that produce and sell
3 firearms; the firearms industry benefits financially when more
4 guns are sold; more firearms in circulation leads to more gun
5 crimes, homicides, and suicides to the extent that gun-related
6 deaths will soon exceed the number of deaths in automotive
7 crashes; but the Heller decision effectively said that most of
8 the Second Amendment should be disregarded in favor of the part
9 that is most profitable to the firearms industry, "the right of
10 the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed"; and

11 WHEREAS, Throughout the history of the United States,
12 federal and state laws have regularly placed restrictions on
13 who can legally own, possess, and use firearms; even prior to
14 the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, gun control laws
15 were enacted; therefore laws restricting gun access are not
16 anomalous to American law; and

17 WHEREAS, Before these court decisions, state legislatures
18 had been able to pass laws restricting gun access if it was in
19 the best interests of public safety; therefore, be it

20 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
21 NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
22 urge the courts, especially the United States Supreme Court, to
23 restore interpretation of the Second Amendment as a right

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1 afforded to state-sponsored militias that as Justice Stevens
2 stated in his Heller dissent, " ... it does not curtail the
3 Legislature's power to regulate the non-military use and
4 ownership of weapons ... ".

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/full...Sess=&Session=

[free]

WHEREAS, these people are full of it, they can kiss my orifice that produces it.

[Parrisk]

Libtards are pulling on all the strings to kill or change the 2nd Amendment..

Hope the courts are smart enough to look at the states that enjoy the 2nd Amendment rights and compare violent crime rates to those that restrict it

[Pilot321]

Yeah, the gang bangers, drug dealers, and thugs murdering each other in Chicago are hanging their hat on the second amendment in order to legally obtain, and use weapons in crime, and violence. That makes sense. Morons.

[ideaman]

Name one government ban that worked.
Name who profits from government bans via underground markets.
Name whose shoulders actually bears the burden of the above.

Government bans create a "negative disparate effect" on law abiding citizens

[pennlineman]

Time to reinstitute the time honored traditions of stockades and the tar and feathering.

[t1066]

claiming that "The Heller decision and other pro-firearm industry court rulings have resulted in a proliferation of guns in numerous communities and have diminished the security and freedom of our citizens to enjoy a life free of gun violence.”

They are operating under a mistaken impression.

"Gun violence" has been cut in half over the last 20-30 years while the there has been an increase in concealed carry and sales.

[pennlineman]

They are operating under a mistaken impression.

"Gun violence" has been cut in half over the last 20-30 years while the there has been an increase in concealed carry and sales.

Don't add to the confusion with facts.

[Wilderness 1864]

Maybe some Constitutional Lawyer on the Forum can better inform us. How does a State Legislature petition the Supreme Court to reverse a case ruling (without there being another actual case up for decision by the Supreme Court that would provide the opportunity for the Court to reverse the precedent)? This looks like a political stunt for attention. If, however, it can be done. we should have some of our Pennsylvania legislators oppose it and petition the Court to reverse decisions we do not like.

[claudel]

Maybe they could start by disarming the Chicago PD...