JDC OP-ED: Chicago, IL - Political power in motion again.
Why does the mayor and his coup of City Council members continue to defy the landmark case, the District of Columbia versus Heller, in which the Supreme Court in its rendering states that the Second Amendment guarantees "the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation," specifically within the home?
Not satisfied Daley continues to irritate gun owners with lesser legislation that will no doubt be reversed in the courts, yet, will allow him to get his licks in temporarily. Unfortunately his passionate ideology leaves Chicago citizens defenseless against criminals who know their victims are disarmed. His actions makes it clear there is a desire to make it more difficult for a law-abiding citizen to acquire the equalizer, the infamous handgun.
Doesn't his honor get it? The criminal element could care less about the Mayor and his rule of law. This class of individual has perfected the art of gun acess the Chicago Police can't seem to stop.
Chicago crime has escalated with the heat of the 2010 summer and more than tripled the national average statistics where guns are not banned. FBI statistics from 2007 through 2008 indicates the murder rate decreased by 4.7 percent nation-wide, yet in the Windy City, the rate rises above 15% according to Ronald L. Schmeits, President of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Gun owners didn't pick the fight and are not about to roll over and accept any unconstitutional act usurping rights embedded in the Second Amendment.
Americans own over 100 million handguns and as the U.S. Supreme Court observed in its 2008 Heller case, is, "the most preferred firearm in the nation to 'keep' and use for protection of ones home and family."
Even President Obama was quoted by the press: "I think there is an individual right to bear arms, but it is subject to common-sense regulation." Yet, his voting record in Illinois suggests the opposite; in direct political agreement with the Mayor of Chicago's War on Guns.
Mayor Daley appears to be defining law-abiding gun owners as the enemy. The Democratic mantra of a political party who has had little or no personal experience with responsible care and use of firearms. Owning a gun empowers in more ways than one, and cannot be easily controlled politically. It's the right to freedom of choice to control ones life absent government intrusion.
A political product of the Chicago Daley machine, President Obama lacked sound judgment when he infuriated Pennsylvanians, many of them Democrats, when he said: They cling to their guns and religion and looked down on immigrants or minorities. The coattails of the President and the Democratic held Congress has become a negative for Chicago legislators up for re-election in 2010.
The opposition debate is slathered with emotionalism and bereft of fact. With the adoption of the right-to-carry legislation the Detroit Free Press in 2008 reported lower violent crime rates over the first six years.
Opponent District Attorney John B. Holmes of Harris County, Texas was very outspoken regarding passage of the proposed Concealed Handgun Act. "I did not feel that such legislation was in the public interest and presented a clear and present danger. . .by placing more handguns on our street. Boy, was I wrong. Our experience . . . has proven my initial fears absolutely groundless.
Perhaps the mayor of Chicago should face the acid test, swallow his political pride and eliminate the gun ban - nothing else has worked.
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CeCe Day Hill, (c) 2010 - Jane Doe Chronicles, All Rights Reserved - 349 West Circle Dr., New Lenox, IL 60451 - (815) 485-4871 - E-mail: janedoechronicles@comcast.net
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