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Illinois state legislature has just introduced House Resolution 855 – It says 2nd Amendment Not An Individual Right

Saturday, February 20, 2016 8:42

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(Before It's News)

HR0855

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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

HR0855

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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 ... ".

It is interesting to note, that this bill was introduced in the 11th hour of the Session and as one would tactfully say, with Justice Scalia’s body barely cold.

Below is the link to politician Chris Welch’s facebook page. Feel free to leave him a little note telling him how you feel about him introducing a bill that takes away your 2nd Amendment right.

https://www.facebook.com/repchriswelch/?pnref=story.

Wynter Moon

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