Putback Amendment Gaining Steam

November 19, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Constitution, Cook County, Elections, Government, Corruption, Illinois, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

We have some great news from the trenches here. We just got a great poll result back that shows if voters have the chance to vote on Putback, they’ll likely vote for it.

Conference Call This Tuesday, November 24th at 9pm

On November 24th, we will be having a conference call for volunteers, supporters, donors and petition circulators on the Putback Amendment with the principal author, John Bambenek. The team will be available to answer questions related to circulating petitions, provide in-depth information about the amendment, and to let you know our plans to make the Putback Amendment a reality for Illinois! If you can tune in, please do.
Read more

Where is THIS Republican Party?

November 19, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Patriotism, President, Republicans, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

An excerpt of the 1924 Republican Party Platform:

The prosperity of the American nation rests on the vigor of private initiative which has bred a spirit of independence and self-reliance. The republican party stands now, as always, against all attempts to put the government into business.

American industry should not be compelled to struggle against government competition. The right of the government to regulate, supervise and control public utilities and public interests, we believe, should be strengthened, but we are firmly opposed to the nationalization or government ownership of public utilities.

In 1924 the GOP ran Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge for president. And he won on this platform.

Even then Democrats were trying to tun this country into a less powerful version of Europe by emulating its socialist systems. A proud Republican Party repudiated these socialist tendencies and reiterated its pride in the American way. These principles appealed to the true American spirit and also won elections.

Unfortunately, the very next president, himself a Republican, turned toward socialist, collectivist concepts and set the stage for what later became Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal destruction of the American economic system that compounded a market correction and turned it into “The Great Depression.” And save for a brief time under Ronald Reagan, it appears that the GOP has never recovered its principles as espoused in its 1924 platform.
Read more

ISI Conference Part Three: More British Than the British!

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Britain, Christianity, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Patriotism, President, Religion, Rights, Society/Culture, State Government, The Law, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is the final installment my three part report on the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s one day conference on The Roots of American Order. So here is part two of mine titled Lift a Glass to the Past: America Rooted in Tradition or a New Covenant? (Click for parts one and two)

After a break for lunch, Mark C. Henrie took up America’s Britishness. Henrie wrote the ISI’s A Student’s Guide to the Core Curriculum that explains the value of a traditional core of studies in Western civilization and his session reflected that study.

Capitalizing on Birzer’s citation of Edmund Burke who praised the colonist’s essential Britishness, Henrie made the point that America is best understood not as a break from tradition but as the culmination of a long series of continuous ideals that range back through Western history, specifically through England.

Henrie says that we get four essentials from England.

  • The English language and literature
  • The common law and a respect for the rule of law
  • A desire for self government
  • Manners and a social order

One of the questions that researchers have often wondered is why American English and British English are essentially the same? Why didn’t America reinvent English for its own purposes in the same way the Dutch altered German, for instance? Henrie says that the reason is that the focal point of language in the colonies was contained in the King James Bible and that pervasive reliance on a single source of language arrested any development of a widely diverging American version of English. We Americans inherited the English language through the Bible.
Read more

ISI Conference Part Two: Christ in Our Soul

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Britain, Christianity, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Patriotism, President, Religion, Rights, Society/Culture, State Government, The Law, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is part two of my three part report on the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s one day conference on The Roots of American Order. So here is part two of mine titled Lift a Glass to the Past: America Rooted in Tradition or a New Covenant? (Part one can be seen here)

The second speaker of the day was Brad Birzer who regaled us on America’s Judeo-Christian History.

Bizer began his session by noting that historian Donald Lutz discovered that the founders used Christian references in their pre-war writing far more than any other source. St. Paul was the most referenced New Testament figure with Micah 4:4 being the most referenced Old Testament verse.

But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

On this Lutz quotation, though, I want to clarify something. Many have bandied about the claim that Donald Lutz said that 34 percent of the founder’s writing contain direct Biblical citations. This claim is not altogether true. On the other hand, it is not something to quickly dismiss as fans of the Enlightenment influence want to do, either.
Read more

Lift a Glass to the Past: America Rooted in Tradition or a New Covenant?

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Britain, Chicago, Christianity, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Patriotism, Religion, Rights, Society/Culture, The Law, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | 8 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Is the United States a grand experiment, a new covenant invented out of whole cloth by the fertile minds of the founders from never before seen ideas or is it a nation spawned from deeply rooted traditions of western thought? This was the question posited in a one-day-long conference on classicism in America’s founding sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) and held in Skokie, Illinois, a near northern suburb of Chicago.

The short answer is that the liberal mindset that holds that we should invent the USA anew with each succeeding generation is an erroneous conception of what the United States was meant to be when it was founded. Sure America has some ideas never before seen by political man, but at heart, America is rationalism informed by tradition, not some amorphous mélange of constantly changing ideas.

The founders created a new nation based heavily on Western ideas through British tradition, not one based solely on rationalist thinking. As they struggled to set their new nation on its new Constitutional course, for instance, the words of Founder John Dickinson of Delaware served as their benchmark.

Let experience be our only guide. Reason may lead us astray.

An intimate crowd of 60 some participants enjoyed four separate addresses by lecturers associated with ISI. Appearing behind the lectern were Bruce Thornton, Professor of Classics at Fresno State University; Brad Birzer, Professor of History at Hillsdale College; Mark C. Henrie, Senior VP and Chief Academic Officer of ISI; and E. Christian Kopff, Professor of Classics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

In these three installments, I will lay out what we talked about at this interesting one-day conference.

Part One: How it all Began
Read more

The Putback Amendment, Putting Voters Back in Charge

November 12, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Constitution, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, Republicans, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Momentum is building across the State of Illinois for the Putback Amendment. We have volunteers in every corner of the state gathering signatures and just completed a big week of events all across the state. Together we CAN bring reform to Illinois. We all know Springfield will give us more of the same, together we can change the way business is done!

Our biggest needs are volunteers getting signatures and donations. Please consider getting signatures for the amendment before the holidays in your own neighborhoods.

Volunteers Needed in Chicago for Nov 14, 21, and 22!

There are several big events and rallies in Chicago the next two weekends and we need volunteers with petitions to gather signatures there. Some of the events are partisan in nature, but the Magnificent Mile Light Festival is a non-partisan event attended by many in Chicago and the surrounding area. If you have a few hours to spare, please contact John Bambenek at jcb@putbackamendment.com.
Read more

Chgo’s Mayor Daley: Guns, Not Islam, Caused Fort Hood Massacre

November 11, 2009 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Anti-Americanism, Chicago, Constitution, Cook County, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Guns, Liberals, Mayor Richard Daley, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Just like an unprincipled, self-interested, tin-eared politician, Mayor Richard Daley decided to use the massacre at Fort Hood to flog his prosaic anti-gun message in Chicago.

When asked if Islam had anything at all to do with the Fort Hood massacre and if Muslims might expect some sort of backlash or anti-Islamic movement because of Nidal Hasan’s evil act of terror, Daley replied:

“Every day in society people are getting killed, unfortunately. America loves guns, we love guns to a point that we see the devastation on a daily basis. You don’t blame a group, you don’t blame a society… i,i,immigrant community because of actions of one group, uh one individual, you cannot say that.”

So, guns caused the Fort Hood massacre? Of course, this absurd claim does not square with the Major Hasan’s history of radical Islamism, but, hey, if you can use someone else’s “tragedy” to push your political message… what the heck, eh?So, not only was Daley his usually inarticulate self, but he found himself not above using this crime to push his own particular political message; his anti-gun zealotry.
Read more

Rep. Joe Wilson on Healthcare and Afghanistan

November 9, 2009 | Filed Under Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Capitalism, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Free Trade, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Joe Wilson, Liberals, Senate, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Does Joe Wilson or any of his colleagues on the Hill care about the Constitution?

I participated in a conference call last Friday with Representative Joe Wilson (R, SC) who wanted to rally the troops against Pelosi’s healthcare bill. He also talked of Afghanistan, as well. But I think he made a revealing comment about the Constitution that distresses me.

Rep. Wilson started off his comments with his condolences to the families of the victims of the criminal actions at Fort Hood which had only recently happened at the time. “As a 21-year veteran of the military myself with three sons in the Army, one in the Navy, and a nephew in the Air Force, I truly do have a deep sympathy for the families at Fort Hood,” Wilson said.

Wilson then went into the issues of the day and said he was pleased to see the “clean sweep” that Republicans in Virginia saw in the governor’s race there.

This has also been an extraordinary week with the elections on Tuesday in the state of my ancestors, Virginia. I’m so grateful for the Commonwealth that there was a clean sweep and as it pointed out to me the Republican clean sweep there was for limited government and extending freedom is in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson.

Wilson also remarked that Jon Corzine, the incumbent Dem. gov. in New Jersey, had some “pretty strong things to say about me” and was happy that he lost his re-election bid.
Read more

Nancy Counts on Corruption

November 8, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Liberals, Nancy Pelosi, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By John Armor

Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has regularly accused the Republicans in the House of displaying “a culture of corruption.” Yet the critical vote to get the House version of the health bill out of the House, demonstrates that Speaker Pelosi not only likes corruption, she counts on it. Remember her middle name because it figures in the proof.

On 7 November at 11:15 pm House bill 3962 passed by a vote of 220-215. Votes in favor of that bill included the following: Norm Dicks (D-Wash), Jane Harman (D-Cal), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Alan Mollohan (D-WVa). Jim Moran (D-Va), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Laura Richardson (D-Cal) and Peter Visclosky (D-Ind). If just three had voted against the bill, or had not been in the House to vote for it, the bill would almost certainly have failed.

Why that curious comment about not being in the House? A staffer for the House Ethics Committee put an internal document on a home computer with file sharing capacities. As a result, the complete list of Members of Congress under ethics investigations escaped into the press. These yes votes on the health bill were provided by Members who might have been expelled, had their possible ethics violations had been promptly and adequately examined, decided and acted upon.

Now, who has the power with a wave of her hand, to speed up or slow down the ethics investigation of any Member of the House? Why, that would be the ultimate power, Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. She’s been scrambling all this week to engineer the last few votes for passage.

Read more

Buy What Democrats Say to Buy or GO TO JAIL

November 7, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Communism, Congress, Constitution, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Illinois, Liberals, Nancy Pelosi, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

It has come to this, America. Democrats have decided that if you don’t agree with their policies, you are to be fined. And if you don’t pay the fine, you are a criminal and will be sentenced to jail. That’s right, Democrats are criminalizing dissent.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has decided to leave language in her heatlhcare bill that criminalizes and prescribes jail time for any American that does not want to buy private healthcare insurance. Think of this, America. I am telling you that the U.S. Congress has decided to force you to buy the product of a privately owned corporation! The power of the U.S. federal government has never been used to purchase something from a private company but here comes San Fran Nancy to do just that. But, let’s face it. She is only taking her cue from the big guy and his “Chicago way” sort of political thuggery.

The Joint Committee on Taxation issued a letter (Download pdf file) in reply to Representative Dave Crump’s inquiry about the matter of the criminal penalties of refusing to buy healthcare insurance should Pelosi’s version of Obamacare pass.
Read more

The Great Health Insurance Mystery

November 7, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Liberals, Media Bias, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Vince Johnson | No Comments

-By Vince Johnson

I had a dream that several respected members of Congress tried to prove this bulletin was misleading and I quietly smiled when they gave up and went out to lunch. 

There is no mystery in the fact that Congress wants the government to be the only source for health insurance for over 306 million Americans.  However, there is great mystery in understanding why politicians do not realize that such an eventuality is bureaucratically impossible.   

Consider established facts: The Social Security Administration requires 62,000 employees to process applications, issue SS numbers, manage existing accounts, and disburse monthly payments to 50 million retired folks. The total U.S. population of people over 18 is about 230 million.  Assuming these people have SS numbers, it is reasonable to say that in any given month, the SSA is handling the accounts of 280 million people including 50 million retirees.

 Keep the above in mind as you consider what Congress will be coping with when the government becomes the sole provider of health insurance.
Read more

Last Thoughts on SPN 2009

November 5, 2009 | Filed Under Capitalism, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Free Speech, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, Republicans, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Some final thoughts on the State Policy Network’s 17th Annual Conference.

It was invigorating to be able to share a conference with so many folks of like mind, a conservative, free market, liberty-minded mien. And with nearly 500 participants, the biggest conference they’ve yet had, it was something very worth attending if you are interested in furthering these sorts of policies among the various states.

But I have to say one thing that this conference proved and it is something that is, in the end, detrimental for the country. This was a 500 person conference where each participant spent no less than $1,000 to attend, many spent far more. There we saw free market think tanks from every state all trying to find ways to defeat the extreme Obama left. We have all this effort, all this money, all this time spent to defeat liberalism all in evidence at the conference. While that is good because it needs to be done, the sad thing is that it has to be done in the first place. The fact that this conference gets bigger every year and that more and more people from across the country have created state policy organizations to fight the un-American left is sad, when you get right down to it.
Read more

Utopia or Dystopian Nightmare?

November 2, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Founders, Freedom, Government, Corruption, History, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, Nancy Salvato, Rights, Society/Culture, Taxes | No Comments

-By Nancy Morgan

Sometimes I worry that our country will become more like the former Soviet Union. Americans will wait in lines for hours in order to receive bread for the week. I wonder what it would be like to run out of toilet paper and not be able to run to the store to stock up on what I grew up believing were necessities. Mostly, I am angered that I am living paycheck to paycheck…tethered to a house not worth the mortgage I own, unable to advance my earning potential because there is no free money for a middle aged white person who gives one third of her income back to the government to be spent on programs with which I don’t agree and from which I receive no benefit. However, I must pick my battles when addressing an issue with which I’m concerned because I know the majority of folks in the blue state in which I reside and work dismiss my speculation as the ranting of a lunatic or someone who can’t get with the program; embrace “change”.

Today, I read how our government has set aside a multi-million dollar technology fund for Islamic countries. Our education system would thrive if that kind of money could be used to provide free online courses to adults wanting to earn a terminal degree or specialize in a shortage area. Instead, tuition goes up, taxes go to fund free money for those who qualify for the Pell grants which will supplement the cost of a college education, and more and more graduates (and many who won’t graduate) will leave their post-secondary experience with an accumulated debt that will make it even more impossible to chase the elusive American dream. Many will not find jobs that require their advanced education.

Read more

The Beginning Of The End

October 30, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Constitution, Dan Scott, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, President, Society/Culture, Taxes | No Comments

-By Dan Scott

To hear President Obama crow in vindication of his Stimulus Bill, one would think the light at the end of the tunnel is visible on the economic front. Obama has taken credit for the third quarter GDP growth of 3.5% as well he should. However, we need to examine what that growth was based upon and whether it was a bona fide growth of the economy or the counting of stolen booty.

The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, private inventory investment, federal government spending, and residential fixed investment…

…Motor vehicle output added 1.66 percentage points to the third-quarter change in real GDP after adding 0.19 percentage point to the second-quarter change…

… Durable goods increased 22.3 percent, in contrast to a decrease of 5.6 percent. The third-quarter increase largely reflected motor vehicle purchases under the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009 (popularly called, “Cash for Clunkers” Program).
Read more

Efforts for Reform: The Put Back Amendment

October 29, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Conservatives, Constitution, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Republicans, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrezejewski and several other key leaders joined Main Street Campaigns in endorsement of the Put Back Amendment ( www.PutBackAmendment.com) on Thursday, October 29, 2009.

“The people of Illinois have waited long enough for reform. Voters are tired of legislative loopholes and political practices that lead to unfair policies and corrupt our government,” said Main Street Campaigns Executive Director Will O’Brien, a Democrat.

“The time has come to give Illinoisans the chance to truly change and reform the infamously corrupt system we have had for far too long,” said John Bambenek, author of the amendment and Main Street Campaigns Political Director.

The amendment will feature four needed reforms to clean up state government, including:

  • Term Limits
  • Seven-Day Public Viewing of All Legislation
  • End Gerrymandering
  • Equal Ballot Access

View the amendment at www.PutBackAmendment.com.
Read more

When Ideology Masks Ignorance

October 26, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Founders, Frank Salvato, Free Speech, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Society/Culture, Supreme Court, The Law | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

After giving a talk to a group of family values minded Freeport, Illinois area residents addressing three major threats facing the United States – which I term “The Perfect Storm,” and a solution to a problem that safeguards the US Constitution, I found myself personally and ideologically assailed by a letter-writer to a local newspaper, a Ms. Patricia Wemstrom. I take issue with her critique not only because she mischaracterized each and every point that I made at the event, but also because she wasn’t even in attendance.

The critique was caustic and hateful in nature:

“I am surprised by the hatred, bigotry and lack of knowledge expressed by Frank Salvato in the front page story of Oct. 18. (“Speaker Warns of Threats”) It seems to me the danger to this country rest not so much in ‘Radical Islam,’ but in people like Salvato.”

Such explosive rhetoric emanating from a person who wasn’t in attendance and who never attempted to contact me for any clarification leads me to believe – through the context of experience – that Ms. Wemstrom is not only of the Progressive or Liberal political ideology but, also, either uneducated on the issues, disingenuous and partisan in her approach, or both.

Although out of order of presentation I will attempt to clarify the misinformation presented by Ms. Wemstrom…in the interest of truth and education.
Read more

Union Threatens Blog Against Using Union’s Name

October 21, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Free Speech, Liberals, Rights, Socialism, Society/Culture, The Law, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In an interesting take on what is or isn’t legal, a union is threatening a critical blog for using the union’s name in its blog title. The American Federation of Teachers had its lawyers send a cease and desist letter to the operators of a blog called AFTexposed.com.

Now right off the top, this is an idiotic attempt to use legal threats on a blog. Imagine if this proscription became a legal precedent! Imagine a movie reviewer not being able to use a movie title in an article critical of the movie. Imagine a TV news station not being able to use the name of an organization it is investigating. Obviously this is more union thuggery on display, attempting to use the threat of law to stop people from criticizing them.
Read more

The Meaning of Change

October 14, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Anti-Semitism, Barack Obama, Budget, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Media Bias, Military, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Thomas Brewton, War on Terror | No Comments

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Candidate Obama charmed inexperienced, poorly educated youth and disaffected elders with promises of an undefined abstraction called change. That change, we now can see, was to be forcible imposition of Obama’s true religion, secular socialism.

Change that candidate Obama promised turns out to be restructuring society to achieve social justice, which in the socialist lexicon is egalitarian redistribution of income and wealth. That means higher taxes, tight regulation of all sectors of the economy, and further enervation of a population increasingly dependent upon the political state for its sustenance.

The president’s pattern of industry czars and heavy new regulations, along with government financing and partial government ownership of major private companies is reminiscent of Mussolini’s Fascist State Corporatism in the 1920s and 30s, as well as of Hitler’s tight regulation of German industry after 1933. In neither case did these dictators seize full ownership of private industry, which liberal-progressives tell us is the definition of socialism. Instead, Mussolini and Hitler followed the prescription of socialism’s early theorists: regulation alone is sufficient to impose socialist statism.
Read more

Illinois Governor Recall Amendment

October 13, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Constitution, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Society/Culture, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Eric Odom

In short… there’s a very good chance we’ll have the right to recall a sitting Governor as soon as November 2010. That is, of course, if the Illinois Governor Recall Amendment (2010) passes.

The Illinois Governor Recall Amendment, also known as House Joint Constitutional Amendment 31, will appear on the November 2010 ballot in Illinois.

The proposal would allow voters to recall the governor and require that at least 20 state representatives and 10 state senators, equally balanced from each party in each chamber, sign a notice of intent to recall the governor before a petition can begin to be circulated.

If Illinois lawmakers approve the recall, voters will make the final decision on the issue in November 2010.

What a novel idea… give the people the decision on this at the ballot box. I would prefer see recall provisions across the board, not just for the Governor, but this is a start.
Read more

Ill. Supreme Court Gives Gun Owners a Small Victory

October 13, 2009 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Anti-Americanism, Chicago, Constitution, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Guns, Illinois, Judges, Security/Safety, State Government, Supreme Court, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Illinois Supreme Court has affirmed a decision by the Third District Appellate Court that ruled that the definition of a “case” for transporting a firearm does, indeed, include an automobile’s enclosed front seat console.

The current law provides for several ways that a firearm can be transported:

(4) Carries or possesses in any vehicle or concealed on or about his person except when on his land or in his own abode or fixed place of business any pistol, revolver, stun gun or taser or other firearm, except that this subsection (a) (4) does not apply to or affect transportation of weapons that meet one of the following conditions:
(i) are broken down in a non-functioning state; or
(ii) are not immediately accessible; or
(iii) are unloaded and enclosed in a case,firearm carrying box, shipping box, or other container by a person who has been issued a currently valid Firearm Owner’s Identification Card

IllinoisCarry.com celebrated the decision as a “huge win” for Illinois gun owners.

The case in question, People vs Diggins, involved the transportation of two unloaded firearms and two loaded magazines in the console of a vehicle driven by an individual in possession of a valid FOID card. In unanimous agreement the justices ruled the trial judge erred in denying defense the right to argue that a console is considered a “case” or “other container” under sec. 24 -1.4(c)iii and for instructing the jury that the console is not considered a “case”.

This ruling would also seem to resolve the question as to the legality of transporting unloaded hanguns in the glove box of a vehicle by IL citizens in possession of a valid FOID card.

Of course, the law still states that firearms must be carried outside of a vehicle in some sort of case specifically built for a firearm so one wonders exactly how practical this new interpretation of the law will be?

Still, this is a step in the right direction for curtailing the capriciousness of our absurdly strict gun transportation laws.
Read more

Next Page »

Tags: , , , ,

Help the Soldiers!



"Governments are instituted among men,deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776




Technorati Profile
Add to Technorati Favorites

Illini Alliance
Blogroll



Featured Sites

Clicky Web Analytics