By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Hundreds of Illinois gun owners turned out for the annual Illinois Gun Owner Lobby Day (IGOLD) rally in Springfield, and Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, was the keynote speaker at a rally preceding the march.
The event was sponsored by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA), a CCRKBA state affiliate and a partner with SAF in the landmark 2010 U.S. Supreme Court victory known as McDonald v. City of Chicago. The case nullified Chicago’s three-decade handgun ban and incorporated the Second Amendment to the states via the 14th Amendment.
Gottlieb led the program at the Bank of Springfield Convention Center, where he told The Center Square the gun control movement deliberately misrepresents modern semiautomatic rifles, calling them “assault weapons” and “weapons of war” in an effort to confuse the voters.
“It’s a false narrative to push their anti-gun rights agenda and the bottom line is the courts aren’t going to listen to their rhetoric,” Gottlieb stated. “The courts are going to look at the facts and the law and the Constitution.”
Gottlieb looked back at the history made by ISRA over the past 14 years since the McDonald case. He also discussed the Illinois gun control effort, explaining, “Because the anti-gun people in the state of Illinois, the politicians, keep passing more and more anti-gun laws which allows Illinois to take things to court and get court victories and decisions that create precedence in all the other 49 states.”
Illinois gun owners are especially focused on the legal action pending against then gun ban enacted by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in January 2023. The law bans more than 170 types of semiautomatic firearms and is being challenged in federal court.
SAF and ISRA have teamed up on several legal challenges in the state.
Following the gathering at the convention center, Gottlieb marched with ISRA activists down the street to the State Capitol building, where they heard from State Rep. John Cabello, a Machesney Park Republican, about his “stand your ground” legislation, House Bill 5803. If passed into law, this legislation would amend the criminal code to allow a person to stand his or her ground and eliminate the duty to retreat.
A synopsis explains, “Provides that a person who is justified in the use of force, including the use of force that is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm, is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use of force justified under these provisions (rather than have an affirmative defense to a criminal prosecution). Defines “criminal prosecution” to include charging or prosecuting the defendant.
