by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn suffered a major political defeat as lawmakers in Springfield voted to override his “amendatory veto” of court-mandated concealed carry legislation, opening the way for Prairie State citizens to apply for concealed carry licenses, the result of a federal lawsuit filed by the Second Amendment Foundation.
The House, without debate, voted 77-31 to reject Quinn’s significant changes to the law, announced in his veto message. Subsequently, following debate later in the day, the Senate voted 41-17 to also override the veto.
For Quinn, the override could deal a major blow to his political future. He faces strong opposition in the primary race from Bill Daley, brother of former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, and according to the Chicago Tribune, his veto left downstate Democrats with the impression that their votes might not be as important as those in the Chicago area.
Immediately following the vote, SAF released the following statement:
“This is a significant victory for all Illinois citizens,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “When the exercise of a civil right is denied to a segment of the population, everyone suffers because a right that appears only on paper is not a right at all.
“Gov. Quinn was ill-advised to try rewriting the state’s concealed carry law to suit his personal anti-gun civil rights agenda,” he continued. “While the new statute is not perfect, it is a huge step forward to comply with the Seventh Circuit Court’s ruling in Moore v. Madigan.”
The Moore case was brought by SAF “to force the State of Illinois to do the right thing” regarding the right to bear arms.
“The Second Amendment, affirmed as protective of an individual right by the U.S. Supreme Court, is not limited to the confines of one’s home or business,” Gottlieb observed. “There is not only a right to keep arms, but to bear them, and that most assuredly applies beyond someone’s doorstep.
“It is time for Illinois residents to join citizens in every other state,” he said. “If Gov. Quinn and other gun prohibitionists need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, where all civil rights – including the right to bear arms – are recognized, that’s their fault. They tried to transpose the Second Amendment from a fundamental civil right to a heavily-regulated privilege, and that is not what the court ruling allowed him to do.
“We welcome Illinois to the United States of America,” Gottlieb concluded.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago police are already raising alarms that “the process for reviewing applications is burdensome and costly.” Some gun rights advocates suggest that might signal a strategy by the police to delay issuing permits for as long as possible.
