Rep. Ann Williams
Filed: 2/25/2013
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1 | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1155
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2 | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1155, AS AMENDED, by | ||||||
3 | inserting the following in its proper numeric sequence:
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4 | "Section 175. Firearm carry prohibition; public gathering; | ||||||
5 | protest; rally.
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6 | (a) No person may knowingly carry a firearm into any | ||||||
7 | organized public gathering, including street fairs, festivals, | ||||||
8 | farmer's markets, carnivals, concerts, protests, parades, or | ||||||
9 | other temporary special events, conducted primarily outdoors | ||||||
10 | on property open to the public, and that requires the issuance | ||||||
11 | of a permit from the municipality or county where it occurs, | ||||||
12 | unless the municipality or county specifically authorizes | ||||||
13 | persons to carry concealed firearms at the event. The | ||||||
14 | prohibitions in this Section extend to any adjacent property or | ||||||
15 | parking lot area used in connection with a prohibited public | ||||||
16 | gathering. | ||||||
17 | (b) No person may knowingly carry a firearm at an organized |
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1 | protest or rally with 10 or more persons located within 500 | ||||||
2 | feet of a governmental building. | ||||||
3 | (c) The exemptions and provisions in subsections (a), (b), | ||||||
4 | (f), (g-6), (g-10), (h), and (i) of Section 24-2 of the | ||||||
5 | Criminal Code of 2012 apply to this Section. | ||||||
6 | (d) The United States Supreme Court in District of Columbia | ||||||
7 | v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 128 S.Ct. 2783 (2008) has recognized | ||||||
8 | that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution | ||||||
9 | does not confer an unlimited right and that states may prohibit | ||||||
10 | the carrying of firearms in sensitive places. The Supreme Court | ||||||
11 | stated in the Heller decision: "Although we do not undertake an | ||||||
12 | exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the | ||||||
13 | Second Amendment, nothing in our opinion should be taken to | ||||||
14 | cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of | ||||||
15 | firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the | ||||||
16 | carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and | ||||||
17 | government buildings . . ." The Supreme Court also noted in a | ||||||
18 | footnote referencing this statement in the Heller decision | ||||||
19 | that: "We identify these presumptively lawful regulatory | ||||||
20 | measures only as examples; our list does not purport to be | ||||||
21 | exhaustive."
This recognition was reiterated by the U. S. | ||||||
22 | Supreme Court in McDonald v. the City of Chicago, 561 U.S. | ||||||
23 | 3025, 130 S.Ct. 3020 (2010), which incorporated the Second | ||||||
24 | Amendment against state action. The Supreme Court again stated: | ||||||
25 | "We made it clear in Heller that our holding did not cast doubt | ||||||
26 | on such longstanding regulatory measures as "prohibitions on |
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1 | the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill," | ||||||
2 | "laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places | ||||||
3 | such as schools and government buildings . . . We repeat those | ||||||
4 | assurances here." Further, the federal 7th Circuit Court of | ||||||
5 | Appeals in Moore v. Madigan, 702 F.3d. 933 (7th Cir., 2012) | ||||||
6 | cited the "sensitive place" statement of the Supreme Court in | ||||||
7 | both the Heller and McDonald decisions and concluded: "That a | ||||||
8 | legislature can forbid the carrying of firearms in schools and | ||||||
9 | government buildings means that any right to possess a gun for | ||||||
10 | self-defense outside the home is not absolute, and it is not | ||||||
11 | absolute by the Supreme Court's own terms." Therefore, the | ||||||
12 | General Assembly finds that the places or locations set forth | ||||||
13 | in this Section are sensitive places and the prohibition on the | ||||||
14 | carrying of firearms will promote public safety in this | ||||||
15 | sensitive place.".
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