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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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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 |
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 ... ".
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