Full Text of HR0855 99th General Assembly
HR0855 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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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