Illinois CCW / Cook County Assault Weapons Ban

Questions about the legality of owning semi-automatic and/or "assault"-style weapons, and whether Illinois will ever join the other 49 states in allowing concealed carry come up rather frequently at the firearms counter where I work, so I thought I'd start this thread to track the status of these issues in the courts and state legislature. The most recent article I've found with respect to the Cook County ban is available here; hardly definitive. Re CCW in IL, I tell customers that while nobody has the ability to see into the future, a couple of things I thing I know for a fact is that Richard M. Daley is passionate about banning firearms, that Daley's gun control views held significant political sway when he was mayor, and that Daley is no longer mayor of Chicago. Anyone else have any insights into these issues?

Thanks for the info, JigDude, the ISRA site is indeed a good resource. Thanks again!

Coach, The Illinois State Rifle Association (of which I am a member) at isra.org does a great job reporting gun related progress. It has a list of all firearms legislative issues. You can choose a bill (HB1294, for example for the assult rifle ban) to read the full text of that bill and see where it stands in the entire legislative process. It also has a complete list of our State Congressmen with their district and Springfield phone numbers. Great website! I have called dozens of Congressmen to voice my opinion on one issue or another.

Good News! Illinois Supreme Court revives case challenging assault weapon ban Keep hope alive! Keep hope alive! Keep hope alive!

Supreme Court ruling on assault weapons ban expected Thursday "Attorneys challenging the ban argued that the county’s ordinance — enacted in 1993 and extended in 2006 — is too vague, based on faulty information and should be reconsidered in light of the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned Chicago’s ban on handguns. "It bans the most popular hunting rifles … that there are in the country,” Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, told the Chicago Sun-Times Wednesday.

Daley never left the throne.......who else could be the leader of the Chicago/Illinois/White House political machine??????

Homeowner, 80, charged in shooting of burglar: 'Unjust that I can't protect me' "Wright was charged with one felony count of unlawful use of a weapon after police discovered he had two prior weapons convictions from 1968 and 1994, officials said. Records show Wright also was convicted of theft in 1990. In the 1990 and 1994 cases, Wright got probation." On the one hand, it seems reasonable that Mr. Wright shold have the right to defend himself and his property. On the other hand, give his prior felony weapons convictions, it also seems reasonable (to me) that he shouldn't have possessed firearms to begin with. Very curious case, indeed.

Coach, In the last Governor election, Quinn only won 3 of 102 counties. Cook and two downstate. He did p--- off a downstate municiple worker union since the election that backed him last election. He will also lose the votes of many downstate teachers who also voted for him also. We can only hope.

An interesting thing I read recently is that Pike County Illinois has bucked state law by enacting their own carry laws independant of state law. With many friends living in Illinois, I know that what Chicago/Springfield wants is NOT what the rest of the state wants, but they hold enough people that the rest of the state doesn't matter. Well, I guess that's changing a little bit now.... Formerly Steve @ G & S

It's absolutely correct that Rahm Emmanuel's gun rights voting record earned him a big fat F rating by the NRA, but I still have the sense that he was voting based on the "go along to get along" Chicago Democratic Machine voting mentality. Up-and-coming politicians were wise not to buck Daley back in the day, but now that Emmanual has ascended to "the throne", I think there may be less incentive for him to maintain those earlier positions. My guess is that as far as gun rights are concerned, he's nore inclined to do what's politically expedient than Daley ever would have considered. And as far as Quinn is concerned, his current position as governor is hardly rock-solid, if the GOP can ever come up with a quality candidate like Jim Edgar, they have a good chance of unseating him. And even if they don't, once the momentum further shifts toward easing of IL gun laws, even a veto over-ride is concievable, if it comes to that. At least I hope so!

Chicao's new mayor seems to be a copy of Richard Daly when it comes to his feelings regarding to firearms. As for CCW, Quinn has promised to veto it if it passes. So in order to get CCW, the veto must be overturned which may require more votes than it does to pass in the first place.