Sangamon County Rifle Association
Right Reason on Second Amendment Rights
Springfield, Illinois


Jim Butler




Illinois Last State for Concealed Carry
Jim Butler, President, SCRA
April 2010 GunNews










At this time Wisconsin and Illinois are the only states that don't have any sort of a concealed carry law.  However, this could change since Wisconsin's Democratic Governor Jim Doyle announced last year that he wouldn't run again.  His approval ratings had dropped below 40 percent.  His low ratings may have been in part due to him vetoing concealed carry bills twice after being passed by the Wisconsin legislature.

National Democratic strategists privately expressed concern about Doyle's re-election prospects, especially in the face of a strong GOP field.

If the new governor signs a concealed carry law it would make Illinois the only state that doesn't allow its citizens to carry firearms to defend themselves.

While drafting the Bill of Rights, the Founding Fathers confirmed that self-protection was a prime right in the Second Amendment.  Thomas Jefferson, quoting criminologist Cesare Beccaria, renowned for his "On Crimes and Punishments" (1764), said:  Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . .  Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.

This is as true today as when it was written in 1764.

Big city Chicago Democratic machine politicians led and beholden to Mayor Daley are the main obstacle to passing concealed carry in Illinois.  These same politicians have made a mess of Chicago by levying higher and higher taxes on its citizens, waste, and widespread corruption.  Their control of the State Legislature, Governors Office, and statewide elected offices, has produced similar results in running state government and has made Illinois the laughing-stock of the rest of the nation.

The largest obstacle to passing right-to-carry in Illinois has always been the fact that the present Chicago- dominated leadership in the general assembly has ruled we need a super majority.  That difference of 11 votes from 60 to 71 makes all the difference in the world in trying to pass right-to-carry.  Many legislators disagree with this ruling but so far the Chicago Democrats have prevailed depriving Illinois citizens of their right to protect themselves and their loved ones.

The Chicago handgun ban is a proven failure.  Chicago banned the sales of handguns in April of 1982.  In spite of the ban Chicago has since become one of the nation's leaders in number of murders.  At times it has led the nation and even exceeded New York City which has four times the population.

Chicago police have flooded the city areas that have recently had the most violence.  While this is needed it is only a short term solution that will not stop the violence when they leave.  The people will again be at the mercy of gangs and criminals.  Gangs which are responsible for most of the violence should be prosecuted under federal racketeering law when applicable.

Severe anti-gun laws including gun bans are usually passed in jurisdictions like Chicago that already have a high rate of violence.  The problem with most of these gun control proposals is that they criminalize much of the citizenry but have only marginal effect on career criminals. 

The dirty little secret that this anti-self-defense movement doesn't want you to know is that crime was significantly higher in states that didn't have right-to-carry laws.  This fact was brought forth by the famous study by John Lott and David Mustard, which has since led to many states adopting right-to-carry firearm laws.

This study involved county level crime statistics from all 3,054 counties in the U.S. from 1977 through 1992.  During this time ten states adopted right-to-carry laws.  It is estimated that if all states had adopted right-to-carry laws in 1992 the U.S. would have avoided 1,400 murders, 4,200 rapes, 12,000 robberies, 60,000 aggravated assaults, and saved over $5,000,000 in victim expenses.

For far too long the citizens of Illinois have been denied the most basic of their unalienable rights -- the right of self-defense.  Any government that denies its citizens the means of self-defense is neither compassionate or protective, but barbarous.


Jim Butler's Commentaries

Sangamon County Rifle Association Home Page