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I agree that Heller does not apply to any government entity other than the District of Columbia. The court made it clear that they were only affirming Mr. Heller's demand to register his handgun there (and by extension, everyone else in D.C. who wanted to register a handgun).

However, I think the handwriting is on the wall, and the 2nd Amendment will be incorporated when a case from Chicago or another city reaches the Supreme Court. (This is strictly the opinion of someone who clipped his law license from the back pages of a comic book.)

In the context of this thread, this is a county action. The political majority that is in control of the state government in Illinois is firmly anti-RKBA (as a native of Chicago, I still pay some attention to what goes on there). Most of the counties outside the Chicago area are populated by sane people who object to the rule of King Richard II.

- Jim

para driver wrote:The original Chicago Ordnance was all about keeping guns away from the black people, nothing more than that. If you were any kind of celebrity, you obtained a carry permit by 'working' as a reserve officer for the CPD or Cook County Sherrif office.

This is true and not mentioned often.

The "special people" often get in trouble by shooting up a bar or drawing a weapon in a road-rage incident (that they instigated).

- Jim

Actually, Illinois has a state law that says that a person cannot be charged under a local firearm ban for a legitimate self-defense shooting. The defender will most likely lose his weapon and spend a lot of money on lawyers, though.

Take tranquilizers before reading this article: http://www.reason.com/news/show/36162.html

- Jim

I've refrained from discussing Heller much, because we simply don't know what the Supreme Court is going to decide.

If they rule that law-abiding citizens have the right to have weapons in their homes, and the ruling applies to states as well as D.C., then Chicago's ban will fall. However, the only change may be that the city is required to register new handguns. They can charge a rapacious fee and restrict ammunition. Last year, Cook County (the county that Chicago was in) proposed a tax of 10 cents to $1 per round. That's right, $50 for a box of .22LR.

BTW, it's not just Chicago and Cook County. Many smaller cities, mostly in that area, have handgun bans.

One of the great legacies of Texas is that counties and cities can do only what the constitution and legislature allow them to do. They can't prohibit weapons, they can't create any offense more serious than a class C misdemeanor, and they can't create new taxes.

- Jim

Illinois has no provision whatsoever for concealed carry by anyone except LEOs, and generally has some of the strictest anti-RKBA laws in the nation. Possession of a handgun, even in your home, is a felony in many places.

The state legislature is dominated by Democrats controlled or influenced by Chicago's extremely anti-RKBA Mayor Daley. Efforts to liberalize state laws have been thwarted for decades.

Now, some counties are making formal moves to restore the right to keep and bear arms.

Winnebago County, which is in the north central area of the state, is discussing issuing concealed handgun licenses. Anyone carrying with such a license would be in violation of state law, but if local law enforcements gives license-holders a pass, the licenses will be practically useful in that county. In this case, the county sherrif supports the proposal.

http://www.rrstar.com/communities/x8167 ... of-sheriff

- Jim