Check out this email I got today.  Please attend if you can and pass this on to all your shooting buddies:

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PRO-GUN RESOLUTION The County Board of Pike County, Illinois, has called a public meeting to consider a resolution which would state that the people of Pike County, Illinois, consider any legislation passed by the Illinois State Legislature that would infringe upon the Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms to be unconstitutional and beyond lawful Legislative Authority. Such a resolution, if enacted by a County Government, would be unprecedented in the history of the United States. The resolution has strong support among members of the Pike County Board.  The resolution states that it is being enacted because, "The Pike County Board being elected by the People of Pike County is duly sworn by Oath of Office to uphold the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Illinois." The members of the Pike County Board ask all interested citizens to attend this Public Meeting and demonstrate their support for the enactment of this resolution. The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, April 24th, at 7:00pm, in the 1st Floor courtroom of the Pike County Courthouse in Pittsfield, Illinois. All members of PASA, whether Pike County residents or not, are urged to attend this historic event, and express their support for the courageous action of the members of the Pike County Board. I hope to see you there.  With everybody you can bring. P.R. Metcalf President Pike-Adams Sportsmen's Alliance

Cook county should do that. It would give Daley a coronary. Kill two bird's with one stone?

Quoted: Such a resolution, if enacted by a County Government, would be unprecedented in the history of the United States.

Of course, the next step will be what followed a similar unprecedented action by states (as opposed to counties here) nearly a century and a half ago.

Hopefully the results will be more productive here and now.

Guys,

I sincerely hope someone does attend from AR15.com and gives us a summary of what was said at the meeting. I am currently working in the Land of the Free (Salt Lake City, Utah) where guns are allowed on University campus or I would attend!

Democracy in Action. Gotta love it.

If someone that can make the meeting could video tape the event this would be great to put up on YouTube.

CCW for Illinois

AWESOME. Wish it wasn't all the way at the other end of the state though.

Well two things come to mind here...

Pass a meaningful law

Pass another slightly different construction so in case one type of construction gets shot down through the appellate process - we have another avenue to pursue.

Illinois Constitution is funny because of the Except for police powers clause in the right to keep and bear arms.

Also the HOME RULE garbage law that always screws us - it may work in our favor on this except the population issue that is involved on certain legislation.

Go forward we sure need to start somewhere.

i hope morgan county would do the same

If I'm not mistaken if a city had home rule and passed a resolution like this it would then require the legislature to pass any laws that would be affected by this to have a 2/3 majority as opposed to a simple majority.

Any word on what happened at the meeting?

Quoted: Illinois Constitution is funny because of the Except for police powers clause in the right to keep and bear arms.

As a transplant to northern IL from west Texas (oh, the horror), I am interested in the history of the phrase "Subject only to police power..." in the state's RKBA amendment.  As I understand, this language was added just as recently as 1970.

Does anyone know under what circumstances the language of our state's RBKA amendment was changed?  By whom?

I support the people of Pike County.  Indeed, the state legislature is considering bills that would definately infringe on our rights.

Someone left a comment on my blog saying that it passed, with only two "No" votes (out of I don't know how many board members).

Quoted: Quoted: Illinois Constitution is funny because of the Except for police powers clause in the right to keep and bear arms. As a transplant to northern IL from west Texas (oh, the horror), I am interested in the history of the phrase "Subject only to police power..." in the state's RKBA amendment.  As I understand, this language was added just as recently as 1970. Does anyone know under what circumstances the language of our state's RBKA amendment was changed?  By whom? I support the people of Pike County.  Indeed, the state legislature is considering bills that would definately infringe on our rights.

"The Sixth Illinois Constitutional Conventions Committee on Bill of Rights in their official commentary interpreted this provision in 1970 as a guarantee that “a citizen has the right to possess and make reasonable use of arms that law abiding citizens commonly employ for purposes of recreation or protection of person and property.” Any use of the police power, the Committee said, that “attempted to ban all possession or use of such arms, or laws that subjected possession or use of such arms to regulations or taxes so onerous that all possession or use was effectively banned, would be invalid.” "

And from a 1975 article(five years after the new Illinois constitution was approved);

Dissenters to home rule provisions:

"But some take the opposite view with respect to home rule. Examples:
Robert E. Cook, Illinois Association of Realtors, Springfield: "If home rule is carried to the extremes that some city spokesmen have proposed, there won't be enough of the state left for the legislators to bother governing."

Rep. Romie J. Palmer (R., Blue Island): "I question the long-term effect of the home rule section. The Con Con delegates could have set up the conditions for a state within a state."

Lawrence E. Reinold, Illinois Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees, Springfield: "Home rule puts any organization that has statewide programs in a dilemma of not knowing how to achieve goals in each home rule unit .... This constitutional provision affects almost every piece of legislation submitted in the General Assembly. Practically every bill must be amended to read, 'Home rule units are not subject to this act.' This procedure is causing a split in authority. One authority is the General Assembly and covers the smaller communities, and the second authority is the home rule units."

Home rule is the biggest reason we have NO pro-gun bills pass. WHY isn't it also our best reason used to PREVENT anti-gun bills from passing?

http://www.whig.com/288739708807374.php

Woohooo!!!!

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Gun control laws not welcome in Pike County Wednesday, April 25, 2007 Mail to a friend Printer Friendly Version By Deborah Gertz Husar Herald-Whig Staff Writer PITTSFIELD, Ill. — The Pike County Board adopted a resolution Tuesday opposing any legislation that infringes on the right to keep and bear arms. "What we are trying to do here is protect rights we already have," board member Robert Kenady said. A standing-room-only crowd of mostly gun enthusiasts applauded several speakers and the 7-2 vote on the resolution, which will be forwarded to state legislators and all other counties in Illinois. Neighboring Brown County already has adopted a similar resolution. "We have to stand up," said board member Mark Mountain, who proposed the resolution. "We have to voice our opinion. As an individual, it doesn't mean much. As a county, it means more. As three or four counties, it means a lot." "You gentleman have just made history here," said Pike-Adams Sportsmen's Alliance President Richard Metcalf. Resolution supporters claim that pending state legislation would ban many common firearms used for hunting and threaten rights guaranteed under the Constitution, the enjoyment of safe forms of firearms recreation and its economic benefits to the county. "This is about freedom," Metcalf said. "This is not a political issue. I'm not here as a conservative, a liberal. You're not here as a Republican, a Democrat. We're here as Americans." Others questioned whether the issue of gun control reached beyond what the county should address. "I've carried a weapon 30 years of my life, ... but I'm not sure there's a time and place to address this issue on a county level," said board member Mike Lord, who voted against the resolution. Board Chairman Scott Syrcle said the county level "is where it starts." He said county officials are "elected to voice our opinion to legislators for change or to keep things from happening." He usually votes only in the case of a tie, but wanted his vote in favor of the resolution on the record. "You're going to ban a lot of guns if this thing happens," county resident Lee Ator said. "Definitely, the people of Pike County are interested in this. Everybody's here because they're opposed to gun legislation." Board member Don Peebles said the county should be focusing on other issues instead of the "hot-button, politically divisive" issue of gun control. "I've spent a lot of time in the last month reading House bills, Senate bills and shell bills. Some of them I agree with. Some I disagree with. I would have a difficult time with an across-the-board resolution," said Peebles, who voted against the resolution. "I've hunted all my life. I enjoy firearms, ... but there are things that need to be controlled."

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Quoted: Cook county should do that. It would give Daley a coronary. Kill two bird's with one stone?

The C(r)ook County board would NEVER vote against Daley, or any other gun grabber.  For the most part, it too is made up of gun grabbing liberals.  

I am SO glad I move out of Illinois.

This was emailed to me from PASA Park:

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Pike County, Illinois Votes "No" Pike County is renowned for some of the best whitetail and wild turkey hunting in Illinois. That deserved reputation has turned hunting into a significant revenue source for the county and its residents. A threat to that revenue may cause Pittsfield, the county seat, to someday be known as the spot where a quiet groundswell of protest against the growing proliferation of firearms restrictions finally erupted into grassroots action. On Tuesday evening the Pike County Board citing the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, passed a resolution saying no to any state legislation limiting the right to keep and bear arms would be recognized in Pike County. Their resolution minces no words: "Now, Therefore, It Be And Is Hereby Resolved, that the people of Pike County, Illinois, do oppose the enactment of any legislation that would infringe upon the Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms, and deem such laws to be Unconstitutional and beyond lawful Legislative Authority." In short, no state law placing any limitations on firearms will be valid in Pike County. This action is aimed squarely at a measure currently being proposed by the state legislature. This proposed state legislation would outlaw semiautomatic firearms and ban .50 caliber firearms (including muzzleloaders). It is being championed by two Chicago residents: Mayor Richard M. Daley and Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. It may be popular in Chicago political circles, but it's not going to win Blagojevich any votes in Pike County. One of the two Pike County Board Members who sponsored the Resolution, Robert Kenedy, says he hopes the measure would "be the spark that lights a cannon heard all across the United States." Co-sponsor Mark Mountain said: "We have to stand up. We have to voice our opinion. As an individual, it doesn't mean much. As a county, it means more. As three or four counties, it means a lot." In recognition of the resolution's importance, the Tuesday meeting was reportedly the most heavily attended public meeting in county history. Residents overflowed the courtroom, spilling out into the courthouse rotunda. The measure also had extensive public discussion. At one point, a reluctant commissioner raised concerns that perhaps the measure was a "political hot button" and not something in which a county government should involve itself. That drew an emotional response from one resident: "This proposed legislation would greatly harm the citizens of this county, and we believe the members of our County Board are bound by the oaths of office to speak for us on this issue. "The issue here is not politics, the issue is freedom. Freedom began in this nation more than 200 years ago, when small groups of people like us, in towns even smaller than ours, gathered together to tell the King who tried to rule them from a huge city an ocean away, 'Enough is enough!' Freedom will only survive today if we have the courage to do the same." In closing, he offered: "In this room tonight we are not conservatives; we are not liberals. In this room tonight we are not Democrats; we are not Republicans. In this room tonight we are Americans." The standing ovation he received was apparently enough to convince the Commission to overwhelmingly pass the measure. Pike County's resolution may, indeed, be unprecedented in modern history. Our research (albeit brief at this point) has yet to produce another instance of a county government having voted to refuse to enforce proposed state statutes it viewed to be in conflict with federal law. And the Pike County Resolution minces no words as to why they felt the action necessary: "the People of Pike County, Illinois, derive great economic benefit from all safe forms of firearms recreation, hunting, and shooting conducted within Pike County using all types of firearms allowable under the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Illinois." The resolution also cites the Commission's sworn duty to uphold the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Illinois, saying the proposed legislation currently under consideration by the Illinois State Legislature would "infringe the Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms, and would ban the possession and use of firearms now employed by individual citizens in Pike County, Illinois, for defense of Life, Liberty, and Property, and would ban the possession and use of firearms now employed for safe forms of firearms recreation, hunting, and shooting conducted within Pike County, Illinois. In Canada, several provincial governments flatly refused to enforce revisions to the country's firearms registry. The provincial governments said the changers were not only ill advised, but unenforceable. Eventually their resistance became a major political factor, turning out the liberal ruling party and electing a conservative government that has systematically dismantled the registry. The decision in Pike County was not one that was lightly made, nor considered. Officials had carried on quiet talks with outside Illinois before Tuesday evening's vote. We have learned those talks have led other local governments to begin considering similar measures as a means of expressing their displeasure with attempts to legislate firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens. Individuals involved in those conversations speak of the frustration of a large, and formerly quiet group of citizens who feel the will of the majority of the people is being ignored by legislators. Should Pike County's resolution catch on across Illinois and correspondingly across America, this single action taken by a small county government may, indeed, ignite a chain of similar actions across the country that serve notice that the majority opinion of Americans heartland regarding firearms will no longer be ignored. We will keep you posted.

I heard about this on the Friday edition of Cam & Company on NRA News so I checked in here to read this update. GREAT NEWS for RKBA in Illinois! Fortunately Kentucky is much more Second Amendment friendly than the Chicago politicians allow Illinois to be, but rest assured your RKBA brothers and sisters from the Bluegrass State stand with you.

Hope this spread throughout your state!

Hope this spread throughout your state!

THE COUNTRY

The measure also had extensive public discussion. At one point, a reluctant commissioner raised concerns that perhaps the measure was a "political hot button" and not something in which a county government should involve itself.

What the f**k?  if government at the local level is not for the people to speak their voice, then what is it for?  So this guy has a paycheck every month and a cushy job?  It is absolutely abhorrent  that he would say this, moreso that he probably believes it!

It is a foolish notion that government bureacracy is made up people of a better nature or or more worthy than ourselves of determining our own future.

WE are the government, and we shall speak. And we shall be heard.

Quoted: http://www.whig.com/288739708807374.php Woohooo!!!! Gun control laws not welcome in Pike County Wednesday, April 25, 2007 Mail to a friend Printer Friendly Version By Deborah Gertz Husar Herald-Whig Staff Writer PITTSFIELD, Ill. — The Pike County Board adopted a resolution Tuesday opposing any legislation that infringes on the right to keep and bear arms. . . . "I've hunted all my life. I enjoy firearms, ... but there are things that need to be controlled."

This last statement is the one that always infuriates me.  There are many hunters that hunt one animal or bird and have maybe one or two guns of the same type.  This hunter does not care if they ban "assault rifles" or "handguns" or 50 cal. rifles, because, "there are things that need to be controlled".  But of course not his things or his guns.

If we could just get this type hunter to see the error of his thinking.  I agree there are things that need to be controlled.  Our elected officials come to mind.