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Pro-Open Carry Letter to Editor in the Chicago Daily Herald

Mike

Site Co-Founder
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Hey - who is going to organize that open carry picnic in an unincorporated area of Illinois?:cool:

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http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=221882&#storycomments

The time has come to arm the masses

Published: 7/19/2008 10:29 AM

With the Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights being in the news lately and possible changes to gun ownership laws, I would like to see the Daily Herald write a story researching how the laws differ on owning a gun from state to state and how the gun related crimes vary in those states.

How many crimes involving guns take place inside homes?

How many times have armed citizens been successful in stopping crimes against themselves or others?

How many times have armed citizens had their own guns used against them?

Are gun-related crimes fewer in states where open or concealed carry is permitted?

From what information I found, we have 11 states that allow unrestricted open carry, 13 states that allow licensed open carry, 19 states that allow anomalous carry and seven states that do not permit open or concealed carry, Illinois being one of them.

Currently it is still illegal to own a gun in the city of Chicago, where most of the crime involving guns in Illinois takes place.

Even if citizens of Chicago are eventually allowed to legally own guns, it doesn't seem like it will help them much unless they are also allowed to carry those guns with them because nearly all of the news reports of crimes involving guns seem to take place outside of people's homes.

One definition of militia is "An army composed of ordinary citizens rather than professional soldiers."

If the residents of neighborhoods that are plagued by gun violence could band together to form a militia and go through the requisite training to be considered "well regulated" as defined in the Second Amendment, maybe they could take their neighborhoods back.

If they were allowed to openly carry guns and patrol their own neighborhoods would crime decrease?

When the Bill of Rights was written, today's crime issues were probably unfeasible. If it had been imaginable that criminals had easier access to guns than law-abiding citizens, the Bill of Rights might have been written differently but we have to work with our existing Constitution and Bill of Rights.

It would be interesting to see how things might change if the odds of law-abiding citizens versus criminals were more balanced because as things stand now, it appears that criminals have the upper hand.

Sarah Fallon

Palatine

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First Comment to Letter:

"posted by Mike Stollenwerk on Sat Jul 19, 2008 10:53 AM

Actually Illinois does not ban the open carry of handguns in unincorporated areas on foot - no permit is required to open carry in Illinois, but unlike most other states, apparently handguns must be registered in Illinois.

Only 6 states ban the open carry of handguns and most states require no permit to open carry handguns.

For more information, go to http://www.OpenCarry.org"
 

deepdiver

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Apr 2, 2007
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Southeast, Missouri, USA
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I find it especially heartening that the letter was written by a woman. Heads off all those "compensating for something" that liberals make against male gun owners.
 
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