Joravsky: Does the Second Amendment apply to black people?

GO FALCONS and props to student artist who created this

Another item I missed from Chicago Reader's Ben Joravsky bouncing off of the police shooting of Harith Augustus

With all the attention focused on the police shooting of Harith Augustus in South Shore, the silence coming from the gun rights groups is deafening.

I mean, just about everyone else has weighed in, one way or the other, on the July 14 shooting, including Black Lives Matter activists, Mayor Rahm, and the Fraternal Order of Police.

But not a word from the normally loquacious spokespeople for the National Rifle Association like Dana Loesch, Oliver North, or Wayne LaPierre.

And it's weird, 'cause if ever there were a case tailor-made for the NRA to join—or even lead—it would be this one.

Consider what we know from the footage released by Chicago police.

Unless I've missed something during the course of the past month, the attention on South Shore seemed to have died down. However it's a good question, in the case of Mr. Augustus, where is the NRA? Does a "right to bear arms" for self-defense stop at Chicago's city limits? Does it exist only outside of gun-violence plagued communities?

Read the whole piece and let us know what you think!  

Chicagoist: Man wants to own city's first gun shop in Chicago

More info via our ig

In this case in the River West neighborhood of downtown Chicago and even has the "tentative" support of his alderman. Even though in recent years the city and the state has had to acquiesce to court rulings involving conceal carry and gun control laws, we still struggle with the idea of citizens owning guns.

It seemed the city didn't even want to allow the sale of firearms in the city only to adopt rather onerous rules such as where a gun shop can be located. Still many Chicagoans may not be happy as even in this new year we hear stories of gun violence even in this cold weather we've been having lately.

Still this future gun shop & range owner Chistopher O'Connor may have the right idea when he says: “Chicago has created a culture where guns equal crime, because only criminals can have guns."

As for the basic concept:

O'Connor is eyeing a space at 613 N. Union Ave., near the Tribune printing presses, which will be home to a spacious gun range if his plans come to fruition. It will also sell guns host classes that would provide the “tools and training to become responsible armed citizens,” O'Connor told Chicagoist.

O'Connor is spearheading the project in part because he saw unmet demand for gun training in Chicago, where concealed carry and gun sales have both been in and out of legal purgatory until recently.
...
The sporting aspect would be the focus of his gun store. Sales would be secondary at best, O'Connor said, since local regulations won’t allow more than 20% of a Chicago gun facility’s floor space to be devoted to sales.

BTW, O'Connor further opines:

When asked about the epidemic of shootings, from Sandy Hook to Charleston, O'Connor said he thinks of those as a rare events overexposed by the media. “You never hear about the guy who defended his convenience store against an armed assailant,” he said.

Case in point the attempted robbery on 87th Street where the assailants ran into a clerk with a piece. 

Park Manor officers shoots burglar to his home

From Chicago Breaking News on Friday afternoon:

An off-duty Chicago police officer shot a burglar who broke into his South
Side residence this morning, law enforcement sources said.

The officer, who was inside the home when burglars entered the house in the 7600 block of South Vernon Avenue about 9 a.m., shot one of the suspects, the sources said.

Shortly after the shooting, a man with a gunshot wound went to St. Bernard Hospital, and detectives were working this morning to confirm whether the victim was the burglar who broke into the officer's home.
-- Annie Sweeney and staff

Levois has a certain opinion on this (see comments section). Let me share a different one (i'll try not to get too off topic here):

Chicago's law, in my opinion HONORS the 2nd amendment. Those who are in a "well regulated militia" are allowed to have weapons. This includes PRIVATE militias (such as security firms). What this means for the gun user, however, is accountability as well as (hopefully) training.

I would be interested to hear if the officer was preparing for his beat (i.e. what was his readiness when the people tried to break in).

If criminals know this neighborhood, they know there are many police officers here, but also senior citizens. Who/what were they expecting when they broke in. I doubt they were expecting a living person. If so, would they still have tried to break in?

One of the best preventions of crime is not everyone keeping arms (gangbangers regularly attack rivals who they expect to be armed as well), but I would say active and alert neighbors, who are watching who and what is going on, so they can notify police (or the potential criminal) that something is going on and people are watching & caring.

A worthy tangent to go into later is how tight a community the Chatham & Park Manor neighborhoods were several years ago, so that a stranger/potential burglar wouldn't have been ignored back in the day, and he wouldn't have tried to break in back then.

Chicago Defies the Second Amendment

Steve Chapman:

Since the Supreme Court upheld the individual right to own guns last summer, one municipality with handgun bans after another has faced reality. Washington, which lost the case, changed its law. Morton Grove repealed its ban. So did Wilmette. Likewise for Evanston. Last week, Winnetka followed suit.

Then there is Chicago, which is being sued for violating the 2nd Amendment but refuses to confront the possibility that what the Supreme Court said may apply to this side of the Appalachians.

When it comes to firearms, Mayor Richard Daley is no slave to rationality. "Does this lead to everyone having a gun in our society?" he asked after the ruling came down. "Then why don't we do away with the court system and go back to the Old West, where you have a gun and I have a gun and we'll settle it in the streets?"

From listening to him, you might assume that the only places in North America that don't have firefights on a daily basis are cities that outlaw handguns. You might also assume that Chicago is an oasis of concord, rather than the site of 443 homicides last year.

So it's no surprise that Daley refuses to make the slightest change to the handgun ordinance, preferring to fight the lawsuits filed by the National Rifle Association. He is not impressed that 1) the law almost certainly violates the Constitution, which elected officials are supposed to uphold, and 2) it would cost taxpayers a lot of money to fight lawsuits the city is bound to lose.

Read the whole thing. Via Newsalert!

Chicago Will Fight to Keep Gun Ban

The city of Chicago remains defiant according to this CPR report:

Attorneys for the city of Chicago are planning to defend the city's gun ban, and Thursday they told aldermen how they plan to do it.

Mara Georges, the top lawyer for the city, says that a recent supreme court ruling striking down Washington D.C.'s gun ban doesn't apply to Chicago because a city is different than a federal jurisdiction.

GEORGES: What would have to happen for it to apply to Chicago is that the district court would have to fail to follow well established supreme court precedent.

Georges says in the past, the Supreme Court has explicitly ruled that some of the amendments in the bill of rights apply to states and cities—for example, the right to a lawyer. But the court was silent on other amendments, such as the one at play here, the right to bear arms. Georges says lacking clear direction, a city like Chicago is free to regulate guns.

In other news the suburb of Wilmette, Illinois has repealed their gun ban! Both stories are via Newsalert!

Chicago Is In A Real Law Enforcement Crisis

Paul Huebl discusses the policing situation in Chicago with him talking to police officers about this situation. While you're there check out his post on the 2nd Amendment rally from last Friday.

Chicago Tribune Watch: Media blackout

Say Uncle finds that there was little coverage of the pro 2nd Amendment Rally at the Thompson Center last Friday. Via Instapundit.

Gun Rights Activists Rally in Downtown Chicago

CPR has more about the pro 2nd amendment rally that took place on Friday morning:

The Illinois State Rifle Association wants Illinois and Chicago lawmakers to repeal regulations on gun ownership. The group rallied in downtown Chicago today.

Hundreds of people gathered for the first Illinois State Rifle Association gun rights rally ever held in Chicago. Mike Weisman is with the group. He says its members are fired up after last month's U-S Supreme Court decision repealing Washington D-C's gun ban, affirming an individual's right to bear arms.

ADDITION: Channel 7 also has a story about the rally this past Friday...

Recent rallies at the Thompson Center have been demands for gun control laws following fatal shootings of Chicago children. Thursday, the plaza was full again, but the message was from those demanding the right to bear arms.

In a show of support for responsible gun ownership, about 200 chose the plaza of the Thompson Center for what they called a Second Amendment freedom rally. The rally comes after a recent decision by the Supreme Court Allowing handguns in Washington D.C.

"With the U.S. Supreme Court decision we are celebrating here today, I see those days of fear and helplessness coming to an end," said Valinda Rowe, IllinoisCarry.com.

"The truth is, a gun ban doesn't work; criminals don't obey gun laws," said Mike Weisman, Illinois State Rifle Association.

Support for the right to carry handguns comes from diverse groups including a gay organization.

"People who carry firearms are in places you never expect. You can find support for the Second Amendment all across the country," said Doug Krick, Pink Pistols.
...
Dr. Suzanna Hupp, from Texas, recounted an incident in 1991 when a gunman crashed into the a restaurant where she ate with her parents. Then the gunman shot her parents and 21 others. She was not armed.

"The only thing the gun laws did that day was prevent us in that restaurant from protecting ourselves," Hupp said.

Several Chicagoans are challenging Chicago's ban on handguns. They hope the Supreme Court decision opens the doors to more gun owner rights here.

Heller Rally In Chicago!

I intended to go to this rally but I spent the time of the rally still on the south side waiting to get a city sticker. More on that in a later post.

Anyway here's an account on the rally that took place at The Thompson Center Friday afternoon there are also photographs of this rally. Here's one...

Via Instapundit!