Gun control types vow to fight Illinois gun carry ruling

A Manhattan security camera caught the last moments of this man's life Monday

Ruling to allow concealed carry 

Brandon Lincoln Woodard was a long way from home Monday when he breathed his last and walked his final steps down a side street, about a block from Central Park.

Surveillance video shows the Los Angeles man, who was in the Apple for a visit, never suspected or detected the hit man who alighted from a car, strolled up behind him and shot him from behind in the back of the head, then got back in the waiting car to be driven away.

New York's finest think the shooter is probably a hit man who has killed before. They have released copies of the dramatic photo gleaned from the surveillance video, and seek the killer, high and low.

The next day, in Chicago, the 7^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the ban on concealed carry of handguns in the last bastion of proscription of that right, as guaranteed by the Second Amendment.

The justices gave the legislature six months to craft a concealed carry law and administrative rules that will allow a citizen to carry concealed firearms outside the home.

Right to carry advocates rallied outside the legislature

Governor Pat Quinn, Chicago Aldermen, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Attorney General Lisa Madigan all vowed to fight the ruling tooth and nail, beginning with an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court for a reversal.

Gun rights advocates, on the other hand, say it would be so easy to fix the problem by passing an existing concealed carry law pending in the state house when the Legislature convenes on January 1.

The issue at law is whether a citizen has the right to keep and bear arms about his person when outside his own home.(click here for the minority report)

Though murder rates have spiked lately in the Windy City, Judge Ricahrd Posner wrote in the majority opinion handed down Tuesday that “Illinois doesn't have some unique characteristic of criminal activity” that would call for not joining the rest of the nation in granting solid, sane citizens with no criminal record and no history of mental difficulties to go armed when out and about.

Governor Quinn told newsmen that “I think it's important that we stress that public safety comes first.” People with a history of domestic violence can't be trusted, he said. “We cannot have those sorts of people eligible to carry loaded weapons on their person in public places, whether it be malls or churches or schools.”