Gun shop owner sues Chicago over opening new stores
As we previously mentioned, the McDonald decision changes very little about the legal landscape facing gun owners. Your right to keep and bear arms is fundamentally guaranteed so long as you abide by the state and federal laws which restrict those same rights. Make no mistake, the McDonald decision is not a magic bullet that will reverse generations of gun control legislation.
Case in point: It’s unlawful for gun shop owner Joe Franzese to open any gun shops in the City of Chicago. Franzese and a former U.S. marine have filed suit against the City of Chicago, as well as city officials, for this absurd and unconstitutional ordinance.
“I filed the lawsuit because I want to sell a legal product and you can’t outlaw a legal product,” said Franzese.
The ordinance that bans gun shops in Chicago, as well as other recently passed ordinances, essentially maintains a gun ban in all but name.
“By banning gun shops and the sale (of) handguns, Chicago and Mayor Daley currently maintain and actively enforce a set of laws, customs, practices and policies under color of state law which deprive individuals, including the plaintiffs, of their right to keep and bear arms, and engage in commerce by selling them, lawful products, in violation of the Second and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution,” the lawsuit alleges.
Franzese would like to open five gun shops before the end of the year.
“I have unlimited financial backing, unlimited time and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon,” said Franzese. “The ball’s in (Mayor Daley’s) court. We haven’t heard anything yet, but all odds of this going through are few and far between, I guess.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he added. “I’ve got 15, 20, 30 years. It doesn’t matter to me.”
Franzese is seeking monetary damages through the lawsuit, including loss of profits and attorney fees.
Click here for the Libertyville Review article.
I think that as has been proven before, Mayor Daily has less sense than the mule chasing the carrot. He Has NEVER been a friend to the people of Chicago and needs to be replaced with someone who actually has the interests of ALL OF CHICAGO & ILLINOIS in mind and at heart!!! Someone who would ask their citizens and friends to surrender their liberty and freedoms to satisfy the whims of his imagination and cronies in the office, is probably the same type of leader who receives “payola” for their absenteeism and obvious ability to look the other way!!! As criminals thrives, the city dives, neighborhoods crumble, gangs rumble, and the illusion that Chicago is a city of the future is revealed as it falls to the past-a history of crime and government corruption!!!! Loose Daily and elect a Mayor of Integrity, Honor, and Dedication!!! Problems occur Daily!!!
This is getting outta control .. These elected officials telling us what to and not to do .. Like a few of you said they are playing GOD and it isn’t their place to play GOD.. GOD is GOD and they are NOT.. We elect these people then they order US around like we are children .. Im sick of it and Im sure yall are too.. We have to stop these control NUT JOBS before it’s to late ..
Keep up the pressure on the antis, here in the UK our gun laws were all passed bit by bit.
Prior to 1920 Great Britain had LESS gun laws than Texas, and less crime than now ! !
Ikeep reading about the oath our leaders take when they are sworn into office. Truth is, they do not seem to care or worry about what is in the constitution of the United States. i.e. healthcare. they do not give one hoot about whether we are healthy or not, it’s about control. Same with the gun laws. I have a right to keep and carry a firearm. As long as they keep passing these laws and no one says anything, they win.
Hey, one thing you can always depend on in Chicago- When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away!!
Another way to hit these people where it hurts is to quit going there! I don’t travel to Chicago (or any other gun restricting location) unless I really have to! Hold your conventions else where! I know this is a small thing but all these big cities that like restrict our rights still want our money and if we can spend it some place else that is more gun friendly, then do it! And on top of it all, tell them WHY you are holding your conventions some place else! Maybe the message will get across!
the city of chicago has had weekends with 50 or more shootings, while the gun ban was in effect. seems to me that was’nt working too well. the cop that got killed the other night just got off duty guarding little richies house. what the hell does richie need with body guards if the gun ban has made his city so safe. i think the citizens of chicago should demand that richies body guards should turn in thier guns. it’s real easy to tell people they can’t protect themselves when your surrounded by 20 armed guards. if it’s good enough for us it’s good enough for the little weasel.
I have been a pro Gun “citizen” and a Law Abiding “Concealed Carry” permit holder for 30yrs and a very Informed & outspoken “individual” on the Subject !!!!
First it’s long overdue that “We” form ONE organization (as to protect) our RIGHT to PROTECT
OURSELVES from “ANYONE” who may try to “RULE” US ! I have at one time or another “belonged”
to one or all of the “pro-gun” group’s such as NRA/Goal/Crtca/ “they” have become MONEY
MACHINES !!! I will NO LONGER give ONE DIME to ANY of them !!!!
If “they” TRULY want to “defend” the Second Amendment? then all of these groups should
BECOME ONE !!! and OVER NIGHT “We” would become the “Largest” and MOST FEARED “ACTIVIST”
group in this “COUNTRY” till then the “ABUSE” by all of the ANTI-GUN “Wacko’s” will not
STOP! PERIOD!
I am a Jesuit priest, own and wear daily my Colt.45,& am an award winning marksman, faston the draw, ready to draw,warn,& shoot anyone about to shoot an innocent, unarmed person. This protects safety & freedom,part of making our great country FREE.
I was stationed, on recruiting duty,(1963/1966) in Chicago and was confronted by demonstators that refused to let the cops on the streets. On day I, as Sergent in Charge of the Marine Color Guard, walked out on the steps of the old Federal Court House to be hammered with Don’t come down white boys), I simply ordered the two guards to com to “Ready, load your weapons, Forward March”. The rioters parted and left us totally alone.
There is no doubt in my mind, or millions of other, that weapons are a deterent to criminal acts and people who howl other wise are pure idiots and only want one thing,
Total control of a totally submissive population. If guns cannot be pourchased, then make some, also learn to throw knives, spears, etc.
It is also a fact that every nation that has fallen was first stripped of the ability of people to defend themselves. I say long range snipers are still great to have around and when guns are taken from the population, other means will appear and can any sad assed polition, or other, prove that criminals give a damn about the laws, but they do fear a protective and defensive peoson.
Lawyers are aslo a major stone in the kidneys of mankind. HaS ANYONE EVER CONSIDERED WHY OBAMAS LAWS HAVE SO MANY PAGES? Even lawyer can’t read them and even if they try, they cannot understand them NANCY ADMITTED TO THAT FROM HER POST IN CONGRESS.
The 2nd Amendment will continue to be threatened by the LIBERAL DEMOCRATS, Progressives and the Socialist/Communists in the country! They will never stop! The ONLY Solution is another REVOLUTION! As prescribed in the Constitution! Why make such an extreme claim you ask? The fact that no active political party can be trusted with our Freedom for starters!!! From the early 1900′s on, we have not had a Constitutional Republic as designed by our Founding Fathers! It has been corrupted by the Greed of the Rich and Powerful, the Elitists, Do Gooders and the Republican and Democratic Political Parties! If you think that your ONE VOTE means anything today, you are being naive! We have NO REPRESENTATION what so ever and the sooner Americans realize that the better, I just hope that it is in time!!! Once The Guns Laws are in place, where only the Rich and Elite can afford the Cost of Licensing and the Purchasing of Guns, then we will see ALL of our RIGHTS DIASPPEAR! They will be Slimy and will not out right Ban Guns at 1st, they are not that stupid and as we can all see, if we open our eyes, the slow but sure erosion of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void. Unconstitutional law bears no power to enforce; it purports to settle as if it never existed, for unconstitutionality dates from the enactment of such a law, and not such time as branded in an open court of law. It imposes no duties; it confers no rights; it creates no office; bestows no power or authority on anyone; affords no protection and justifies no acts performed under it. It is in legal contemplation as inoperative; as though it had never been passed. As an unconstitutional law, no courts are bound to uphold it and no persons are bound to obey it.
When tyrants take away your freedom and rights you have lost your ability to defend yourself from despots and dictators. This is how Europe was over taken by the like of Hitler and Missoulini during WW II and Russia by the Stalin. This cannot and will not be tollerated in the United States of America by despots in office. The liberals constantly attack our right to be free and want to take away our right which Amerian have give their lives to protect and defend. Chicago is a crime laden city and the citizens need the right to protect and defend their lives and property from the criminals who have long ruled there. GOD BLESS AMERICA AND THOSE WHO DEFEND OUR FREEDOM FROM OPRESSION.
If Washington would listen to what our for fathers said when they wrote the rules for our country we would now have a better country and people all over the world would not hate us.ALL of Washington is out for themselves and not the people. My opinion is give them 4 years in Washington and then they are done and that means taking all there privleges away and let them go to work for a change.
All the anti-gun wimp States are upset by the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. They will do everything within their “perceived” power to usurp the authority of our Constitutional Rights…WE, the American People need to make NOVEMBER count…BIG TIME!
I am not to worried about Obama, I not to worried about the Daley’s, Bloombergs or the Liberal Democrats, but I am very, very worried about all the People that keeps voting for them. Looks like to Me that them folks would wake up and see what there trying to do. For the life of Me I can’t understand why enyone would won’t to hire them to work for Us.
The only citizens who obeyed Chicago hand gun law were citizens who follow the law in all respects (law abiding citizens). Ctizens who were intent on committing crime really had little incentive to obey the hand gun edict (hey why discriminate on which laws to break). The gang bangers were thrilled with the law because it made it safer for them to ‘rule the streets’ – same for the burglars, carjackers, drug pushers and every two bit thug.
The gun ban did nothing to reduce gun violence in Chicago – it just made it easier for the criminals and, therefore, more prevalent.
Since Mayor Daly doesn’t want citizens to have the right to carry around our own personal protection, in the form of a gun, maybe he’s planning to hire a cop to travel around with each and every resident of and visitor to Chicago, as our alternative personal protection. After all, since the mayor can’t be a hypocrite and he has a policeman traveling around with him, everywhere he goes, he obviously must want to provide residents of and visitors to Chicago, with personal protection similar to what he enjoys, as mayor. Oops! There’s a minor problem with that. The population of Chicago is around 3 million (in the city) and there are less than 1 million full-time, sworn law enforcement officers, in all agencies, in the entire USA. In fact, in 2000, only about 150,000 officers were on duty, on the streets, at any given moment. Well that doesn’t work. OK. So let’s go for alternate plan B. Since there is such a shortage of policemen, Mayor Daly should release his personal police protection back into general police duty, to help fill the gap and go unarmed, since Chicago is such a safe city, under his wise leadership. OTOH, maybe I was hasty is saying that Mayor Daly couldn’t be a Hypocrite!
What do you think the FOUNDING Fathers would have done in a case like that? They would have took their guns and killed the bastards. Look how far we have fallen since 1776 as it has not happen to Boomberg and Daley and hundreds of other CRIMINAL POLITICIANS.
So Daley, in effect, is ‘breaking the law’ according to the recent Supreme Court ruling if he continues to deprive the citizens of exercising their Constitutional rights. So Daley, like so many others, are criminals in high places. So what should the rule of law prescribe for someone like this?
To Bill C. “There needs to be a way to stop elected officials from playing GOD because they really,really suck at it ” You say There needs to be a way to stop elected officials. The key word being “elected”. Can you vote? If you can you can stop them…Hope this helps answer your question
Like Sinic above,i also lived in the UK where i was a police officer for 21 years.Until the Anti gun movement gained control of Parliament.UI was an active gun owner and instructor with both the NSRA and NRA(UK) .
UK now has the strictest gun laws in Europe and the highest rate of violent crime.In the two years following the UK ban on Handguns ,handgun crime rose 40%.When the survey was extended to cover 1998 to 2005 the number of deaths and injuries fro handguns had increased 340%.
So you ban guns and the gun crime rate soars. The same happened in New York, Chicago,and California. The reason (Please take note Mr Daley)CRIMINALS DO NOT OBEY LAWS,THAT IS WHY THEY ARE CRIMINALS. The gun bans takes away the risk of any victim defending themselves.It has no effect on the criminal other than making his work easier and safer. In short Gun Bans kill people.Mayor Daley ,Bloomberg and Brady ,know this and still deny the right to self defense to the law abiding citizens.
Under UK law ,and as far as i know under US law,anyone who carries out an act knowing or reasonably suspecting that such an act will lead to the death or serious injury of a person is criminally liable.And could be convicted of Murder or Manslaughter as a result. Well i realize that no legal action is likely here,Especially under the Obama regime. I still consider such actions from these politicians to be not just misguided but criminally negligent.
Since moving to the USA,I have become involved in your struggle over the Second Amendment. My wife and I are CCDW permit holders and fully certified NRA Instructors. We currently run a shooting school in Kentucky, teaching safe responsible gun handling. I feel that although the anti’s will always try to take our guns ,there are strong defenders of it.
People such as Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin , Newt Gingrich , Senator Rand Paul(R) Congressmen Tom Graves (R) Denny REHBERG (R) Dan Burton (R) Mike Ross(D) Rick Boucher (D) and Governor Ted Strickland (D)are in congress fighting for your gun rights,There are of course many others on both sides of the house.They are fighting for our Second Amendment rights.
You can of course do something yourself,without being in Government. Vote for your pro gun candidates ,Join the 4 million member strong NRA, and some of the smaller groups such as NAGR. Although the NRA will always have its detractors ,without it you would certainly have lost your right to keep and bear arms years ago. I was involved in Politics for a short time in the UK,where we had a slogan, All that is necessary for Evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. In the UK I have seen first hand what happened when good men stood by and did nothing.I am confident that the good men of the US will not be found doing nothing in this fight.
as Marion Barry always stated,”Outside of the shootings and gun crimes in D.C. we really do not have any crime”.
The one big problem we have in this country is the dumbing
down of the general populace. We would like to vote out the senseless clods in this gov.but they keep getting elected. I wouldn’t take a bet that Obama wouldn’t get in again after the mess he has made. Now, having said that, do
you all want the muslims in control and having to obey their stupid laws? The constitution will be gone if we don’t vote this idiot out and all the congress with him. By the way, did you know that Hillary has signed a resolu-tion in the UN that would take our guns away. It’s coming folks, if you don’t take action this November…..
I am sorry about one thing, I’m 84 and probably won’t be here for the next revolution.
There are so manny things wrong with this issue. People say vote them out every two years, some say don’t vote. There is only one way to make the changes that we all desire and that is term limits. Until we get “TERM LIMITS” nothing is going to change. Everyone in congress is on the same band wagon, “keep our jobs” and they will do or say anything to that end. We need some smart caring lawyers to step forward and inform the general public how to go about this. This issue (term limits) should be on a national ballet at election time and have the whole country vote for or against.
Back when the US Constitution was written, EVERY “able-bodied man” was REQUIRED to own firearms and belong to the local county militia. The “Army” (government) had no weapons that were not equally owned by the general population. One “exception, was if such a person was in jail, not allowed to perform duties with the militia. Such “exception” was lifted when said person completed the sentence imposed by the court. What we have today, is a system where ANYONE ever convicted of a crime, is barred FOR LIFE from owning or possessing a fire arm for any reason. At the founding of the constitution, such a restriction ONLY applied to slaves. So, under current “laws” if you have EVER run afoul of the law, for ANY reason, you are a “slave” FOR LIFE, and you have no right to defend yourself or your family. What these same types of “restrictions” are in fact stating by their operation, is an attempted to impose upon the general public what in essence, makes us all “SLAVES.”
Find out what the Mayor is worth and sue him big. Not Millions Zillions
Please just remember all the leaders who wanted people dead, at their whims TOOK AWAY GUNS from The People. Stalin. The commie jewish woman who murdered as many of her own people, the jews, as Hitler did, she did it under Stalin’s OK. A jewish genius economist help in screwing up the economy for Hitler to start a war. And please don’t for get Mao, and Pol pot. ……….and now the swastiker carrying muslims …………….
The only way these criminals stay in office is by fixing votes. If you don’t believe this goes on at every level of government, you are merely fooling yourself. We should be allowed to own every weapon that the government has, so we can defend ourselves from them like the constitution intended.
I lived in chicago for 90 years, Been a retired Army retire veteran , Been a combay soldier , and am 100 5 VA disble, But that is noyt the point Why doesthe Supreme court always pass a law that is always a contraveristy, Example, Same sex Marriage Abortions, seperrations in school and all the rest of thier crap They should pass it Period and that is law.
Mayor Daley should consider the experience of Kennesaw, Ga, a few miles northwest of Atlanta. Several years ago, the City passed an ordinance requiring all citizens to own a gun, and have in their residence ammunition for their gun. Soon after enactment, Kennesaw became the safest city in the USA in terms of violent crimes. It has held this position consistently ever since.
In effect, Kennesaw made their citizens members of the city Militia to assist local law enforcement. This action by the city government exhibits trust in their citizens, & has redounded to the City’s benefit.
Mayor Daley does not trust the Citizens of Chicago. A government that doesn’t trust its citizens can’t be trusted….
[...] have a great post from The NAGR Gun Rights Blog with some more details and insight into the lawsuit against the city of Chicago’s ban on the [...]
It’s a Travesty that which the Main Stream Media’s supporting, on so many Levels, seems to me as against almost everything that’s in OUR Constitution!! If not for Fox News and Talk Radio, We the America People would be without question, be living in a Marxist State!
Mayor Daley has been anti-gun under the guise of fighting crime. Daley’s “real” reason for keeping the public disarmed is to protect himself from being shot. He’s knowingly corrupt as are the majority of politicians, so uses his political power to disarm law abiding folks who just want to protect themselves,not from his corruption,but from the constant violent criminals who proliferate thanks to Daley’s “anti-crime” policies of disarming the law abiding.
The effort to reduce crime in Chicago by the Daley administration is backasswards. But…like Washington D.C.,except for the criminals taking advantage of disarmed citizens who are not allowed to protect themselves,Mayor Daley’s Chicago is the safest city in America.
JNorwester above makes a (perhaps THE) valid point. Genocides and attempted genocides have always been preceded by the disarming of the target population. To show their good will, the target people always go along sheepishly with these outrageous requirements. Armenians, Jews, Cambodians, the Hutu and Tutsi, the vicious thrill kills in the Balkans during Mr. Clinton’s term. I am now convinced that the population of the United States can deliver only one truly legitimate, constitutional answer to those who want to take our firearms away: Come and get them, but you’ll have to grab them by the muzzle end.
Like Sinic and Steve Challis , I am from the UK and am glad to be a free man in the USA and no longer a subject! Under the British Bill of Right 1689 all Protestants have the right to bear arms. Until 1920 one could own any firearms or weapon without restriction. However following the revolution in Russia the Crown was concerned that their subjects would rebel and there has followed Acts of Parliament limiting ownership or all weapons by the subjects. Now 90 years later some of the strictest firearms control regulations in the world have achieved their aim of ensuring the safety of the Crown but have left the subject unprotected in a country where one has no right of self defense (in fact no rights at all!). Even when firearms were legally more readily available gun crime was low (partly because of the British preference for the knife as first weapon of choice ) now gun crime is very high and grows continually illegal firearms are readily available in any big city for much less money than those few legal firearms that a subject may be allowed to obtain. So what does this show the US. Obviously that firearms regulation does not work as it does not restrict the criminal but actually makes it cheaper and easier for them to obtain the weapons. Then is makes the criminals life safer as their victims are unable to defend themselves. Lastly the government is safe from revolution because the law abiding public are not armed and therefore have no final recourse. This is precisely what the likes of Daley/Obama need to stay in power .An unarmed society is a slave society!
No legislature, city, county, state or federal, has any more authority that any one single individual man or woman. If you nor I nor anyone else has the individual authority, then none of us can give it to our “representative. This is the Fundamental, Basic Principle of Freedom. The United States has never ever been free because this cornerstone principle has never ever been understood or complied with. The following example will prove that voting is a criminal act:
“How many voting men would it take to properly and democratically vote the panties off an unwilling woman?”
Rape will be rape no matter the vote! I have no authority, Constitutionally or otherwise, to regulate what you do in your life as long as you keep your hands off my stuff and your nose out of my business! I have no authority to “tax” you and you have no authority to “tax” me.
Most will respond with, “Well we must fund government, and taxation is how we do it.”
“How many voting men would it take to properly and democratically vote the panties off an unwilling woman?”
Nature provided me with a penis, and Nature provides all women with a vagina, I can make a better argument that I am entitled by Nature to the vagina of an unwilling woman than anyone can that they have a right to lay a tax on me to support their unnatural creation, government!
You may consider my example to be crude, but it makes the point better than any other argument that I have ever heard. It demonstrates the Fundamental, Basic, Natural Principle of Freedom. Politically correct marshmallow fluff is getting us nowhere. Screw the Constitution! My rights to protect myself do not originate in any CONstitution subject to being “interpreted” by lying politicians and judges.
If any candidate for public office does not understand and agree to conform to the Fundamental, Basic, Natural Principle that as a public officer he will have no more authority to regulate your life than he would as a private individual then you should not vote for him.
I’m Eric, WhoRU??
All this from the son of the man who ordered Police Superintendent James Conlisk to shoot, kill, cripple and maim protesters in 1968.
Why do the stupid people of Chicago keep electing his dead dad and him? it must be the electronic forged vote scam stealing the vote.Computerised voting machines were outlawed even in California years ago. Get with it citizens of Ill.
Mayor Daly has all the sincerity of Al Capone but none of the charm. Which of the two would better serve the people of Chicago is truly hard to say.
I think we guve too much credit to the average person, by what we’ve seen this is very evident. The reason Chicago-ites vote these a-hole in is because they are stupid, plain and simple. We had better get ready for more dung from the ilk inhabiting the White House too. Are you all ready for it ?? Dont think that our own military wont help neither, they more than likely will. Better dead than red