EAST PEORIA -- The Illinois League of Women Voters is calling upon Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to veto a little-noticed blow to gun control which recently passed the Illinois General Assembly. The measure expands concealed carry of weapons in the state, allowing someone to carry them into a person’s home and elsewhere.
The League at its state convention at the Par-a-Dice Hotel on June 14 called upon Quinn to veto HB 182, which revises current Illinois law “to allow a person to carry or possess a firearm on the land or in the legal dwelling of another person as an ‘invitee’ with that person’s permission.”
The law does not say how permission would be granted, does not say whether the invitee would be required to disclose the firearm, does not allow law enforcement the “discretion” to determine “who is fit to carry concealed weapons,” and does not define “invitee,” the resolution states.
“Under current Illinois law, customers of businesses and restaurants, spectators at sporting events, job applicants, and babysitters are all invitees,” it says.
“Law enforcement would no longer be able to charge a threatening or suspicious person who is armed with unlawful possession if they are an ‘invitee,’ “ it says.
The vote was not close – all ‘ayes.’
The League has long standing policies supporting gun control and against concealed carry of weapons.
This measure, which has received no publicity, obviously is a trap aimed at Quinn, who likely will incur the wrath of the National Rifle Association if he vetoes it, making it harder for him to be elected governor in 2010.
League members debated the measure only briefly, to say “it’s important that we draw the line,” adding the League does not fear “the wrath of the NRA.”
The League offers “voices of quiet reason,” a speaker said.
Passage of the resolution is especially important in Peoria, a League member told the convention, as the city’s mayor is pushing for concealed carry of weapons in response to a recent crime spree, and the Journal Star newspaper has published op-ed pieces supporting the mayor.
The League also passed a resolution to support an increase in the Illinois income tax and “broadening the sales tax to include nonessential services.”
That drew my comment to the convention questioning whether small businesses, such as hairdressers and dog walkers, should be burdened with collecting and paying this tax to the state. But it passed anyway as part of the package in the resolution.
The third resolution, passing unanimously, dealt with campaign finance reform in Illinois.
Legislation recently passed by the General Assembly is badly flawed and puts even more power into the hands of party leaders.
While the recently enacted law sets annual campaign spending limits, they are higher than limits on federal candidates, and there is no limit on contributions of goods and services or on contributions from parties or other candidates.
The annual limit instead of a limit based on election cycles gives incumbents more time to raise funds than challengers and puts candidates in contested primaries at a disadvantage. The bill also lacks clear definitions.
It does not take effect until Jan. 2011, after the 2010 General Election.
The resolution calls on the General Assembly to lower the finance limits to the federal level, limit transfers and in-kind contributions from parties and other candidates, apply limits to election cycles rather than calendar years and limit the number of political committees a public official can create.
Will the officials in Springfield listen to the League?
Or should these genteel women get more aggressive and stage a sit-in or a hunger strike? Why not? Nothing else has worked to curb abuses in Springfield.
-- Elaine Hopkins
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