While most of us enjoyed the Fourth of July weekend with parades, fireworks and backyard barbeques, Chicago endured an amazing 51 shootings. At last count, America’s third largest metropolitan area had a total of 12 deaths that resulted from the shootings. More are still in critical condition. Gee wouldn’t it be great if Chicago could only outlaw guns so that such shootings wouldn’t happen?

Oh wait, Chicago has had a complete ban on gun ownership for over 50 years. I once read that the definition of insanity was to the same thing over and over and to expect different results. Maybe there’s something in the water that makes Chicagoans crazy. Who knows? Maybe they export their water to Detroit, Michigan & Gary, Indiana.

Maybe a little background is in order. It all began with Dick Heller who was a Special Police Officer in Washington, D.C., and who carried a gun on the job. Washington, D.C., had a law allowing possession of a gun on the job, but prohibiting ownership of handguns at home. Heller reasoned that if he was qualified to carry a gun on the job in D.C., he ought to have the right to have one at home. In 2003 Heller filed suit against the District of Columbia alleging that D.C.’s home ban violated his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. D.C. argued that the Second Amendment only applied to members of a militia. When the case finally got to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007 they decided that the Second Amendment was an individual right held by all citizens because the citizens are the militia. Heller eventually got his permit to have a gun in his home.

While civil libertarians celebrated that U.S. citizens were free to personally own firearms in their homes, several cities, including San Francisco and Chicago, refused to comply with the Heller decision because they claimed it didn’t apply to cities and states and only applied in D.C. Once again an individual stepped up to oppose government tyranny. Otis McDonald a retired maintenance worker and a Korean War vet. He Had owned his Chicago home since 1971 and seen his neighborhood deteriorate over the year. After having his garage broken into twice, McDonald applied for a gun permit in Chicago so he could protect his home. The City of Chicago refused and McDonald was forced to sue. In 2010 the U.S. Supreme court ruled in favor of McDonald and ordered Chicago to give him a gun permit.

In a fit of rage over the Supreme Court decision the Chicago City Council immediately passed a law that:
u1. Prohibited any carrying of guns in the city.

u2. Banned all gun stores in Chicago.

u3. Banned all firing ranges.

u4. Banned gun use in self defense in garages, patios, and porches.

u5. Banned possession of more than one gun at home.

This time it was a citizen named Brett Benson who challenged the politicians and argued that the right of citizens to keep and bear arms implicitly includes the right to acquire arms. Benson filed suit in the U.S. Court for Northern Illinois & on January 14 of 1014 Judge Edmund Chang (an Obama appointee) struck down Chicago’s latest attempt to keep ordinary citizens from protecting themselves. This past week, Judge Chang ordered the City of Chicago to pay Benson’s $940,000 in legal expenses.

I guess I just don’t understand why politicians are so afraid of the people they are supposed to represent. Time after time the Supreme Court and lower courts have told them to let citizens exercise their constitutional rights and each time the politicians try to find another way to restrict them. If outlawing guns really worked, then Chicago wouldn’t have had 12 murders over the Fourth of July. The people who rule Chicago must be crazy!