Gun Group Looks for Support at Oak Park Meeting

The Illinois State Rifle Association is summoning its many members to Oak Park for Tuesday's special board of health meeting that will address new limits on gun ownership in the village.

"If gun owners do not stand up now, the right to keep and bear arms will be regulated out of existence in 2013," the group said in a message to its estimated 23,000 members.

The meeting is slated to take place from 6-9 p.m. Tuesday at , 123 Madison St. An agenda accompanies this story as a PDF document.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision to overturn Chicago and Oak Park's handgun ban in 2010, the village's board of health has explored training and licensing requirements for gun ownership in other Illinois cities.

Earlier:

The idea, officials said, is to examine gun ownership as a potential public health risk.

"We're trying to get it off of this pitched, emotional, Second Amendment, right-to-bear-arms fight. We're beyond that," Village Manager Tom Barwin told Wednesday Journal.

Oak Park is on sound legal ground to adopt its own ordinances on firearms because Illinois law grants authority to local jurisdictions to regulate firearms and ammunition, and the Illinois constitution allows for the keeping and bearing of arms, similar to wording in part of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Both state and federal law permit a broad range of firearm-related regulation for public health and safety purposes, according to the Legal Community Against Violence, a San Francisco-based education and advocacy organization.

But the ISRA has taken umbrage with Oak Park's approach. They're viewing Tuesday's meeting as nothing less than a fight for the future of American gun ownership.

"We want to make sure people's Second Amendment rights aren’t violated," said ISRA executive director Richard Pearson. "We want to give people the chance to purchase firearms is a responsible manner and we want to make sure people aren't discriminated against. We want people to show up."

Pearson said the village's attempt to limit gun ownership through public health and safety measures is "a lot baloney...it's another way to get by the issue without facing it head on." 

Here's the ISRA's alert:

URGENT ALERT – GUN GRABBERS UP TO SOME NEW TRICKS – YOUR ATTENTION NEEDED

Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 2nd Amendment guarantees your right to keep and bear arms, anti-gun politicians have been working hard to come up with a way to take your guns away without running afoul of the Heller and McDonald decisions.

Well, it looks like the gun-grabbers are about to launch a whole new attack on your right to keep and bear arms. The objective of this new attack is to make firearm ownership too expensive and too impractical for most people through the use of taxes, registration schemes, and storage requirements.

THE TEST BED FOR THIS NEW ATTACK ON YOUR GUN RIGHTS I OAK PARK, ILLINOIS.

On Tuesday, 24 January 2012, the Oak Park Village Council will be holding a public information seminar on regulatory proposals designed to discourage private firearm ownership. Many gun-rights advocates believe that the Oak Park regulations are a blueprint for state-wide laws that the gun control movement hopes to pass in 2013.

IF GUN OWNERS DO NOT STAND UP NOW, THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS WILL BE REGULATED OUT OF EXISTENCE IN 2013.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS:

1) Attend the Oak Park meeting and stand up for your rights. The meeting will be held at the Oak Park Village Hall, 123 Madison. The meeting begins at 7:00 PM, but you should be there by about 6:30 to make sure you get a seat. Be sure to wear your IGOLD shirts and hats.

2) Pass this alert along to all your gun owning friends and family.

3) Please post this alert to any and all Internet blogs and bulletin boards to which you subscribe.

PLEASE BE IN OAK PARK ON JANUARY 24TH!!! IF YOU DON’T STOP THE GUN CONTROLLERS, WHO WILL?