CHICAGO – Illinois voters outside of Cook County made clear last Tuesday that gun rights are important to preserve. While Cook County voters almost unanimously backed stricter laws on gun shops, voters in the 18 counties that had gun rights referendum on their ballots overwhelmingly agreed downstate lawmakers should not pass tougher gun laws.
In Chicago/Cook County, 90.43% of the voters agreed with this referendum, "Should the State of Illinois strengthen penalties for the illegal trafficking of firearms and require all gun dealers to be certified by the State?"
"The Chicago/Cook County referendum was obviously written as a trick question," the Gun Rights Watch blog reports. "Of course, everyone is going to be in favor of strengthening penalties for illegal firearm trafficking — but not for unnecessarily requiring all gun dealers to be certified by the state when they are already certified under federal law. By combining the two concepts into one question, lawmakers played the guilt card in an attempt to shame voters into voting for the second part simply because they were in favor of the first."
But the story elsewhere showed Illinois voters overwhelmingly in support of gun rights and opposed to any tougher state laws.
- Almost 90% of Moultrie County voters agreed with "Should the Illinois General Assembly pass legislation protecting a citizen's right to keep and bear arms as defined by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution?"
- Almost 87% of White County voters pointed their opinions to the State Legislature: "Civil Rights of Firearm Owners – The People of White County, Illinois are OPPOSED to all attempts by the Illinois General Assembly, in violation of their Oath of Office, to infringe upon the Constitutional Right of the PEOPLE to Keep and Bear Arms." Their county board had already passed a resolution declaring White County a "sanctuary county" for gun rights.
- 85% of Pulaski County voters agreed with "Shall Pulaski County become a sanctuary county for law-abiding gun owners to protect them from unconstitutional gun laws passed by the Illinois General Assembly?"
Of the 18 counties with gun rights referendums on their ballots, all passed in favor of the Second Amendment. The Gun Rights Watch blog was surprised with the results, and wrote,
In a result that none of us here thought would happen, every Illinois county that had pro-Second Amendment resolutions on the ballot on Tuesday voted in favor of the measure, with most of them overwhelmingly in support. A further two more counties that we didn't previously know were voting approved sanctuary-style referendums as well, adding a dozen new counties to our new green majority. Cook County, meanwhile, passed anti-gun ballot measures, including one attempting to place more gun restrictions on the entire rest of the state.
Check out the thorough assessment of the referendum and the critical division in the state over gun rights at the "Gun Rights Watch" blog.
