UPDATE! County by county: SECOND AMENDMENT UPHELD in Illinois
Edwards County State’s Attorney Mike Valentine
UPDATE 08.21.12:
THIS is ridiculous.
FOX Chicago picked this story up, and convoluted it beyond recognition.
First of all, FOX, Mike Valentine did NOT say he “wouldn’t prosecute.” He said he supported the notion of NOT prosecuting. Stuff he deals with is a case-by-case basis. Mike supports the Second Amendment to the point that he’d use discernment and not just knee-jerk react to every damn case that comes in front of him simply on the basis of Illinois’ draconian gun laws. But that doesn’t mean he’d toss everything out if it had to do with the gun issue versus Second Amendment rights.
Secondly, he’s not “facing a tough battle for re-election” in Edwards. Yes, his challenger, Les Smith, has the support of the local big church, House of Prayer in Albion. But Valentine defeated Brian Shinkle, who had the same “support”—and we happen to know the HOP folks, most of whom have common sense. Valentine has proven over the past four years to be an amazing prosecutor. The HOP folks are smart enough to realize this. The majority of them might be giving lip service to Smith support…but when it comes time to step to the ballot box, the common sense will likely take over.
We don’t know who’s stirring it with FOX, but they’ve got this one WAY wrong. The state’s attorney, unfortunately in some cases (Richland, as an example), is the top law enforcement officer of the county. What he or she says, goes. Upstate idiotic legislators apparently don’t understand this, as spewed by Senator Dan Kotowski:
“What if somebody walks into a soccer game and they have a Tek-9 pistol? Are they gonna do something or are they gonna say there’s basically nothing they can do about it?” Senator Dan Kotowski asked.
“Higher law enforcement officials should look into it. I think the attorney general should look into this.”
At least Lisa Madigan set the record straight when she said the Attorney General “is not ‘the boss’ of the state’s attorneys.” Um. Duh.
We return you now to the original post.
MCLEAN CO.—This is extremely good news from the website, Guns Save Life, featured here in part:
McLean County State’s Attorney Ron Dozier is set to announce publicly today, Monday, August 2o, to the media and residents of McLean County, Illinois, his decision not to prosecute Firearm Owner Identification Card holders who are arrested for merely possessing a concealed weapon in violation of Illinois’ prohibition on law-abiding residents carrying the means with which to protect themselves.
In essence, with Dozier’s decision, gun owners may be able to use their FOID card as a de facto carry permit in that county.
Word of Dozier’s defiant and courageous stand has been leaking out for the last week or ten days from chief law enforcement officers from the various departments in McLean County and other key people.
Our awesome state’s attorney in Edwards County, Michael Valentine, went on the record recently saying he, too, supported not prosecuting a person for possessing their own weapon on their person…that very thing that the Second Amendment gives us ALL the right to do, that right not SUPPOSED to be abridged, but it is, frivolously, every day, being removed from people who were committed of non-violent felonies, and even from people who weren’t convicted of a crime at all by a jury of their peers, but instead were ordered an OP against them by a judge on the flimsiest of bases.
State’s Attorney Dozier may not want too much attention on this matter, but he’s getting it, as gun rights activists (sad that there even has to be such a thing, that we have to be so ‘ACTIVE’ to preserve a right) are now getting the word out. He has an understandable fear that our idiot governor, Pat Quinn, might step in the middle of it:
Rumor has it this has made it to the Governor’s office and he’s been meeting with the State Police and the Attorney General’s office to find a way to pressure Dozier to cancel the public announcement or to somehow follow through on what would seem to be hollow threats that IL Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office would prosecute gun owners for exercising their Second Amendment Rights as defined under Heller and McDonald. To say our inept Governor Quinn is unhappy is an understatement.
Let’s step up and support Dozier in any way we can; watch this case carefully, and encourage our own prosecutors—who are the top law enforcement officers in our counties, being the ones who can decide NOT to prosecute if they don’t wish to—to do the same. As well, support our county sheriffs who choose to not arrest those who are in legal possession of weapons on their person, as they have the right to do such a thing.
Short URL: http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/?p=14363
Posted by Jack Howser
on Aug 20 2012. Filed under Breaking, Illinois.
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