Concealed Carry Ballot Question Nov. 4

[junglebob]

There was a ballot question on the November 4 ballot in 14 Illinois counties. It asked voters in 14 counties if the Illinois legislature should pass legisaltion allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons. It received a yes majority in 10 counties. A number of those counties passed it by 2/3 or more. I was surprised it went that well. No mention in the question of a license or background check being required. Folks in Winnebago county sent it to all the counties but most did not have it on the ballot.

[VegasGeorge]

I'm not sure I understand. What is the practical effect of the election results?

[junglebob]

I guess the practical effect might be that state legislators know the the idea of concealed carry has support of people in counties in their district. This should give them more confidence to support concealed carry bills that are introduced in the legislature. The ballot questions are not binding in any way.

There were questions on places like the Illinoiscarry.com forum about the wisdom of putting this on the ballot. It was on the ballot in Missouri several years before they got LTC legislation and the no votes were in the majority. This happened even though there was a lot of pro LTC advertising done.

There were some informational meetings in the counties down here. I'm sure this was useful as people got educated about the fact that 48 states have CC legislation.

Interestingly some folks from Winnebago County sent the ballot question to all of the counties. Most didn't put it on their ballot. Where it was defeated the highest percentage of no votes in any county was 56%, of course Cook County did not have it on their ballot.

I was surprised to hear that it got only 48% yes votes in Winnebago County, especially after all the meetings on passing a resolution to issue LTC for Winnebago County.

[Dogman]

Maybe it got some peoples attention and at least it's a step forward in the right direction

[jlc]

Maybe it got some peoples attention and at least it's a step forward in the right direction

as has often been said ,"The longest journey begins with the first step"