Illinios Lawsuit.

[sheepdog 10]

An interesting, and to me a very important case has been filed in Illinois. It is being financed and supported by the National Rifle Association. As you may know, Illinois is the only state that you are not allowed to have a gun outside of your own home. The case involves a woman, Mary Shepard, who was attacked and viciously beaten along with another friend and coworker of hers, an 83 year old woman, while they were in the Baptist Church where both woman work. Mary herself was nearly 70 years old at the time of the incident. Both women were serious injured and required hospitalization and surgeries because of their injuries. Mary suffered 4 separate skull fractures, and numerous other injuries. The attacker was a large (6ft. 3 in, 245lbs) man, with a long and violent criminal history. Mary herself has no criminal record, and is also already licensed to have a concealed handgun in not just one but 2 other states. She has been threw 5 different gun training courses and is more than qualified to carry a gun for her personal protection. However, having a gun in Illinois is a felony. If there was ever a case that perfectly shows the need for a citizen of this country to have the right to protect themselves, this is it. Mary was a good law abiding citizen, but a small of stature and basically defenseless woman, 5ft 3 in, 135lbs. She stood not a snowballs chance in hell against her huge attacker. The only thing that could of saved her was the equalizing of a personal firearm. This poor woman is still suffering from the injuries she received over a year ago when the attack took place. Most likely she will suffer from them for the rest of her life. She should not have to go threw this. She should have had the opportunity to shoot the attacker grave yard dead. No one sick enough to beat up defenseless old women should be allowed to live. I can?t see anyone having compassion for the criminal involved in this travesty, if you might feel for him, visit this site and watch the video, which shows Mary speaking of her ordeal. http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ is one case I intend to keep an eye on. To me it is the perfect example of why we as citizens of this country should be allowed to carry guns for our personal safety. I am anxious to see how our politicians handle this one. Changes need to be made to Illinois laws when something this horrific can happen to it?s law abiding citizens.

[sheepdog 10]

I find it interesting, or amusing that there is no middle ground in our opinions on various topics. We are either in total agreement on a subject, or polar opposite. Funny how that works out. I personally think this is the perfect case to test the Illinois law on. You have the perfect victim, an elderly, defenseless, small, respectable female citizen, with a job, and in a church, where one would think one could expect to be reasonalby safe. Attacked by a brutal career criminal with a long history of violence. No provocation, no history between the 2 victims and the attacker. I don't see anything questionable about the case. As far as the conceled carry permit, having more than one can easily be explained by the woman having more than one state of residence. It is actually quite common for people in her age group and living in the cold climate of Chicago to have a "winter home" in a state like Florida. She may have adult children living in another state she visits frequently, or perhaps she ownes the home they are living in, it may of been the family home when the children were growing up. Did you catch the point I mentioned in my first post how the woman had been threw 5 gun safty and training courses? It's not like she picked up one at Walmart and stuck it in her purse in case of a random mugging. She was prepared, and with profesional training. There is no way this could be considered premeditated murder had she shot the criminal. To be premeditated, one has to make plans in advance to deliberatly and intentionally kill someone. If you get attatcked and are protecting your own life, no way it's manslaughter, it's self defence, plain and simple. Granted, when ever the occasion arrises and one finds themselves with the need to use a firearm in self defence, there is always that possibility that the attacker can take the gun away from you. But in this case, the woman had no chance at all of avoiding a life threatening beating, at least with a gun she could of had a chance to get him before he got her. And had the gun been fired, perhaps the preacher who was in the church and the other victim could of realized what was happening and at least stopped the second woman from being beaten. The NRA is not trying to get an exception for this woman or senior citizens in general, it is fighting for all the residents of the state of Illinois to have the right to protect themselves. And I believe you are dead wrong when you don't think the elderly are rarely the victims of brutal crimes. I believe the odds are quite good, and that elderly are actually targeted more often as they are seen as more helpless and an easier target. We have had several cases of elderly people beaten to death in their homes here in our own area, so a rarity it sadly, is not. I just can't see how any judge would think that she in any way shape fashion or form was to blame for the attack on herself, that she put herself in harms way, she was working in the CHURCH for goodness sake! The fact that she does not have a criminal record attests to the fact that she is a law abiding citizen that should have the right to be safe where ever she is. You do make a perfectly good point that there are things we can do to protect ourselves threw they use of a little common sence. You were smart enough to have that 357 in case you needed it, and also enough sence to do your work in the early morning hours as you said, when the bad folks were generally sleeping. We can stay out of the bad parts of town, we can use a buddy system and lots of other things, like being aware of our surroundings, etc. But there are going to be those times when we are in a situation that is in no way under our control. We need to be able to go to church, the bank, the grocery store and other public places without fear. And in safty.