So-Called 'Electronic Errors' Mar Cook County's Defense of Gun Ban

CHICAGO, Dec. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):

The Cook County State's Attorney's Appellate Court defense of the county gun ban (Wilson, et. al. v. Cook County, et. al.)  got off to a bad start when briefs filed by the county before the First District Appellate Court were found to contain factual errors.  More specifically, these factual errors included the misquoting of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the DC v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago cases.  (The ISRA was a Plaintiff in McDonald).  When these errors were brought to light by the plaintiffs, the county hastily filed a motion to withdraw the erroneous briefs in favor of amended versions.  Presently, the plaintiffs in the case have moved to strike the amended briefs as the amendments do not remedy the ramifications of the misquotes contained in the original set of briefs.  In fact the County may have used their own "errors" to further violate the Court's rules and to additional arguments and bolster existing arguments in their amended brief.

"We find it interesting that the Cook County State's Attorney's office would blame 'electronic errors' for the tainting of its briefs with misquotes," commented ISRA spokesman, Richard Pearson.  "This situation is made all the more curious given that the misquotes would fundamentally alter the intent of two landmark Supreme Court decisions – D.C. v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago.  In the county's briefs, the two high court decisions are erroneously quoted as addressing 'common handguns' whereas the decisions, as written, do not contain the phrase 'common handguns.'  There is a clear difference when one addresses handguns versus 'common' handguns in that the latter would drastically reduce the types of firearms whose ownership is protected under the Second Amendment."

"If I were a cynic," continued Pearson, "I'd suggest that these 'electronic errors' were just poorly executed attempts by the Cook County State's Attorney's office to re-write the Heller and McDonald decisions more to Mayor Daley's liking."

The ISRA is the state's leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership.  For more than a century, the ISRA has represented the interests of millions of law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.

WEB SITE: http://www.isra.org

SOURCE Illinois State Rifle Association