Flashback: The Case That Inspired Repeal of IL's Gun Laws

In September 2009, then 69-year old Mary Shepard and an 83-year old co-worker were at First Baptist Church in Anna, Illinois when a man broke in. At 6’3″ and 245 lbs, his past was littered with violence and multiple crimes. He ultimately almost beat the two to death. 

Ms. Shepard is still recovering from her injuries and requires physical therapy to this day.

This case was the driving force behind the repeal of Illinois’s law banning concealed carry. Ms. Shepard has concealed carry permits in Utah and Florida, but she could not carry one in Illinois.

Illinois’s law allowed citizens to carry guns in their homes or businesses, but not outside. Judge Richard Posner agreed the law was unconstitutional.

One doesn’t have to be a historian to realize that a right to keep and bear arms for personal self-defense in the eighteenth century could not rationally have been limited to the home… Twenty-first century Illinois has no hostile Indians. But a Chicagoan is a good deal more likely to be attacked on a sidewalk than in his apartment on the 35th floor.

No gun left these women completely defenseless and clinging to life.

A grandmother used a gun to protect herself when she was robbed at knife-point in her grocery store. She said the robber had complete control of the situation until she took out her gun. The tables turned, he got scared, and ran away. If only Ms. Shepard and her co-worker had a gun.

Breitbart News will continue to bring more armed citizens story.

You can follow Mary Chastain on Twitter at @maryclimer.