BELLEVUE, Wash., July 24 /EMWNews/ -- The Citizens

Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today that the decision

by officials in Wilmette, IL to repeal their 19-year-old handgun ban is "a

victory of substance over symbolism."



    CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb said the 1989 ban -- made infamous five

years ago when Wilmette homeowner Hale DeMar shot a career criminal in the

act of burglarizing DeMar's home for the second night in a row -- has never

shown that it had any impact on violent crime.



    "It appears the only people affected by the ban were law-abiding

citizens like DeMar who were ensnared by the ordinance for having guns that

suddenly became illegal," Gottlieb observed. "Repealing the ban makes sense

because the ordinance was grounded in nonsense."



    Wilmette Village President Chris Canning was quoted by a local

newspaper noting that "I think the strongest option that would give a clean

slate to the whole situation would be to repeal the ordinance."



    "What about cleaning the slate for any otherwise law-abiding citizen

who was convicted and fined under the provisions of this Draconian

ordinance," Gottlieb questioned. "Any such persons should have their

records cleared and their fines returned.



    "The Supreme Court has made it clear that outright handgun bans are

unconstitutional," he continued. "Wilmette's trustees ought to be

congratulated for doing the right thing, even though it took them 19 years

to do it. The solution to violent crime is not passing and enforcing laws

that treat honest citizens like criminals.



    "The Wilmette ban was largely passed as a symbolic gesture," Gottlieb

recalled. "Symbolism never prevented a single crime, and one does not make

socio-political statements at the expense of a fundamental civil right.

There are other options that make far more sense than disarming the public.

We're glad village officials in Wilmette will be exploring those other

options, and we hope they consult with gun owners in the process."



    With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens

Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (http://www.ccrkba.org) is one of

the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit

organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms

freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating

grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities

throughout the United States.