Firearms in Illinois

Paper Summary:

This paper describes the contentious issue in the state of Illinois regarding firearms, their possession and use and what constitutes the unlawful use of a firearm.

From the Paper:

"And what constitutes unlawful use of a firearm? Certainly one of the most common acts associated with gun violence is murder (intent to kill). If a person uses a gun to intentionally kill another human being and no justification (e.g., self-defense), excuse (e.g., insanity), or mitigating circumstance (e.g., sudden heat of passion) is involved, he has acted with malice aforethought - a social harm prohibited by the offense with either of two mental states: (1) intent to commit the social harm; or (2) recklessness in committing the social harm. As may be observed from this definition, the term ordinarily is not employed in its popular, non-legal sense as meaning "ill-will" or "spite." In this case, the unjustly intent to kill or intent to cause great bodily harm which resulted in a death would impel the unlawfulness of using a gun. Although in 1976 the U.S. Supreme Court reasoned that the death penalty for such murders is constitutional, both the U.S. and state Constitution require that the procedures used to determine who will be executed be fair. The death penalty is not permitted unless the state can prove beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of one or more "aggravating circumstances" - facts beyond those necessary to prove first-degree murder that "reasonably justify the imposition of the more severe sentence on the defendant compared to others found guilty of murder.""

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