SPRINGFIELD – Colleen Lawson has taken her battle for gun rights from Chicago to the U.S. Supreme Court.

But Lawson found herself at the Illinois statehouse in Springfield on Wednesday as part of Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day. The 51-year-old explained how she unexpectedly became a crusader for gun rights.

Lawson said an attempted home invasion convinced her city’s ban on gun ownership was doing more harm than good.

“I ended up, by following Mayor (Richard M.) Daley and the city of Chicago’s rules as a victim,” she said. “Then I decided to change my fear to focus and to change my anger to action and to change my frustration to decision – and I wasn’t a victim anymore.”

The Supreme Court heard arguments regarding the court case last week. Activists from each side of the gun control debate expect the court to overturn the ban, as it did with Washington, D.C.’s ban in 2007.

The Illinois State Rifle Association and other gun-rights activists have been waiting since that ruling to see Chicago’s ban overturned. But for Lawson and her husband Jim, the case is about personal experience, rather than ideology.

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