Before Friday’s horrific school shooting in Connecticut, people on both sides of the concealed-carry debate said privately that they did not expect Attorney General Lisa Madigan to appeal her major loss at the hands of the U.S. Court of Appeals.

As you already know, a 7th Circuit panel in Chicago voted 2-1 to declare unconstitutional Illinois’ strict laws on carrying guns, and gave the General Assembly 180 days to come up with a new, much less restrictive law. 

“A right to bear arms ... implies a right to carry a loaded gun outside the home,” the majority opinion decreed, saying that Illinois had failed to show that bans on concealed carry and other restrictions on gun owners had any positive effect.