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Howard Dean, Democratic National Party Chairman, has told the Brady Campaign and
the Violence Policy Center to stop concentrating on Congress and focus on the
state and local level. That is certainly happening. Cook County and Springfield
are perfect examples. In Springfield, a batch of anti-gun bills are popping up
(for the latest bills, check our Web-site at
www.isra.org). There is really
nothing new in these bills; the bills all have the same goal, to make firearm
ownership difficult, expensive, socially unacceptable and inconvenient, if not
impossible. All this is done under the guise of crime control.
The anti-gunners have convinced some politicians that being pro-gun is the same
as being pro-violence. This is evidenced by Cook County Commissioner Robert
Maldonado’s statement in an interview with CNS News, after the defeat of the
Cook County 50 Cent Bullet Tax. Commissioner Maldonado said “…the ordinance
would have reaffirmed that we are an anti-gun and anti-violence community.” If
Cook County and Chicago think their anti-gun stance is causing less violence,
they need to get a reality check. Nobody likes violence – gun owners or
anti-gunners. The problem is violence does exist. If there is no way to resist
it, it will be rampant. Because there is almost no way for individual citizens
to resist violence in places like Chicago and Washington D.C., these
cities have the highest crime rates.
When the anti-gunners talk about stopping the violence, they are selective in
what type of violence is important. It seems to be preferable to ant-gunners to
let some innocent person be beaten, raped, and killed rather than to give them
the means to protect themselves. This is some kind of off-base politically
correct idea. I would rather have some home invader criminal, rapist or wanna-be
murderer pleading for their life rather than some innocent law abiding citizen,
an option not offered to Chicago citizens. Where the option is offered there is
a difference. A few years ago Kennesaw, Georgia had a crime problem. Instead of
outlawing guns, the city council mandated everybody to have a gun. The crime
rate dropped 89%. Gun control increases violent crime by shifting the balance of
power to the criminal because it disarms victims. I wonder why some politicians
refuse to see the obvious and are so intent on protecting criminals –
professional courtesy, perhaps?
ISRA Education and Training Programs
The Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA), in cooperation with Adventure
Sports Outdoors magazine (ASO), and the Chillicothe Sportsmen’s Club, offered a
pair of “First Steps” classes for women. The classes, offered on February 3rd
and 17th, were designed to be introductory – no-experience-necessary classes.
There is a listing of the training courses on the ISRA calendar on our Web-site
at www.isra.org. If there are
classes you would like to take, let us know.
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