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Looking back over the last number of years gun owners should feel good inside.
We have gone from a battle back in the 90’s where every conceivable type of
legislation and restriction on firearm ownership was brought forth.
Here we are in 2011 standing proud, that what we claimed all along was true! Law
abiding people with firearms are not a problem or a threat to anyone! Anti-gun
people ranted and raved that people carrying guns in public would create the
Wild West, there would be shootouts at car accidents, conceal carry people would
be robbing people in the streets etc. All this rhetoric has proven to be all
hogwash! The complete opposite has happened! Sheriffs and police that originally
were against concealed carry now back it 100%. Why? Simply because it works in
all places it has passed.
I read that in 2010 Tennessee passed legislation that people could carry in
bars. Oh my lands, are you crazy the antis were saying. Surely you don’t want
people carrying in bars! Well here it is one year later and I read an article in
the NRA Daily updates that a sheriff said that he had 91 calls to bars over the
year and not one call involved a firearm. No comment from the antis!
Yes people were apprehensive I imagine, but if you have a permit, no matter how
inebriated you may be, if you pull a firearm in a bar on someone for no lawful
reason, there are many people in that bar armed that now feel threatened by your
action and in two minutes you may have more holes in you than a flyswatter—so
forget being stupid and just go home and sleep it off.
The general public has also turned on our side. More people today believe
conceal carry works just by the facts shown that it does. A couple states have
passed carrying on campus—guess what, all is quiet!
Many articles have said and I’m sure you have read a few, that most criminals
are basically cowards when they are faced with being hurt the same way their
intentions were to hurt you. So they are deterred by you being armed, because
they are looking for someone who is helpless and cannot put up a defense.
Now my point in this article is that we gun owners do not have to keep defending
our position any more—all we have to do is state facts and show the results of
conceal carry in action! I had a doctor’s appointment and the receptionist seen
my shirt which read, “Conceal carry now because your life is worth it”. She
said, “Oh no not here!” After a slight back & forth conversation I simply said,
“Name one state out of the 48 that currently have had it where there is a
problem with it?” Of course she had no answer.
She said this state is different. I told her you sound just like some people in
the General Assembly who think Illinois citizens are somehow less capable than
the rest of the people in this country and you sound just as silly too! There is
no justification or sound reason anyone can present to not have conceal carry
here in Illinois!
I don’t have to defend it anymore. All I have to do is present it! It’s like
saying orange juice is good for colds because we have proven it and I’m sure
you’ve read about it already, so there is no argument left. The anti’s have lost
the wind in their sails. It no longer blows for them. It’s turned to stagnant
hot air.
We are now the leaders; we have the police on our side, the public on our side
and the majority of elected officials throughout the country on our side. We are
no longer are the defense in this case but rather the prosecution!
So come on gun owners speak boldly and hold that head high! There will be more
cases concerning this, but we have many cases that we won behind us. All the
presentation from the other side holds no ground and seems irrelevant in this
case. As all the evidence is in, so let’s just sum it up as Matlock would and
say, “THE DEFENSE RESTS!”
This article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the official position of the ISRA.
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