Thursday, March 10, 2011

IGOLD - a day well spent

Today was IGOLD - Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day at the State Capitol in Springfield. The McHenry County Right to Carry Assn. chartered a bus, which departed from the Woodstock VFW at 6:00AM (and returned at 9:35PM).

One of the highlights of the day for me was meeting Otis McDonald, a 77-year-old Chicago resident whose landmark case broke the City of Chicago's lock on handgun ownership in homes. It was a pleasure to meet Otis and his nephew and business manager, Frederick Jones. This humble man genuinely cares about his family, his neighborhood and his city. I hope you might get to meet him one day. For more information about him, visit his Facebook page (under his name).

Another highlight was being recognized by State Treasurer (and former State Senator) Dan Rutherford. We met at IGOLD three years ago. Treasurer Rutherford's support and enthusiasm for concealed carry continues.

I called on several House members to thank them for their support of HB0148, which passed out of the Agricultural & Conservation Committee 12-2 this week. The administrative assistant of one of the two Committee members who voted against the bill told me this story, obviously from another state.

A robber entered a restaurant with a gun and announced a hold-up. Thirty-seven customers drew their guns and announced, "We don't think so!"

I stopped by Secretary of State Jesse White's office to thank him for the terrific and correct customer service I received last week via the Springfield tollfree DMV service and from the Secretary of State Police offices in Rockford and Springfield. He was happy to hear the compliment and even called in his official photographer. Could be I'll get a copy of the photo in the mail soon.

All in all, it was a great day!

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