Chicago Police Sergeants want concealed-carry

The Northwest Herald carried a Page 3A article this morning titled "Conceal-carry law concerns Chicago police."

The AP reporter didn't get it quite right, when she wrote "Chicago police joined gun control groups ..."

What she didn't tell you was that the Chicago Police Sergeants Association is in favor of HB 0148, which would establish concealed-carry in Illinois, if passed by the Illinois House and the Senate and then signed by Governor Quinn.

If ISP Firearms Bureau Chief John Coffman studied the concealed carry issue a little more, he'd get more sleep. Maybe his sleepless nights are really caused by worry about whether some gun-toting criminal will burst in on his family or the family next door and that no armed citizen will be available to help him while he waits for the cops to arrive.

I've got news for Bureau Chief Coffman. He can stop worrying about "potential" tragedies and trot on down to Chicago's south side and talk to some parents of murdered children about real tragedies.

No responsible gun owner, impatiently awaiting the right to carry concealed, objects to reasonable safeguards on the issuance of permits. I'm one heck of a lot more worried about the thousands of criminals who are carrying guns right now than I am whether a very few people might slip through some cracks to get a permit for which they are not eligible.

If the Chicago Police Sergeants are for concealed carry, I'll bet that many Chicago police officers are, too. It's Daley and Emanuel and the followers on the City Council that are blocking the entire state from having concealed carry. The Aldermen? Do you realize they can carry concealed?

No training. No practice. Probably couldn't hit the broad side of a barn - from inside! But they can carry. What's wrong with this picture???