Lt. Gov. Simon - wrong on weapons

This morning's Associated Press article about Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon's stand on "assault" weapons is totally wrong. She urges cities in Illinois to rush in new ordinances before Illinois finally has a concealed-carry law.

What happens when you rush in new laws? You know the answer to that one.

The Illinois General Assembly had six months to pass a concealed-carry bill, thanks to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. When did they pass it? On the last day. At the end of the day. After a lot of arm-twisting, hand-wringing, and teeth gnashing. And backroom deals, no doubt.

Now some are wondering if they engineering the last-minute deal to fail. The Governor is caught right in the cross-hairs. If he signs it, he angers the Chicago politicians. If he doesn't sign it, he angers all the downstate politicians. He is in a lose-lose situation. He might as well leave on a few foreign-trade trips and just wait for his term to end. His goose is cooked, politically, either way.

Simon must not know, or is unwilling to admit, that assault weapons have been banned since 1934. That's before she was born. Heck, that's before I was born. Believe it or not.

Oh, but she is using the "new" definition of "assault weapon". The one that defines something else as an assault weapon.

Well, you know, maybe women should be banned outside the home. (Hold on, ladies; I'll get to men in a moment.) Are all women prostitutes? Should they all be arrested? They aren't. But wait; they have the equipment to be.

And men? Are they all rapists? Should they all be arrested? They have the equipment to be.

Pretty stupid argument, isn't it?

So, if I have an AR-15 or an Автомат Калашникова образца 1974 года (better known as an AK-74) that will only fire as a semi-automatic (one trigger pull fires only one round), does that make me a bad person or, worse, a criminal? If Sheila gets her way, it will.

Why might I need such a weapon, with a 15- or 30-round magazine, or maybe a whole shelf full of loaded magazines? Suzanna Gratia-Hupp said it best, when appearing before a firearms committee in about 1993.

If you haven't watched this video of her testimony, watch it. And read her book, From Luby's to the Legislature.