The Huntley Tea Party sponsored a meeting tonight on the topic of concealed carry.
There was little new from the proponents. Joe Walsh and Mike Tryon were there. Richard Pearson, of the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) was there, and so were Valinda and Mike Rowe. Valinda founded IllinoisCarry.com (www.illinoiscarry.com) and very recently was awarded the national Activist of the Year Award by the Second Amendment Foundation.
Huntley Police Chief John Perkins was on the agenda but didn't make it. Maybe the Huntley town fathers decided that Perkins ought to be somewhere else???
Also present was Bill Jenkins. Although he had been billed as being from the Brady Campaign, I understood the moderator to say at the beginning of the meeting that Bill was not from the Brady group.
Bill was the best prepared of the speakers and showed a PowerPoint presentation that ought to cause any reasonable person to stop and listen hard to what he was saying. Bill is a gun owner and a believer in the Second Amendment, but he opposes concealed carry.
I suspect that much of his presentation fell on deaf ears in the audience. There were the usual few rude and obnoxious proponents of concealed carry, including one man I had run into at another meeting. I remembered him for his "carrying a concealed weapon is a Gawwwwwwdddddddd-given right" proclamation at the previous meeting.
Bill's presentation and arguments made sense. Some of the loud-mouths got tired of listening and began to heckle him and interrupt him. The moderator could have done a better job of shutting down the disruptive members of the audience. They were the ones who scare me about the whole right-to-carry subject, because they are likely to brandish their weapons or even fire them outside of legal limits.
Even Richard Pearson, the Executive Director of the Illinois State Rifle Assn., gave a couple of personal examples of "self-defense". In my opinion, one was borderline, but the other was clearly a violation of law. And he was proud of them.
Todd Vandermyde, the lobbyist for ISRA and also a union lobbyist, went into the attack mode against Jenkins and accused Jenkins of positions that Jenkins calmly explained were not his positions. That didn't slow down Todd.
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8 comments:
I don't see how anyone with any common sense could be against the right to carry (concealed or otherwise) for self defense. I can think of 3 tragic national stories that may have either been avoided or lessened had law abiding citizens been aloud to due there duty as american citizens. A well laid out power point slighted in either direction doesn't mean a thing in what our fore fathers intended for free men to have the right to defend themselves against threats against them. A armed public is a polite public capable of lower crime which in the end will lower costs in every catagory of the economy.
Perko, thanks for your comment. Were you at the meeting last night?
Bill Jenkins' presentation was full of information. It caused me to think of points to which I had not given as much thought as I will in the future.
The audience had too many men in it who might pull out the ol' blunderbuss and fire away as their "God-given" right - and kill or injure innocent people as they defend themselves or another. Think about that .357 Magnum or Glock .40. Where will that bullet end up?
Jenkins was NOT anti-2A. I hope you were there. If not, catch up with him in the future. Almost no one talked with him afterwards.
We may not persuade another 8-12 State Reps with some of last night's arguments for concealed carry.
I'm reminded of your post earlier this month about civility. These are supposed to be responsible adults...they knew there would be dissenting presentations at this meeting...if they couldn't be "responsible" or "respectful" enough to listen to a presentation without resorting to heckling and rude behavior...then shame on them! Just because you disagree with someone doesn't give you the right to talk over them, interrupt them, or be disrespectful to them!
Quite frankly, it's behavior like this that makes me want to work to keep guns out of these people's hands because they are proving the point of anti-2A advocates! I don't want hotheads or "trigger happy" people having a fun on their hand any more than I do a criminal! The more calm, cool and collected people with guns the better...but not these yahoos!
Gus, sorry to say I couldn't make it last night.
I understand concerns people have with the "what ifs". I feel the bigger concerns now are the "what is"... meaning those who are not law abiding don't worry about the law and breaking it. The majority of lwa abiding citizens are responsible and actually feel it duty to be responsible and carry. No stat will ever exsist for the crime that never occured because the law breaker was afraid to commit a crime against someone they thought to be able to defend themself.
Thanks, MBlue. I'll second that!!!
Thanks, Perko. Your point about "duty to be responsible and carry" is well said. That responsibility should include adequate training and experience (practice). I plan to carry.
As a matter of fact, I agree with Todd V. about the legality of carrying right now. It is legal (i.e., not illegal) to carry an unloaded handgun in a case (or "container") right now, with the ammo in the case (container). His answer to a trooper was "I am carrying in accordance with State law". In his case, he added, "I wrote the law."
But many of us would get arrested in McHenry County or Woodstock. I can't wait to be asked about the "case/container" on the front seat of my car. What's in it is my business. I am not breaking the law. If a cop wants to look in my car or in the case, he'll need a warrant. And he'd better have a lot of personal or professional liability insurance.
As Concealed Carry, Inc. recommended saying to officers, "I am not violating any firearm laws. Please consider that ignoring current Illinois law and proceeding with an arrest of an innocent person may result in civil liability for any arresting officers, their supervisors and/or their departments."
Food for thought Gus. I may consider those methods myself with hope to effect change in the law.
I grew up in PA and never realized how liberal the state of IL is.
How obvious can it be ...we are the only State in the United States of America that does not have a concealed carry provision for its citizens...that alone tells you a whole lot about the politicians in this State. Use your vote the next time you vote...know the stance of your State Rep. and Senator. If you don't agree with them ...VOTE THEM OUT!
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