Voters want concealed carry

A townhall meeting was held today at the Illinois Institute of Technology in the Tower Auditorium at (or whatever the baseball stadium is called) from the front door.

The townhall was sponsored by the Youth Connection Charter School, a school for 4,000 students in 20+ locations. On the panel were State Senator Mattie Hunter (D-3rd), State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-3rd) and Chicago Alder(wo)man Pat Dowell (3rd Ward).

The meeting started more than 20 minutes later, partially due to sound problems (but also a lack of commitment to start on time). The topic was Concealed Carry. The moderator, Cliff Kelley, was too wordy and momentarily forgot he wasn't running his own radio talkshow. Audience interest waned at times, when speakers got too long-winded and off-topic.

Illinois will go the Constitutional Carry route (concealed and open carry for all, without any permit), if legislators fail to enact a law by June 9, 2013. This will force them to do something, even if it ends up in court.

I submitted 8-10 questions and, when my turn to ask a question came, I had no clue which one would be the right one. So I asked the audience who would apply for a concealed carry permit. More than half raised their hands!

When I first moved to Chicago in 1964, I was a resident of the 3rd District. As a result of mentioning that, I spoke with a young woman who attended because she wished to learn more about concealed carry.

The re-energized McHenry County Right to Carry Association will be working hard during the next three months, so that Illinois comes up with a fair, sensible law. Go to www.ilga.gov and read HB0997. This Bill replaces the HB0148 of the past session. This is a good bill.

Rep. Dunkin can probably be expected to tinker with it, along with a large number of Cook County State Reps. I'm sure he would like Chicago and Cook County exempted from it. Todd Vandermyde, the NRA/ISRA lobbyist, said that (if he has anything to do with it) Chicago will not be carved out for a home-rule exemption.