Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Improved safety in our schools

Have you heard all the talk about improving safety in our schools?

Heard about all the plans to increase safety?

Been informed of all the meetings?

Received emails alerting you to steps you can take to increase the safety of your children at school?

Been informed of additional security steps at your child's school?

Neither have I.

Take-home cars - dead-end road?

Indianapolis is waking up to the value of take-home cars for police officers. Or is it waking up to the expense and lack of real value.

Read this article in U.S.A. Today.

I was reminded today of one McHenry County Sheriff's Department employee who has a take-home car. She is not even a deputy; she's a paper-pusher working in the office.

Not only does she get a take-home car, she doesn't even live in McHenry County, as required by the County Vehicle Policy. Special permission can be sought and approved, but why?

And not only does she get a take-home car on top of her $90,000/year pay for her desk-jockey job, but she also gets $950/year "Clothing Allowance". Generally speaking, a clothing allowance is for deputies, who might have to chase fleeing suspects through muddy cornfields or down snowy embankments or through barbed-wire fences.

Why does a civilian employee get a 950/year clothing allowance? Could she snag her hosiery on her desk? Deputies get only $500/year clothing allowance. Why does a civilian employee get any clothing allowance???

Who approved the take-home car and eligibility for clothing allowance? Let's see; that would probably be Undersheriff Andy Zinke. Or maybe Sheriff Keith Nygren, if he is ever in town.

Why can't USA have a leader?

Mychal Massie
Recently I came across Mychal Massie's piece on why he doesn't like Barack or Michelle Obama.

If a white man said all that stuff, he'd be pilloried.

His reason for not liking the Obamas? "I don’t like them because they are committed to the fundamental change of my/our country into what can only be regarded as a Communist state."

Massie uses some hard-hitting words to describe the Obamas: 
"they are the worst kind of racialists"
"they are elitist Leninists"
"Michelle Obama’s raw contempt for white America"
"they comport themselves as emperor and empress"
"they both display bigotry overtly"

Read Massie's February 22, 2012 column here.

Made my calls. Did you?

I made my calls today against the gun-grabbing bills headed for the Illinois legislature and the Congress. Have you called?

I called
Rep. Jack Franks
Sen. Pamela Althoff
Rep. Randy Hultgren *
Sen. Dick Durbin
Sen. Mark Kirk

I reached live and friendly people except at Sen. Kirk's office, where an answering device accepted my message and contact information.

* I did have trouble with the Washington, D.C. phone number for Rep. Hultgren, where a recording informed me that I had reached a non-working number at the U.S. House of Representatives. I informed his Geneva, Ill. office of the problem. Possibly, it was because I was calling via VoIP.

The Illinois Senate is due to be in session at 3:00PM today. Will Senate President Cullerton pounce on those who are there? How many Senators will be there today? Will there be enough there to oppose his gun grab?

The Illinois House is due to be in session on Sunday at 5:00PM. Why Sunday? Has Speaker Madigan got something up his sleeve? Will enough Representatives be there to oppose his own gun-grab efforts?

Please call today. Express your own feelings and tell them what you want. What these so-called leaders are trying to do is disarm the law-abiding population! What's next?

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Illinois under gun-ban threat

An additional message from the Illinois State Rifle Association follows. Sen. John J. Cullerton (D-6) is the President of the Illinois Senate. He is probably at least partially responsible for the failure of the House concealed carry bill (HB 0148) to pass on May 5, 2011. No doubt that his muscles were at work then,, along with Mike Madigan, to "persuade" borderline Democrat Representatives to withhold their support.

Want to call Cullerton on Wednesday? Call his Springfield office at (217) 782-2728 and/or his Chicago office at (773) 883-0770. More importantly, call your own elected Illinois Senator and Representative, and Gov. Quinn at 217-782-0244 (Springfield) and/or 312-814-2121 (Chicago).

CULLERTON TO INTRODUCE NEAR TOTAL GUN BAN ON JANUARY 2ND

The ISRA has learned from a credible source that Illinois Senate President John Cullerton will introduce a so called “assault weapons” ban on Wednesday when the legislature returns for its “lame duck” session.  Cullerton hopes to ramrod the bill through and get it to Governor Quinn for signature by Friday.  If he is successful at doing so, nearly every gun you currently own will be banned and will be subject to confiscation by the Illinois State Police.

Based on what we know about Cullerton’s bill, firearms that would be banned include all semiautomatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns.  Pump action shotguns would be banned as well.  This would be a very comprehensive ban that would include not only so-called “assault weapons” but also such classics as M1 Garands and 1911-based pistols.  There would be no exemptions and no grandfathering.  You would have a very short window to turn in your guns to the State Police to avoid prosecution.

HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO SAVE YOUR GUNS.

1.   Beginning Wednesday, call your State Senator and politely tell him or her that you are a law abiding firearm owner and that you strongly oppose Cullerton’s gun ban.  Also, be sure to call your State Representative as well and politely deliver the same message.  If you do not know who your State Representative please call the Illinois State Board of Elections at 217-782-4141.

2.   Forward this alert to all your gun owning friends and family members.  Be sure to tell them to call their senators and representatives as well.

3.   Post this alert to any and all Internet bulletin boards and blogs to which you belong.

4.   Join or renew your membership in the ISRA.  Encourage your friends and family to join as well.

5.   Make a generous donation to the ISRA by clicking the link below.  We are in desperate need of your financial support to help beat back the onslaught of gun grab bills coming our way in 2013.

Go to www.isra.org for membership information.

What Rahm left with Obama



Here is what is now leading Chicago!

Take a look at Rahm Emanuel saying, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."

This is exactly what Obama is doing, following the tragedy in Newtown, Conn. Obama is turning it into a political stand.

He may just find out why the Second Amendment is worded exactly the way that it is.

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

It seems to me that Obama and Feinstein and other gun-grabbers are threatening the security of the free state of our nation. They are attempting to infringe on our Constitutional right.

Be right back. Gotta check my ammo supply.

How dangerous are Obama and Feinstein?

Just how dangerous are Obama and Feinstein? Nobody is crying "Wolf" here. There is no doubt that the President of the United States, sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States, is trying to destroy the Second Amendment. And Dianne Feinstein (and many others) are trotting along right in his shadow.

Please read the following press release from the Illinois State Rifle Association very carefully. Then read it a second time.

New Year's Message from ISRA Executive Director, Richard Pearson

A year ago at this time, I was pretty optimistic that our crusade to restore the 2nd Amendment was nearly unstoppable.  With the Heller and McDonald decisions behind us, solid legal precedent was in place to strike down oppressive gun control laws from coast to coast.  Upon Governor Walker’s signing of a concealed carry bill into law, Wisconsin became the 49th state to recognize that citizens have a right to defend themselves with the most effective means possible.  Just a few weeks ago, Illinois’ status as the last hold out on concealed carry was dealt a blow when a federal appeals court demanded that Illinois enact a concealed carry law within 6 months.  Yes, things were really looking up for those of us who honor the 2nd Amendment.

As all of you know by now, the sorrow of so many in Newtown served to reignite the gun control movement’s war against your rights.  The gun controllers pounced on the Newtown murders like the proverbial chicken on a June Bug - spewing hateful invective against gun owners and promoting all sorts of schemes to put a nationwide end to private firearm ownership.

Of course, leading the charge against your gun rights is the Gun Grabber in Chief - Barack Obama.  Yes, the same Barack Obama who has convinced so many gun owners that he is such a friend to the 2nd Amendment and that he’s not the guy who will ever take your guns away.  Well, guess what?  He announced Sunday on national TV that he is going to take your guns away before 2013 is over.

The vehicle for Obama’s gun grab is a bill soon to be introduced into the U.S. Senate by veteran gun-hater, California Senator Dianne Feinstein.  Feinstein claims that her bill will take the “weapons of war” off our streets while preserving everyone’s 2nd Amendment rights.  Any gun-owner who is reassured by Feinstein’s claims needs to have their head examined.

Based on advance materials provided by Feinstein’s office, here is how she plans to “protect” your 2nd Amendment rights.

Once the Feinstein/Obama gun-grab bill becomes law, the government will publish a list of 900 “good” guns - guns that you will ostensibly be allowed to keep - for now.

The government would also publish a list of things that make any particular gun “bad.”  It appears that ALL pistols with “detachable magazines” would be banned, as well as “assault rifles” and all rifles or pistols that have “military features.”  This list would include all 1911 pistols, all Glocks, Sig-Sauers, Brownings, etc.  Imposition of the rifle “military feature” ban would result in M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, and M1A rifles along with pump action shotguns being banned as well.  Thus, this first round of controls would eliminate everything in your gun safe except revolvers, single shot, bolt action, and lever action rifles.

If you wished to keep any of your firearms that appear on the “bad” list, you would have to register them with the federal government, just like a machine gun.  You’d have to purchase a $200 tax stamp for each firearm, get fingerprinted, fill out a ton of paperwork, and get your police chief’s permission to own the firearm(s).  

If your police chief denies you permission, or you cannot afford tax stamps, then you must surrender your firearms to the federal government for destruction.  You cannot sell them or transfer them.  Oh, and if you fail to register a “bad” firearm, you’ll get 10 years in a federal prison.

One especially troubling feature of the Feinstein/Obama gun grab is that “bad” firearms cannot be transferred - even to heirs.  Thus, if you die, the executor of your estate must surrender the registered firearms to the government for destruction.  You cannot leave your guns to family or friends in your will - you must bequeath them to the government.

In short, the no-transfer provision of the Feinstein/Obama gun grab would mean that more than half of the firearms currently owned by citizens would be surrendered to the government over the next decade or so as current gun owners pass away.  Thus, given the scope of the Feinstein/Obama gun grab, high power target shooting would disappear in short order as would handgun competition including Bullseye, IPSC, IDPA, and the like.

As we have seen in the past when sweeping “assault weapon” grabs are proposed, there is a vocal contingent of “hunters” who announce support for the gun grab because they believe that their “hunting rifles” will not be affected.  These “hunters” would do well to remember that the gun grabbers also have their sights set on so-called “sniper rifles.”  To the gun grabbers, a “sniper rifle” is any rifle that is accurate beyond 50 yards and is able to accept a scope.  Whether these “hunters” wish to believe it or not, it would be just a matter of time before most centerfire, bolt-action and lever-action rifles would be declared “too dangerous for our streets” and thus be banned and confiscated.  Consequently, hunting would soon become a thing of the past - which is just what the gun grabbers want.

The Feinstein/Obama gun grab is the moral equivalent of “ethnic cleansing.”  It is no secret that the gun control movement has a deep-seated hatred of anyone who would dare own a gun.  When combined with a manufacturing ban, the no-transfer provision means that firearms would quickly disappear from public hands and, with no firearms around which to rally, the scourge of the “gun culture” would be eradicated from American society.  In effect, the Feinstein/Obama plan would have the same impact as a law that would require babies of a certain ethnic or racial group to be sterilized at birth.  In no time at all, that racial group would fade from memory.  Clearly, Obama and Feinstein wish to “cleanse” American society of firearms and those who own them.

No, the Feinstein/Obama gun grab is not a mere attempt at improving public safety.  Rather, it is a form of forced conversion to a radical leftist viewpoint on civilian firearm ownership.  You, as a firearm owner, will be given a choice of voluntarily renouncing the 2nd Amendment, or go to jail.  It’s just that simple.

Right now, it’s a toss-up as to just how much of the Feinstein/Obama gun grab will be enacted.  Gun owners have a lot of friends in Congress on both sides of the aisle.  But the key to defending against Obama and Feinstein will be gun owners speaking up in defense of the 2nd Amendment.  All gun owners must call their US Senators and their US Representatives and politely tell them that they are law-abiding firearm owners who do not support any sort of firearm ban.  Likewise on the state level, firearm owners must call their state representatives and senators to deliver the same message - NO GUN BANS.

State and national gun rights organizations need your financial support as well.  Please donate to the ISRA today.  We need your contributions to help fight off this aggressive attack on your rights.

I wish I had a happier New Year’s greeting for you, but I don’t.  Over the next several months, things will get very difficult for the nation’s gun owners.  But, if we stick together, we will overcome anything that they throw at us.  The enemy is powerful, but not insurmountable.  Remember that gun control is a disease and you are the cure.