Open Letter to IL House of Representatives

Hi folks, I may get called out for being lazy today, but I wanted to share this letter with you (with the author's permission, of course). 
It was written by BudMan5 from the IllinoisCarry.com forums  and is one of the most well thought out letters I have read so far.

After reading, feel free to swing by the forums, join up and help with the cause! 

Dear Illinois Representatives.

I am a retired Illinois Police Chief and a retired US Army First Sergeant as well as being a lifelong Illinois resident.

I am writing to all of you, en masse, because in my mind, all of you are representing me regardless of from which District you were elected.

From my personal experience, I want to stress to you that laws forbidding the right to carry a concealed weapon only affect law abiding citizens. The only thing those laws accomplish is to ensure that criminals have available victims.

It is easy to confirm that laws banning concealed carry by merely examining the Cities where laws have banned possession. Our own Chicago leads the list in violent crimes even though a total ban on possession of firearms in Chicago was in effect for more than forty years.

The anti-gun folks are always referring to the “NRA and the gun lobby”, but they never come out and admit that the ‘gun lobby’ is actually composed of every day citizens, just like you and me.

The continuous claims that “blood will run in the streets” has not happened in any of the other forty-eight States that have already enacted concealed carry laws. Why does the Illinois General Assembly consider Illinois citizens different from the rest of the country?

President John F. Kennedy, in Profiles in Courage, profiles senators who crossed party lines and/or defied the public opinion of their constituents to do what they felt was right. Our Constitution describes the right to keep and bear arms as a fundamental right and that right has recently been confirmed by the United States Supreme Court. President Kennedy was also a Life member of the National Rifle Association.

I ask you each to examine your conscience concerning this issue. I am asking each of you to decide, not as your party dictates, but on what is right or wrong and what the people of Illinois really want.

I already can legally carry a concealed firearm because of the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act. My Illinois concealed carry permit, authorized by the Illinois General Assembly, states on its’ face, “For those who have served and earned the privilege”.

In my mind, I earned the right bear arms as a result of my American citizenship as did my wife and son and all of the other American citizens living in Illinois. The citizens of Illinois deserve the same right granted to Americans all across the country. The right of self-defense.

There are times in all our lives when we are offered the choice of making a decision based on what is right or wrong, good or bad. This is a time to choose the very hard right and good decision and not the easy bad or wrong decision.

BudMan5