Just wanted to mention that Todd and Valinda weren't the only folks there speaking today, many others shared personal stories and words of encouragement. Among them were Otis McDonald (McDonald v Chicago) and Mary Shepard (Shepard v Madigan).
Mary has been unable to attend the last couple of years as her Dr. hadn't released her to travel (at least that is my understanding...someone may correct me on that) and to hear her talk about being beaten and left for dead really struck a chord with everyone in attendance. It really couldn't have happened to a sweeter lady.
Once inside the Capitol I had the opportunity to thank her for standing up and taking her story to the courts, I can't imagine what it must be like to have to relate those events over and over again. While speaking with her I realized just how small of physical stature she is, I'm sure that she looks like an easy target for criminals and is.... as long as she remains unarmed. Being familiar with her story, I know that her attacker was approximately my size (6'2"/250) and standing there with her really illustrated just how much of a physical advantage someone my size would have over her. However, I know she's well trained and, if armed, she'd be a force to be reckoned with.
The media reports of attendees varies wildly, some stating that "hundreds" marched on the Capitol while others put the number between 3000 - 4000. My estimate was closer to 7000, I base this on the capacity of the main hall of PCCC (7700) and the fact that there were people all over the place outside the convention center. To say that it's tough to get an estimate on attendees is an understatement.
Yet again, the Capitol Police were heard to comment that IGOLD attendees are always a pleasure to work with and many look forward to it. Maybe they need to relay that to the "blood in the streets" crowd that wants to take away our firearms.
Sadly I wasn't able to get over to the grip-n-grin afterwards, the head cold that I thought I had shaken came back with a vengeance and I starting feeling pretty miserable while still inside the Capitol. Here's hoping that everyone there had a good time!
Thanks to everyone that puts on and attends IGOLD.... we ARE making a difference.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
IGOLD baby!!
I'm live from IGOLD today and it looks to be the largest crowd yet. At least DOUBLE last year!!!!
Todd Vandermyde gave a legislative update that was great and Valinda Rowe is currently on stage. As always, she is a motivating speaker and really touches home with the crowd.
- Posted on the move.
Todd Vandermyde gave a legislative update that was great and Valinda Rowe is currently on stage. As always, she is a motivating speaker and really touches home with the crowd.
- Posted on the move.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Location, location, location....
When the word "location" comes up this week, there's only one place YOU need to be:
IGOLD in Springfield, Illinois.
Yes, YOU do need to be there because last week Speaker Madigan and the machine played games with our rights and it looks like the games are continuing this week.
Last week it was concealed carry, this week they'll be looking to ban personal defense weapons (or what the media calls "assault weapons").
The details on last week are long and maddening, I'll refrain from getting into them here but I will say that we can't turn our attention away from things for even one day. If you'd like to read all about it, head over to IllinoisCarry.com for much discussion on events of last week.
"They" want an extremely restrictive "May Issue" law for concealed carry and use a lot of emotional wording to make that sound like a good thing. Here's a scenario that demonstrates why may issue sucks:
Let's say that back in High School I dated the current local Sheriff's sister and he was always very protective of her and didn't care much for me. Now, I apply for a RTC permit....even though I have no criminal record or any history of mental illness, he chooses to deny me a permit simply based on his dislike for me having dated his sister. Or maybe I didn't donate to the Sheriffs' Association, or maybe he doesn't like the way I mow my lawn.... Seriously, "may issue" laws allow for this ridiculousness.
We want a "shall issue" bill. This means that as long as you don't have a felony record, no history of mental illness, you currently hold a valid FOID and you have passed required training.... you receive a permit. If you are denied a permit, there MUST be a VALID reason for that denial and it must hold up under scrutiny of the law. Those that don't like shall issue will use emotion to try to convince you that it will result in handing out permits like candy to anyone that wants one, this is simply not the case.
We also want preemption. Huh? This means that Chicago would have to abide by the same carry law as every other part of the state, we don't want to leave our Chicago citizens out to dry.
Please call your Reps and Senators folks! Tell them:
NO bad carry bills
NO gun, magazine or ammo bans
NO to the city of Chicago's agenda until they respect the Second Amendment!!!
Also, I want to remind folks that you can watch committee meetings and floor debates LIVE online. It's my opinion that doing so should be required of every citizen, it really shows how inept some of our elected folks are.
To do so, go to www.ilga.gov and find the row of wording (in the blue bar) at the top of the page, place your cursor over the word "House" or "Senate" and a menu will drop down. At the bottom of that menu, you'll find a link for audio/video. If there's anything going on live, you'll find the link on the age that opens up....just be sure to have your blood pressure meds handy if you need them. Some of these folks have no business "leading" our state.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Never a dull moment
It's been an interesting January for gun owners in America and things are likely to stay that way for awhile. We've had new, nasty gun laws passed in NY, Executive Orders from the White House and Feinstein's newly tweaked AWB trotted out for our perusal. It's enough to make your head spin!
Let me start by saying that some gun owners in New York are standing up to say "NO!" and I applaud them for it, they don't want to register as they know that registration only leads to worse things down the road. You can read about it here and here if you'd like to know more. (I have no affiliation or experience with either place linked)
I have to admit that I'm curious just where the state legislators in NY think they'll house all those citizens that they're threatening with a year in jail for non-compliance. That could be a very large group to feed and shelter. It's also worth mentioning that, in their haste to pass new "feel good" laws, they failed to exempt police from them. I wonder how the NYPD feels about being limited to 7 round magazines? Then again, with the recent shooting record of the NYPD, that may make citizens a bit safer.
I should state that I am not really bashing the police here, but they are continually held up as "the people that are trained in firearms use" by some legislators and the media. It's my opinion that police aren't allowed enough range time to keep themselves proficient and I probably have more live fire training than most police do.
On to those Executive Orders.....frankly, only a few of them have any real merit:
#13 Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
Makes sense right? If the courts would quit plea bargaining so much and actually punish some criminals instead of sending them back out, we might get somewhere. Notice how they slipped "gun" in there a couple of times? Couldn't we just as easily have said "violence" and "crime"?
#18 Provide incentive for schools to hire resource officers.
Sounds good at first really, but I wonder what possible incentive is better than "keeping children safe"..... But hey, if they want to help pay for it I'm OK with it. I should think that the resource officers are to be armed though. (and didn't they say that it was un-affordable when the NRA suggested some security?)
#20, 22, 23 all deal with mental health issues and I think this is extremely important as we can link most every mass killing to mental health and some drugs used to treat such. I'm no expert on mental health so I'll leave it to others to decide if these actual proposals are worth anything.
In short, most of the 23 suck and a couple will absolutely rip apart health care privacy while others won't do squat to curtail any determined criminal.
Oh! Guess who supports these measures/EO's? The Communist Party! Seriously.
Read the story at that link and tell everyone you know. Why on earth would any American support a damned thing that the Communist Party backs?
That leaves us with Feinstein and her new 1994 AWB on steroids. What planet is this woman even from? This bill is so nuts that it shouldn't even be given a look....but it will because emotions are high.
Here's my fear: She purposely made this bill so restrictive that it can never pass, once she "realizes" this, she will back off a bit here and there. Pretty soon, those gun owners that are a bit squishy start supporting it because of all the compromise she's made and then it becomes law. Ugh.
What we need to do is absolutely melt down the phones, faxes and emails of every elected official we have and tell them to let her know we said "Pound sand!". Do it DAILY. Those elected should be so in fear of losing their jobs that they help this woman get on a plane back to San Francisco where she can retire and basically just go away. While they're helping her, they might consider retirement for themselves as some are seriously out of touch.
For further discussion on these items and other things gun related, be sure to visit IllinoisCarry.com
Let me start by saying that some gun owners in New York are standing up to say "NO!" and I applaud them for it, they don't want to register as they know that registration only leads to worse things down the road. You can read about it here and here if you'd like to know more. (I have no affiliation or experience with either place linked)
I have to admit that I'm curious just where the state legislators in NY think they'll house all those citizens that they're threatening with a year in jail for non-compliance. That could be a very large group to feed and shelter. It's also worth mentioning that, in their haste to pass new "feel good" laws, they failed to exempt police from them. I wonder how the NYPD feels about being limited to 7 round magazines? Then again, with the recent shooting record of the NYPD, that may make citizens a bit safer.
I should state that I am not really bashing the police here, but they are continually held up as "the people that are trained in firearms use" by some legislators and the media. It's my opinion that police aren't allowed enough range time to keep themselves proficient and I probably have more live fire training than most police do.
On to those Executive Orders.....frankly, only a few of them have any real merit:
#13 Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
Makes sense right? If the courts would quit plea bargaining so much and actually punish some criminals instead of sending them back out, we might get somewhere. Notice how they slipped "gun" in there a couple of times? Couldn't we just as easily have said "violence" and "crime"?
#18 Provide incentive for schools to hire resource officers.
Sounds good at first really, but I wonder what possible incentive is better than "keeping children safe"..... But hey, if they want to help pay for it I'm OK with it. I should think that the resource officers are to be armed though. (and didn't they say that it was un-affordable when the NRA suggested some security?)
#20, 22, 23 all deal with mental health issues and I think this is extremely important as we can link most every mass killing to mental health and some drugs used to treat such. I'm no expert on mental health so I'll leave it to others to decide if these actual proposals are worth anything.
In short, most of the 23 suck and a couple will absolutely rip apart health care privacy while others won't do squat to curtail any determined criminal.
Oh! Guess who supports these measures/EO's? The Communist Party! Seriously.
Read the story at that link and tell everyone you know. Why on earth would any American support a damned thing that the Communist Party backs?
That leaves us with Feinstein and her new 1994 AWB on steroids. What planet is this woman even from? This bill is so nuts that it shouldn't even be given a look....but it will because emotions are high.
Here's my fear: She purposely made this bill so restrictive that it can never pass, once she "realizes" this, she will back off a bit here and there. Pretty soon, those gun owners that are a bit squishy start supporting it because of all the compromise she's made and then it becomes law. Ugh.
What we need to do is absolutely melt down the phones, faxes and emails of every elected official we have and tell them to let her know we said "Pound sand!". Do it DAILY. Those elected should be so in fear of losing their jobs that they help this woman get on a plane back to San Francisco where she can retire and basically just go away. While they're helping her, they might consider retirement for themselves as some are seriously out of touch.
For further discussion on these items and other things gun related, be sure to visit IllinoisCarry.com
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
IL Legislation update
The two bills that we are concerned with passed through committee today and are very likely to come to a floor vote tomorrow MORNING (Thursday, Jan. 3).
Please! Call and tell your senator and Senate President Cullerton to vote "NO" on these bills:
HB1263 which is a very far reaching semi-auto ban
HB815 which, among other things, would require registration of magazines that are capable of holding more than 10 rounds and whatever rifles and handguns can hold them....
Now, I have no idea how they would really expect to register a magazine, what with no serial number and all. Stupidity in action.
So, first thing in the morning, start calling your senator and then fax them too. In the meantime, send them an email.
There's also some folks saying that during the committee meeting, their names were read off as "proponent" of these, when in fact they are an "opponent". Is it a mistake or some really dirty pool? I hope we can find a way to hold their feet to the fire on this for sure!
Please see yesterday's blog post for links to contact your elected reps, I'm back to work and have an early morning tomorrow. I'll be calling senators on the drive in.
Please! Call and tell your senator and Senate President Cullerton to vote "NO" on these bills:
HB1263 which is a very far reaching semi-auto ban
HB815 which, among other things, would require registration of magazines that are capable of holding more than 10 rounds and whatever rifles and handguns can hold them....
Now, I have no idea how they would really expect to register a magazine, what with no serial number and all. Stupidity in action.
So, first thing in the morning, start calling your senator and then fax them too. In the meantime, send them an email.
There's also some folks saying that during the committee meeting, their names were read off as "proponent" of these, when in fact they are an "opponent". Is it a mistake or some really dirty pool? I hope we can find a way to hold their feet to the fire on this for sure!
Please see yesterday's blog post for links to contact your elected reps, I'm back to work and have an early morning tomorrow. I'll be calling senators on the drive in.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
IL Legislators looking to ram gun control thru NOW
I regularly joke about the three people that read this, but today I seriously hope that MANY are reading and I can help get the word out.
NRA-ILA has learned that anti-gun legislators backed by Gov. Quinn intend to introduce legislation on January 2, 2013. The idea is that, with the support of anti-gunners that won't be back after losing elections, they can exploit the lame duck session and pass some very ugly regulations.
The known language attacks public gun ranges and would put them under control of the ISP and also ends any training of non-FOID holders even if properly supervised. So non gun owners that wish to learn more about firearms would be required to first undergo the FOID process just to touch a gun.
The usual magazine capacity and so called "assault weapons" bans are included, as well as a ban on pump action rifles.... No, really. This is said to be the most draconian gun language ever put forth in America and if you think dad's old shotgun that you hunt birds with is safe, think again.
Even though some of this could be found to be unConstitutional, it could also take years for courts to reverse it...and they know this.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE... call your IL legislators tomorrow and call every day after that, tell them that we don't want ANY of these whacko ideas to become law.
(217) 782-4141 is the number to find out who your legislators are (if you don't know)
(217) 782-2000 is the main number for the IL General Assembly
Or you can also go HERE to plug in your address and get the contact info you need.
Also remember that on January 9, 2013 you may get a new legislator based on the last election and redistricting, so check those numbers or the link on the 9th for properly updated info.
As a last word, I'd also like to let you in on their tactics. One thought is that they KNOW this won't fly but it gives them room to back off but still implement lesser controls while looking reasonable. It's like a child asking for a new car but really only wanting a new bicycle...when the kid backs off a bit, the parent doesn't think the new bike seems like such a bad idea.
As always, join the discussion at IllinoisCarry and learn more.
NRA-ILA has learned that anti-gun legislators backed by Gov. Quinn intend to introduce legislation on January 2, 2013. The idea is that, with the support of anti-gunners that won't be back after losing elections, they can exploit the lame duck session and pass some very ugly regulations.
The known language attacks public gun ranges and would put them under control of the ISP and also ends any training of non-FOID holders even if properly supervised. So non gun owners that wish to learn more about firearms would be required to first undergo the FOID process just to touch a gun.
The usual magazine capacity and so called "assault weapons" bans are included, as well as a ban on pump action rifles.... No, really. This is said to be the most draconian gun language ever put forth in America and if you think dad's old shotgun that you hunt birds with is safe, think again.
Even though some of this could be found to be unConstitutional, it could also take years for courts to reverse it...and they know this.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE... call your IL legislators tomorrow and call every day after that, tell them that we don't want ANY of these whacko ideas to become law.
(217) 782-4141 is the number to find out who your legislators are (if you don't know)
(217) 782-2000 is the main number for the IL General Assembly
Or you can also go HERE to plug in your address and get the contact info you need.
Also remember that on January 9, 2013 you may get a new legislator based on the last election and redistricting, so check those numbers or the link on the 9th for properly updated info.
As a last word, I'd also like to let you in on their tactics. One thought is that they KNOW this won't fly but it gives them room to back off but still implement lesser controls while looking reasonable. It's like a child asking for a new car but really only wanting a new bicycle...when the kid backs off a bit, the parent doesn't think the new bike seems like such a bad idea.
As always, join the discussion at IllinoisCarry and learn more.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Got that flu going around? Catch up on reading!
Yep, that's what I'm doing anyway and I've barely got a touch of it compared to some folks I've talked to. I just have a generally "blah" feeling and am scared to eat anything...just in case.
Sitting around the house all day has given me time to do some reading though and I want to point you good folks to a blog posting that is lengthy but a very well thought out piece and could give you some arguments to use when talking with anti gunners. You can find it over at An opinion on gun control and I encourage you to set aside 15 or 20 minutes and give it a look, it really is very well done.
Many have also heard about Chicago trying to hide its 500th murder for the year by reclassifying one as a "death investigation". Where I come from, we call that lying. It's little surprise really, they don't even comply with the FBI methodology for reporting rapes. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-6 (scroll all the way to the bottom and look for footnote #2)
It's been a tough year to be a gun owner but some good has come about as well. Don't forget to visit IllinoisCarry to stay up to date on the status of concealed carry in IL. That link is just the main page BTW, be sure to visit the forums as well.
Here's hoping for a bright new year for all of us in 2013.
Sitting around the house all day has given me time to do some reading though and I want to point you good folks to a blog posting that is lengthy but a very well thought out piece and could give you some arguments to use when talking with anti gunners. You can find it over at An opinion on gun control and I encourage you to set aside 15 or 20 minutes and give it a look, it really is very well done.
Many have also heard about Chicago trying to hide its 500th murder for the year by reclassifying one as a "death investigation". Where I come from, we call that lying. It's little surprise really, they don't even comply with the FBI methodology for reporting rapes. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-6 (scroll all the way to the bottom and look for footnote #2)
It's been a tough year to be a gun owner but some good has come about as well. Don't forget to visit IllinoisCarry to stay up to date on the status of concealed carry in IL. That link is just the main page BTW, be sure to visit the forums as well.
Here's hoping for a bright new year for all of us in 2013.
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