Gun stuff
Wednesday, Jan 18, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
The Tribune gives us the broad picture.
After several failed attempts to pass a statewide ban on assault weapons, Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said Tuesday they will make the initiative a top priority in the current session of the state legislature.
In a joint news conference, the two Chicago Democrats called on the General Assembly to support their proposal to ban the manufacture, sale and possession of semi-automatic and .50-caliber weapons. […]
The governor will make a pitch directly to the General Assembly when it convenes for his annual State of the State Address on Wednesday. That speech comes two years after the expiration of the federal ban on assault weapons, after Congress failed to re-enact it. […]
Gun-rights groups say the legislation is unfair, because the description covers guns commonly used by law-abiding hunters and sport shooters.
“There’s no making these people happy,” said NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde. “They just want to ban as much stuff as they can … They will never be happy until they have eradicated firearm ownership.”
The Daily Herald covered the suburban angle.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich put the political bull’s-eye on suburban lawmakers Tuesday, challenging them to support an assault-weapons ban they helped defeat last year.
“The one area where crime is up is in suburban communities around the city,†Blagojevich said during a Chicago news conference. “And we are calling upon particularly those suburban legislators who last time around couldn’t vote for this, but now are in a position to vote for it.â€
But several suburban lawmakers Blagojevich could appeal to said they’re holding firm in their opposition.
“When you read the Second Amendment, it’s pretty clear. … It says the right to bear arms shouldn’t be infringed upon,†said state Rep. Michael Tryon, a Crystal Lake Republican.
Your turn.
- Bang Bang - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 8:08 am:
I’ll support the ban on one condition: all firearms are made illegal. That means the cops can’t have them, either.
And for all you gun nuts out there that want to trust someone a weapon designed to kill just because they are wearing a uniform, go into any black neighborhood in Chicago and see how those people in uniform are treating the residents.
They aren’t exactly showering them with respect. Perhaps if we disarmed everyone, they would.
- DOWNSTATE - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 8:30 am:
This is just some more of his Hitler stay politics.All dictators do not want people to have guns.Daley keeps saying guns are what is creating all the crime in Chicago.He needs to go back to Chicago and rethink his policies maybe it isn’t the guns.
- Pat collins - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 9:30 am:
Well, does mean a 0.50 cal flintlock (think Daniel boone) will be banned?
And, of course, the past years how many crimes have been committed with these weapons?
- Logical - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 9:57 am:
The problem with the previous attempt was how it was written. The average IL turkey hunter would have an illegal firearm as the 12 ga pump-action or semi-automatic shotgun would have been outlawed. Furthermore, regarding the 50 caliber assault rifle that is raising such a concern, it weighs over 30 pounds. I doubt that either of these politicians could even carry the thing.
- Anon. - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 10:00 am:
““There’s no making these people happy,†said NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde. ”
I’m pretty open on the gun issue, and I don’t know enough to form an opinion on the Assault Weapons Ban, but does Vandermyde see the irony in his statement? Their lobby has made a VERY public strategy of compromising on exactly NOTHING.
Oh yeah, and Downstate, thanks for undercutting every argument you have and ever will make with the Hitler argument. Your viewpoint is hereby irrelevent.
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 10:39 am:
Blagojevich has lost a great deal of his voter base, and he faces a primary challenger with real appeal. AllKids was supposed to drive any primary competitors from the field and it probably did keep a big name out. But Eisendrath came along. Now that he has a challenger that is doing better than expected, Blagojevich has to find a way to woo his political base again and hopes playing politics with the assault weapons ban will do it, reminding his base that he is their guy.
Blagojevich has nothing to lose by doing this at this point. Perhaps he can have the NRA go after him, perhaps he can have a couple flakey Republicans behave foolishly, and say silly things. If he can make this issue float for a few weeks he can perhaps change the subject of his ethical problems, and perhaps even win respectably over Eisendrath.
What Eisendrath has to do is simply agree with Blagojevich’s stand and then remind voters how Blagojevich failed to get the job done the first time.
What Republicans need to do is shut up! Do not let Blagojevich change the subject from his failings and corruption to anything else.
- DOWNSTATE - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 10:51 am:
Now that I have had time to settle down and think a little clearer.This is something Daley wants so the promise of delivering the Chicago machine will make Blago jump thru hoops.Blago thinks that all he needs is the Chicago machine to be elected the hell with the rest of the state.This goes to show that he does not care about the downstate people.He said that now most of the sportsman support this ban. I think he has totally went off his rocker and is beginning to believe his own lies.
- Larry Horse - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 11:35 am:
Statistics show that gun control has no effect on crime rates, higher or lower. That being said, I think the state should err on the side of liberty and not pass the ban.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 1:00 pm:
I guess they feel that they haven’t yet pissed off EVERYBODY in downstate IL so they want to make another attempt to have a clean sweep.
Sweep. Where have I heard that word before?
- Yo - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 2:23 pm:
Anon @10:00 am
Becuase you pointed out Downstate’s use of Hitler in his argument, I hereby declare you “Post Nazi”.
Any other arguments you’d like to invalidate by fiat, Herr Reichminister?
- Oracle at Delphi - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 3:49 pm:
It’s OK, my sniper rifle isn’t .50 cal - it’s 12.7 mm.
- .50 Caliber - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 4:08 pm:
The AR 50 rifle, 50 caliber rifle, weighs almost 50 pounds. This is not the kind of rifle that can be brought up to your shoulder free hand and shoot. To shoot this rifle, you have to use either a bench rest or a bi-pod to support the weight of the gun. Even the hard side carrying case come with rollers on one end because who can carry it otherwise.
The effective range is around 1000 yards, a little over 1/2 mile. Even the military snipers have a hard time at the range.
Most hunting rifles and shotguns weigh in the 6-8 pound range.
- The Colonel - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 4:28 pm:
I’m not aware of a single instance where a .50 caliber rifle has been used in the commission of a crime.
The whole thing is just so fake, phoney and a joke… pure Balonejevich!
- ET - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 4:52 pm:
Colonel,
Perhaps you forgot about David Koresh and his Branch Davidian friends in Waco, Texas who killed an ATF agent with a 50 caliber sniper rifle during their famous shootout. But then again the NRA considers ATF agents “jack booted thugs” so I guess you wouldn’t consider killing an ATF agent with a 50 cal a crime. It’s always interesting that the only thing you hear about from the NRA is guns and their realtionship to crime. They never want to talk about the 30,000 people dying from guns in this country every year. Oh that’s right guns don’t kill people, peaople kill people. Well try using that argument with the Riverdale family whose two year old shot the four year old last month. If the gun is not in the home no child is killed. This isn’t about crime it’s about trying to reduce the number of innocent victims killed by guns.
- Larry Horse - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 4:54 pm:
Once again, neither gun control nor legalized concealed carry has any effect on overall crime rates. When all other factors are held constant, net crime rates are unaffected by gun control or by legalizing concealed carry. So both sides are wrong in thinking that their measures will reduce crime.
- Paul Powell - Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 11:30 pm:
ET-I agree, a lot of people are killed by guns. How many people are killed by drunk drivers? Should we ban alcohol too? You are no less dead when killed by a drunk driver than with a gun.
- Paul Powell - Thursday, Jan 19, 06 @ 8:15 am:
ET-a few more stats for you-16,694 people killed last year by drunk drivers, 1 every 31 minutes, 248,000 injured, 1 every 2 minutes so between guns and drunks we have almost 47,000 people killed last year. Are you paying attention?
- Aaron - Thursday, Jan 19, 06 @ 1:30 pm:
Seeing as Chicago’s gun laws have failed to have any, if much effect, I prefer the State pass on wasting resources butting up against the Constitution.
- SouthernILRepub - Thursday, Jan 19, 06 @ 1:37 pm:
I can’t really appreciate a state that wants to make me a felon overnight! I remember one State Sen. saying; “how many body bags will it take when the police are sent to confisicate the firearms?”