62 Comments - Happy Returns - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 12:38 pm: Soudns like they are misprepresenting it. Carry permits wouldn’t be issued in ‘other counties’, they would be from ISP. Am I wrong? - Kevin Highland - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 12:44 pm: If my permit issued by ISP isn’t valid in Cook County the end result is the same! They may have misspoke but I don’t believe they were misrepresenting the situation. - Robert the Bruce - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 12:45 pm: What a scare tactic! But don’t they know that it is better to just pick out one villain in an urgent email? I don’t think people statewide know who Dart or McCarthy are. - downstate commissioner - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 12:48 pm: No misrepresentation as I understand the bill; all permits are issued through ISP, but Cook/Chicago permits also have to be approved by them before issuance by ISP. Same result. - AFSCME Steward - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 12:48 pm: I have never owned or carried a gun. I’ve never ever even touched one. The last I checked I am still alive. I’m sure glad I’m on the superintendent’s good list. “Chicago Police Superintendent Gerry McCarthy does not have the right to decide whether you will live or die.” - MrJM - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 12:50 pm: At least the ISRA has finally dialed-down the rhetoric. – MrJM - Raymond - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 12:51 pm: Whew, I would love to be in the room with Rahm when he reads that headline. Then again, maybe not. - downstate commissioner - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 12:54 pm: Actually, this is a rather mild alert from the ISRA. And Rahm, as the most vocal leader of the anti-gunners (and an experienced politician), can expect such comments… - Roamin' Numeral - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 12:59 pm: Dear ISRA, Do your best to be civilized and smart. Thank you. - Left Leaner - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 12:59 pm: Over.The.Top - Colossus - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:03 pm: This reminds me of listening to Rush Limbaugh. In both cases, you can almost hear/read the implied “BE AFRAID” whenever there’s a break in the text. It’s selling fear, not conveying information. While I agree it’s over the top, it’s par for the course. It’s also an extreme minority position as we learned from this morning’s poll. Speaking of which, I was most impressed by the age breakdown in the crosstabs. Not sure if anyone has a working theory on why the distribution ended up like it did, I’m a bit flummoxed. - frustrated GOP - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:10 pm: I’m waiting for them to use that same attack on why you should be able to carry a 100 round clip for the AR-15. ” Rahm is taking your right away from defending your house and family from invading armies.” - xxtofer - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:16 pm: I think the ruling that Illinois must allow concealed carry is wrong, but that said, I think allowing the state to piecemeal it together is also a bad idea. I’m not sure how something legal in Sangamon County can be, just by the nature of crossing a border, illegal in Cook. Whatever the law, it better have significant bans on guns in sensitive public places. - G. Willickers - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:16 pm: From Rich, earlier today… Today, I added a new line… In other words, do your best to be civilized and smart. - Just Observing - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:19 pm: ISRA’s points are valid, but I just wish they would convey their message in a more educated manner. - HenryVK - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:19 pm: Anybody wondering why Illinois is the last state to have CC need read no further. The ISRA has moderates (and liberals) convinced that gun owners are a bunch of lunatics. The NRA and reasonable gun owners need to realize that the ISRA it the biggest threat to Illinois gun owners. - Cincinnatus - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:33 pm: If the last three lines were deleted, this would have been one of the better alerts. - elginkevin - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:38 pm: Cincinnatus beat me to it. I’m an ISRA member and I’m getting tired of the rhetoric. They need to move back to supporting sporting and stop shouting about the sky falling every other day. I appreciate being kept up to date, but I’m considering unsubscribing from their mailing list. - Aldyth - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:38 pm: I’d always wondered where the writers from The Weekly World News went to work after it folded. - Deep South - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:45 pm: ===it would be illegal for you to carry a defensive firearm in the place you need it most=== Well, as long as I can carry a gun in places where I need it the least…right? - Ghost - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:46 pm: Oh we’ll when you put it that way… I am changing from the rational argument that we should avoid discretionary applications of law to this must be a good idea if this is the oppositions response - Deep South - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:47 pm: ===Chicago Police Superintendent Gerry McCarthy does not have the right to decide whether you will live or die.=== No, we’re gonna leave that to Obama’s death panels. - Tom B. - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:47 pm: This is one of my favorite parts of politics: watching folks who are completely dominated by emotion set rational action aside. I guarantee you media folks in City Hall are emailing that statement around to every Chicago press outlet. Because Chicagoans hate the NRA and having them attack Rahm will boost his approval. Suckers. - soccermom - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:47 pm: “Mayor Rahm Emanuel does not have the right to condemn your family members to rape, robbery and murder” Actually, that’s factually true. He does not have that right — nor, more properly, that authority. - soccermom - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 1:53 pm: And I guess I should add, for clarity, THAT’S WHY HE DOESN’T DO THAT. - Small Town Liberal - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 2:01 pm: C’mon ISRA, everyone knows the only defense you need against Rahm is a good fire extinguisher: http://chicagoist.com/2011/09/20/emanuel_maybe_threatened_to_burn_le.php - Fan - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 2:01 pm: I guess you can deliver alarming news two ways: “Hey, guess what your house is on fire, you need to leave now”. Or Screaming “Hey, your house is on fire, your all gonna die”! The message is saying the same thing. So, does the prudent home owner say “your screaming at me, I’m not gonna listen”? - Chavez-respecting Obamist - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 2:02 pm: Tom B., not even the frothing at the mouth ravings of the ISRA is going to help Emanuel. But please, do paint all of us with a broad brush. It’s not helping your cause either. - Boone Logan Square - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 2:09 pm: Last I saw, Gerry McCarthy had no jurisdiction in Manchester. A gun owner there determined whether people (including young children) lived or died this week. Perhaps the ISRA should worry itself about that issue rather than ensure more lethal force is available in the state of Illinois. Then again, that wouldn’t help firearms sales, which is the real reason ISRA exists. - Yossarian Lives - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 2:29 pm: The ISRA knows the bill number on which this is going to “pop up,” as they put it. If they decide not to share that information with their members, that’s their own fault. - Fan - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 2:34 pm: @BLS - Yes, and one Muslim bomber spoiled the Boston Marathon. So are all Muslims are bad? Very poor logic and your part. - Barbie - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 2:42 pm: What does it tell you about an organization that repeatedly employs scare tactics, fear mongering inflamatory language,insulting inuendo and personal attacks to make their points? It tells me that they are not smart or civilized. they have abandoned their professionalism and lost their sense of all things decent and just. “You wear your words and thoughts like a suit of clothes,” according to Sister Ellen Marie, Sacred Heart School, Hubbard Woods Illinois, 1961. - benji - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 2:48 pm: = I don’t think people statewide know who Dart or McCarthy are.= I’m sure the whole world has heard about them. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/12/201 212301737237557.html - Car3 - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 3:19 pm: I hope this isn’t too off topic, but as someone who spent a many years working with sexual assault victims full time at a rape crisis center, it just makes me cringe the way ISRA (and others) uses rape rhetorically for their cause. I don’t agree with their position on concealed carry, but even if I did, I would feel pretty alienated by how disingenuous and ill-informed their invocations of rape seem to be. I happened to be in in the Capitol on their lobby day and rally this year, and I saw a lot guys carrying the same sign with a drawing of woman holding gun that said “RAPE THIS.” Even leaving aside the crudeness of that sign, I sure hope these same guys who seem to care so passionately about preventing sexual violence with guns have also spent the last four years of this fiscal crisis bugging their legislators about funding sexual assault crisis intervention and prevention programs. Somehow I doubt it though. - Amalia - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 3:29 pm: @Car3 +++++1! - The Muse - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 3:32 pm: It’s a shame the ISRA doesn’t take your advice in regards to the no “innapproriate or excessively rabid comments” Rich. - HenryVK - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 3:34 pm: Yes, it does seem interesting that the only time certain people on the right are concerned with violence against women is when it comes time to oppose gun control of any kind. - Chicago Cynic - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 3:36 pm: Good thing there’s no extremism on the pro-gun side. Isn’t that was some of these folks keep claiming on this board? - Just Observing - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 3:39 pm: === I guarantee you media folks in City Hall are emailing that statement around to every Chicago press outlet. Because Chicagoans hate the NRA and having them attack Rahm will boost his approval. === ISRA is not the NRA. - Ken_in_Aurora - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 3:40 pm: I am very pro CCW, but this is yet another example of why I am not an ISRA member. - Mason born - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 3:46 pm: You know what irritates me the most about this crap. The NRA and for that matter the ISRA managed to put 8,000 people on the street just a few months ago for a lobby day. On a week day during working hours. The people who will call their legislators and work for this issues don’t need the hyperbola or out of control rhetoric. The few that do need this swill in order to get them to pick up a phone don’t need to be calling. I remain a member of ISRA but i junk these because they don’t tell me anything and only worsen the situation. It is time to find someone new to write the e-mails and alerts. The ISRA has a winning hand on this with the ruling. Screaming like an idiot only strengthens the other guys hand and weakens theirs. - Mason born - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 3:49 pm: Yossarian right now there is no language available to see what the actual proposal is. One reason why no one is happy with it. There is a lot of talk about what it is supposed to do and be but no language to actually read. I in the end could be accepting of it but when the sponsor keeps it hidden i tend to think there is something fishy. - Mongo - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 4:06 pm: Fan, I am a bit confused by your remark. Are you implying that Manchester was an aberration by comparing it to the brothers bombing the Boston Marathon Muslim out of what we think was a misguided belief? Because of course we can and should say with certainty that Muslims are good…only a minority are violent. (Add other religions here too.) To me, your remark does not make sense, or perhaps it was incomplete. Why shouldn’t the Manchester shootings draw attention from all of us, gun rights and gun control advocates alike? Why shouldn’t we wonder aloud where the guy got a shotgun? Why shouldn’t we wonder if he had a permit? He may have had every legal right to have the shotgun. He clearly didn’t have the right to use it the way he did. Please. I am trying to understand. And to follow Rich’s new rule. - walkinfool - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 4:24 pm: If the local NRA lobbying crew handled all of the ISRA copy, we would be much closer to an agreed CC bill. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! - Fan - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 4:25 pm: Hi Mongo, glad you asked about my post. The language usage was a bit suspect, but let me try again so it is crystal clear. I find it really remarkable that left media outlets are trying to portray the Muslim Bombers (and that is how I see them) as lone wolfs. That they got “radicalized” on their own, that their was no outside involvement. Actually, I agree, or want to agree with this assessment. So, why would Boone Logan Square try to equate what happened in Manchester as a gun problem? The quote was “A gun owner there determined whether people (including young children) lived or died this week. Perhaps the ISRA should worry itself about that issue rather than ensure more lethal force is available in the state of Illinois.” So all gun owners are painted with such a broad brush? I had no more to do withe what happened in Manchester as you did. That the ISRA needs to address this problem? How do we even know this was an ISRA member? We don’t. So why would they have to address this. They don’t. So does that help? - Mason born - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 4:29 pm: Mongo The Manchester idiot was a felon and therefore had NO legal right to a firearm. Having had previous convictions for Drugs, Bad Checks, and Reckless homicide would make him ineligible for a FOID card. I wonder but it almost has to be one of the 5 scenarios i typed out at 4:00. He spent time in prison for the Reckless homicide so either way this was either a Felony transfer or a failure of the Foid System. - HenryVK - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 4:29 pm: I didn’t read Mongo’s comments as inferring that all gun owners are evil. Instead, Mongo was asking about the process by which the killer obtained the guns. The ISRA routinely objects to any limitations on gun ownership or sales as being an absolute outrage. I think it is fair to ask the group opposing any regulation of gun ownership or sales how guns came into the hands of a violent person, and whether certain restrictions may have prevented it. Those seem like legitimate questions. - Small Town Liberal - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 4:43 pm: - He does not have that right — nor, more properly, that authority. - No kidding, if Rahm had that authority I’m guessing CTU would have never gone on strike. Though I don’t know, Karen Lewis seems pretty tough. - Mongo - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 4:46 pm: Ahhh…that clears up what you meant. Although I went back and read BLS’ post and didn’t interpret it as painting all gun owners with a broad brush. I thought he pretty clearly said “A” gun owner, not “All”. Hey BLS chime in. I too want to believe that these two were alone. I gotta tell you it ain’t just the “left” media…I try to watch some of Fox and some of other media and all have been reporting that. Now certainly some are of the opinion otherwise (whoooooaaa…we are way off post). Anyway…perhaps we agree to disagree. I didn’t read his post the way you did. Whether you are pro-gun or limited-gun, the questions I posed ought to be asked and answered. I am sure they will, if they have not already and I just have not seen the news. Off to work. Thanks for the reply though, it helped. - Mason born - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 4:47 pm: HenryVK The problem wasn’t Mongo’s post. Fan’s response was to Boone Logan Square at 2:09. Mongo’s questions are reasonable and a lot of the details will have to be worked out once we learn more from LEO’s. Either way this was a felon whom it was illegal to possess weapons or a FOID. My fear is this is a failure of the FOID system often no one in LE collects the FOID once it becomes invalid. This sets up a situation where a Private individual can legally sell a firearm to a felon simply because the felon possesses a foid that appears legit. This is the main reason why i don’t sell to people i don’t know very well. - CJA - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 5:11 pm: As a gun owner, I too have been upset by the rhetoric…on all sides (anti-gun and pro-gun). There is a lot of fear mongering out there and oversimplification of the language (when there is some). Yet, I still pay my dues to the NRA and ISRA if for no other reason to act as a check against the financial power of Bloomberg and others who wnat to disregard many interpretations of the 2A - Juvenal - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 5:45 pm: Worth remembering: the violent crime rate in Springfield is higher than Chicago. Rich, it would not surprise me if it turned out that numerous cities and villages in Illinois have higher crime rates than Chicago. - wordslinger - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 6:02 pm: Not knowing the ISRA folks, I have a couple of questions: Do they really believe this stuff, or are they cynical and contemptuous of their members? - ZC - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 6:07 pm: wordslinger, in my limited experience, most of the time, they believe it. I mean you can have the whole issue of “I might have phrased it more delicately,” but no, my guess is by and large, believers. - railrat - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 6:15 pm: “slinger” & “zc” could it just be schock verbage to get folks to respond and digest the nonsense of what really is the issue ? not sure just my opinion !! - Zermigula - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 7:10 pm: Tom sez ” Because Chicagoans hate the NRA ” Hate. It’s everywhere. For example, the rest of the state hates Chicago. I heard a group discussion regarding Chicago, the universal sentiment was the sooner Chicago becomes Detroit, the better. - Zermigula - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 8:10 pm: Also, as I have seen it posted elsewhere, the pro-carry people ought to get the very best (least restrictive) law they can get and tell the dems. “yes, yes, by all means, exclude Cook and Chicago” Then as soon as the law is passed, the SAF can take Chicago and Cook County to court and get a ruling that overturns the regional ban, and bang Chicago for $500,000.00 in legal fees. Afterwards, tell the pro-carry residents in Cook and Chicago that they had to be temporarily thrown under the bus, because that is the only way it could get done with your dealing with democrats. This whole Chicago thing of blaming all the violent crime on guns is a misdirect anyways - since they can’t do what needs to be done without a Fallujah-type action, they blame it all on guns. Because if they admitted what the real problems was, they might have to do something. - wordslinger - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 8:40 pm: –This whole Chicago thing of blaming all the violent crime on guns is a misdirect anyways - since they can’t do what needs to be done without a Fallujah-type action, they blame it all on guns. Because if they admitted what the real problems was, they might have to do something.– Why don’t you fill us in on the problems and your solutions, Fallujah style. In a smart and civil way, of course. - Mr. Wonderful - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 8:59 pm: Why doesn’t Miller try to broker a truce between the NRA/ISRA and the anti-gun people? Kind of like when Obama invited the cops for a beer in the Rose Garden. - ah HA - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 9:10 pm: Hear, Hear - Oscar - Thursday, Apr 25, 13 @ 9:29 pm: It is Miller Time - Milkbones all around. - Mongo - Friday, Apr 26, 13 @ 8:42 am: Juvenal, that’s an interesting stat. Is it incidents per capita? And in what report might we find that? Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.