BELLEVUE, WA – After the Illinois State House of Representatives passed out of committee a string of anti-gun bills aimed at further eroding gun rights in the Prairie State, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) suggested that Chicago-dominated lawmakers ought to just put out a welcome sign for criminals at the state border.
Anti-gun schemes headed for floor debate include gun rationing, restrictive handgun dealer licensing and a ban on semiautomatic sport-utility rifles. Such a ban could put several Illinois-based firearms manufacturers out of business, or force them to move their businesses to other states.
Lawmakers behind these bills include three Chicago Democrats, Harry Osterman, Edward J. Acevedo and Luis Arroyo, and Oak Park Democrat Deborah L. Graham.
“This kind of nonsense infuriates gun owners,†said CCRKBA Chairman Alan M. Gottlieb. “Lawmakers from Chicago want to export their anti-gun philosophy throughout the state. Of course, it’s pretty clear that Chicago’s gun control policies have been a dismal failure for years.
“Mayor Richard Daley’s puppet lawmakers,†Gottlieb added, “seem to be telling Illinois voters ‘Hey, our ideas haven’t worked in Chicago, so we want them to not work all over the state.’ Their strategy must be to pass laws doomed to failure so that they can come back next year and pass more laws that will fail even more miserably. All the while, they are eroding the rights of law-abiding Illinois gun owners and doing nothing to prevent real criminals from committing more crimes.â€
CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron said it is “pretty clear the Daley delegation wants to make the entire state of Illinois a safe haven for thugs†so he proposed a nationwide exchange program.
“If the Chicago crowd doesn’t want guns in their midst,†Waldron said tongue-in-cheek, “they should export their firearms, and the state’s firearms manufacturers, and in turn, all the other states will send their criminals to Chicago. That seems like a fair arrangement.â€