CCRKBA CONDEMNS COOK COUNTY, IL GUN PROPOSALS, URGES MEMBERS TO ACT NOW

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is encouraging members and supporters throughout Illinois and in neighboring Michigan and Indiana to flood the Cook County, Illinois Board of Commissioners with phone calls and mail opposing proposed ordinances that would effectively put firearms dealers out of business and ban guns in the county.

Behind this draconian attempt are anti-gun Commissioners Larry Suffredin and William Beavers. Suffredin’s “Deadly Weapon Dealers” ordinance would ban gun shows in the county and prevent licensed firearms dealers from operating within ten miles of each other. The proposed “Safe Streets and Weapons Registration” ordinance would require registration of all guns and gun owners in the county, and ban handguns that do not have loaded chamber indicators.

“These proposals are outrageous,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Larry Suffredin and William Beavers are trying to legislate social bigotry against Cook County gun owners, many of whom are minorities. This is the same mentality that created apartheid in South Africa and condoned racism in the Deep South 50 years ago. It is despicable and inexcusable.”

“Suffredin is a board member of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, an extremist anti-gun-rights group,” noted CCRKBA Executive Director Mark A. Taff, “and he wants to become State’s Attorney for Cook County. Considering his extreme attitude toward firearms owners, instead of running for higher office, he should be thrown out of the one he now occupies. Cook County residents must not allow this man to force his personal prejudices on every citizen in the county through adoption of these ordinances.”

Gun owners can contact Suffredin by calling his office at (312) 603-2067, or by sending him an e-mail at: lsuffredin@cookcountygov.com. Beavers may be contacted at (312) 603-6383.

“We’re joining with our friends at the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Illinois State Rifle Association and National Rifle Association to show the Cook County Commission that gun owners are voters and they have rights,” Gottlieb noted. “The era is long past when demagogues like Suffredin can tell members of any social group that ‘your kind isn’t welcome here’.”