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In this Discussion
That's a wrap! Thanks for a great season. See you all next year!
We should be shooting 2nd Saturday and 4th Sunday again next year.
Final schedule to be finalized in February.
We should be shooting 2nd Saturday and 4th Sunday again next year.
Final schedule to be finalized in February.
Minority Report - IGOLD, a Cheesehead's perspective
Snidely Whiplash
A legend in his own mind.
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I took a vacation day from work and got out of bed 2 hours earlier than usual to ride ISRA bus #2 [/font]http://igold.isra.or....shtml#rockford down to Springfield to attend the annual IGOLD (Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day). Tuesday's storm caused 6 buses from the Cook County area to cancel transportation, but the 2 Rockford buses had no problem with the roads. For $25 I didn't have to worry about driving, navigating, or parking fees, and I had 3 hours each way to shoot the breeze with fellow gun-owners.<br />
<br />
The rally started at the Prairie Capital Convention Center at 11:45 am and we listened to various speakers, including Otis McDonald and Mary Shepard. Photos and articles at:<br />
http://www.facebook....pe=1&permPage=1<br />
<br />
http://gunssavelife.com/<br />
<br />
We then marched to the Capitol building: [media]
/>
There was a brief "fire up the troops" pause outside the Capitol for the news media to film, and then we split up for the various entrances (to distribute our crowd amongst the security checkpoints).<br />
<br />
I paired up with Jane Carrell, Coordinator for the Northern Illinois Tea Party http://teaparty-nil.com/ , who also rode the Rockford IGOLD bus, and we visited the politicians on her list (some for and some against concealed carry), including Jim Sacia [media]
and John Cabello. We also dropped off our IGOLD comment cards at Mr. Madigan and Mr. Cullerton's offices, but they weren't available to greet callers.<br />
<br />
Around 4:00pm we headed for the bus and had another enjoyable bull session on the ride back to Rockford.<br />
<br />
Although I'm a Wisconsin resident, I felt I should attend the Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day for several reasons:<br />
<br />
1. Reciprocity with Wisconsin's CCW permit. I mentioned this to everyone I talked to, as I'd like to be able to keep my gun loaded when driving through Illinois to Missouri to visit relatives. Illinois is a BIG state to drive through. It would add 3.5 - 4.0 hours to my trip to Springfield, Missouri, to drive west to Iowa, and then south through Iowa to get there. I think it might improve tourism, especially to places in Chicago, like Navy Pier, if CCW was available state-wide in Illinois.<br />
<br />
2. Support pro-gun people. When Wisconsin was trying to get it's CCW law passed, pro-gun people came from Minnesota to the public hearings in Madison to show that not everyone in Minneapolis died in the high-noon, blood-in-the-streets, machine-gun massacres when Minnesota got their CCW law. I was tempted to ask some of the politicians there in Springfield if they'd recovered from the flood of Wisconsin refugees fleeing all the bloody gun violence that started up in Wisconsin last year when we got our concealed carry permits, but I didn't want to embarrass Jane.<br />
<br />
3. It will take a state-by-state housecleaning of anti-gun politicians before we can make significant progress on the Federal level. Busting Madigan's and Emanuel's chops in Illinois will weaken Obama's anti-gun support.<br />
<br />
4. Payback. I owed the out-of-state anti-gun people who attended the Wisconsin CCW public hearings and demonstrated against concealed carry in Wisconsin. "The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."<br />
<br />
Having a lobby day is a great idea and having gold caps and t-shirts/sweatshirts was fantastic marketing. Several thousand people circulating through the Capitol and Stratton Building, and visiting their representatives offices got their attention. I wish someone in Wisconsin had thought up that idea 10 years ago when we started trying to get our concealed carry law passed.<br />
<br />
I hope more SASS members attend future IGOLD days.<br />
<br />
Snidely.
<br />
The rally started at the Prairie Capital Convention Center at 11:45 am and we listened to various speakers, including Otis McDonald and Mary Shepard. Photos and articles at:<br />
http://www.facebook....pe=1&permPage=1<br />
<br />
http://gunssavelife.com/<br />
<br />
We then marched to the Capitol building: [media]
/>There was a brief "fire up the troops" pause outside the Capitol for the news media to film, and then we split up for the various entrances (to distribute our crowd amongst the security checkpoints).<br />
<br />
I paired up with Jane Carrell, Coordinator for the Northern Illinois Tea Party http://teaparty-nil.com/ , who also rode the Rockford IGOLD bus, and we visited the politicians on her list (some for and some against concealed carry), including Jim Sacia [media]
and John Cabello. We also dropped off our IGOLD comment cards at Mr. Madigan and Mr. Cullerton's offices, but they weren't available to greet callers.<br /><br />
Around 4:00pm we headed for the bus and had another enjoyable bull session on the ride back to Rockford.<br />
<br />
Although I'm a Wisconsin resident, I felt I should attend the Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day for several reasons:<br />
<br />
1. Reciprocity with Wisconsin's CCW permit. I mentioned this to everyone I talked to, as I'd like to be able to keep my gun loaded when driving through Illinois to Missouri to visit relatives. Illinois is a BIG state to drive through. It would add 3.5 - 4.0 hours to my trip to Springfield, Missouri, to drive west to Iowa, and then south through Iowa to get there. I think it might improve tourism, especially to places in Chicago, like Navy Pier, if CCW was available state-wide in Illinois.<br />
<br />
2. Support pro-gun people. When Wisconsin was trying to get it's CCW law passed, pro-gun people came from Minnesota to the public hearings in Madison to show that not everyone in Minneapolis died in the high-noon, blood-in-the-streets, machine-gun massacres when Minnesota got their CCW law. I was tempted to ask some of the politicians there in Springfield if they'd recovered from the flood of Wisconsin refugees fleeing all the bloody gun violence that started up in Wisconsin last year when we got our concealed carry permits, but I didn't want to embarrass Jane.<br />
<br />
3. It will take a state-by-state housecleaning of anti-gun politicians before we can make significant progress on the Federal level. Busting Madigan's and Emanuel's chops in Illinois will weaken Obama's anti-gun support.<br />
<br />
4. Payback. I owed the out-of-state anti-gun people who attended the Wisconsin CCW public hearings and demonstrated against concealed carry in Wisconsin. "The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."<br />
<br />
Having a lobby day is a great idea and having gold caps and t-shirts/sweatshirts was fantastic marketing. Several thousand people circulating through the Capitol and Stratton Building, and visiting their representatives offices got their attention. I wish someone in Wisconsin had thought up that idea 10 years ago when we started trying to get our concealed carry law passed.<br />
<br />
I hope more SASS members attend future IGOLD days.<br />
<br />
Snidely.
Comments
<br />
I fail to understand the mindset of the Illinois liberal politicians when their every argument against CCW has been soundly proven wrong in other states.