Quinn's gamble on guns based on principle
The Chicago Tribune Editorial Board abandoned all reason and principle in their foolish, mean spirited editorial, Quinn's gamble on guns, which criticized Quinn's principled amendatory veto of HB 183, allowing conceal and carry of guns in Illinois. Worse still was the disgusting cartoon above the editorial portraying Quinn as a deranged idiot using the veto stamp as a gun and having him speak in violent gun imagery in a manner which could not have been more insulting and demeaning.
Calling Quinn's nine substantive, public safety recommendations "tweaks" is beyond the pale of responsible editorial content. The editorial mentioned just three of the nine critical improvements Quinn demands: allowing guns in establishments serving alcohol; limiting carry and conceal to one guns and a ten round clip; and giving employers authority to prevent guns in the workplace. Those three alone were sufficient to veto this terrible bill which will make a few Illinoisans happy that they can carry their metal manhood in public but will make the vast majority less safe. For the record here are the six objections the Trib Editorial Board somehow missed.
1. HB 183 strips authority of home rule governments to ban assault weapons.
2. HB 183 allows guns to be carried into businesses if there is no sign posted prohibiting guns, when the legal presumption should be that no person can bring a gun onto private property without being given express permission.
3. HB 183 lacks clarity in requiring mental health reporting designed to keep guns from being acquired by the mentally unstable.
4. HB 183 defines "concealed firearm" with the phrase "mostly concealed". This puts Illinois on the road to an open carry policy in Illinois.
5. HB 183 exempts the meetings and records of the Concealed Carry Licensing Review Board from the Open Meetings and Freedom of Information Acts. If any subject should be open to the light of transparency, it is the deadly business of carried and concealed firearms.
6. HB 183 does not require a person carrying a concealed firearm from immediately disclosing same if asked by a law enforcement officer. That puts every law enforcement officer at unacceptable risk.
Complaining Quinn's public announcement included a "hearty dose of fanfare" is disgusting and describing the good, decent folks who applauded Quinn's remarks as "not the people Quinn needs to convince", is utterly irrelevant to the issue of preventing a bad bill from making Illinois less safe. If the Trib was a responsible member of the Fourth Estate it would be singing Quinn's praises and demanding the Legislature break the NRA stranglehold which produced this atrocious bill. In a supreme irony, a member of the Trib Editorial Board penned a op ed just a day ago decrying her fear that "I believe I could be shot — any day of my ordinary life" on Chicago streets. Doesn't it occur to her that this bill will simply pour untold thousands of more guns into our streets concealed by amateurs and yes, criminal opportunists.
It's clear that all but 28 Illinois representatives and 12 senators either have their hand out for NRA cash or both hands up to protect themselves from NRA political targeting. Apparently, the Trib Editorial Board, mindful of NRA power, has followed suit.
Calling Quinn's nine substantive, public safety recommendations "tweaks" is beyond the pale of responsible editorial content. The editorial mentioned just three of the nine critical improvements Quinn demands: allowing guns in establishments serving alcohol; limiting carry and conceal to one guns and a ten round clip; and giving employers authority to prevent guns in the workplace. Those three alone were sufficient to veto this terrible bill which will make a few Illinoisans happy that they can carry their metal manhood in public but will make the vast majority less safe. For the record here are the six objections the Trib Editorial Board somehow missed.
1. HB 183 strips authority of home rule governments to ban assault weapons.
2. HB 183 allows guns to be carried into businesses if there is no sign posted prohibiting guns, when the legal presumption should be that no person can bring a gun onto private property without being given express permission.
3. HB 183 lacks clarity in requiring mental health reporting designed to keep guns from being acquired by the mentally unstable.
4. HB 183 defines "concealed firearm" with the phrase "mostly concealed". This puts Illinois on the road to an open carry policy in Illinois.
5. HB 183 exempts the meetings and records of the Concealed Carry Licensing Review Board from the Open Meetings and Freedom of Information Acts. If any subject should be open to the light of transparency, it is the deadly business of carried and concealed firearms.
6. HB 183 does not require a person carrying a concealed firearm from immediately disclosing same if asked by a law enforcement officer. That puts every law enforcement officer at unacceptable risk.
Complaining Quinn's public announcement included a "hearty dose of fanfare" is disgusting and describing the good, decent folks who applauded Quinn's remarks as "not the people Quinn needs to convince", is utterly irrelevant to the issue of preventing a bad bill from making Illinois less safe. If the Trib was a responsible member of the Fourth Estate it would be singing Quinn's praises and demanding the Legislature break the NRA stranglehold which produced this atrocious bill. In a supreme irony, a member of the Trib Editorial Board penned a op ed just a day ago decrying her fear that "I believe I could be shot — any day of my ordinary life" on Chicago streets. Doesn't it occur to her that this bill will simply pour untold thousands of more guns into our streets concealed by amateurs and yes, criminal opportunists.
It's clear that all but 28 Illinois representatives and 12 senators either have their hand out for NRA cash or both hands up to protect themselves from NRA political targeting. Apparently, the Trib Editorial Board, mindful of NRA power, has followed suit.
posted by Walt Zlotow at 8:23 PM
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