State Gun Rights Lobby Using Streeterville Assaults to Further Agenda

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jun 8, 2011 3:20PM

It's bad enough that Streeterville residents, people who work in the neighborhood, shoppers and tourists are already on edge about the assaults happening in the neighborhood. Leave it to the Illinois State Rifle Association to take it as an opportunity to draw attention to themselves by insinuating the best way to protect oneself from a gang of wilding teens is to be armed.

"Earlier this spring, the Illinois General Assembly passed up the opportunity to enact legislation designed to discourage flash mob violence," said (ISRA Executive Director Richard) Pearson. "If passed and signed into law, House Bill 148 would have allowed well-qualified, well-trained, law-abiding citizens to carry defensive firearms. Certainly, an armed citizen is in a much better position to ward off a violent flash mob attack than an unarmed citizen carrying nothing more than a mocha latte. Unfortunately, members of the gun control movement bullied legislators and the measure fell 6 votes short of passage."

"As far as I'm concerned, anyone injured at the hands of a flash mob has the General Assembly to thank for their suffering," concluded Pearson. "People have the right to defend themselves against flash mob thugs and the state has no business interfering with that right to self defense."

We don't know what's worse - that Pearson sincerely believes that concealed carry laws would prevent this? Or that he's laying the blame for the violence on Springfield.

Events like this really do bring out the worst in some of us.