Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Politicians and judges treat armed self-defense as a second class right. In Chicago, the elites have their retired cops. The elites have their security guards to protect themselves and their families. The limousine and laptop class don’t ride public transportation. In contrast, we see violent criminals prey on the disarmed middle class and on Chicago’s poor every day. Compare Chicago to the rest of Illinois and we see honest citizens disarmed by regulations and taxes on gun ownership. When compared to the rest of the country, we haven’t seen discrimination this extreme since schools were segregated seven decades ago. Change isn’t easy, but we tackled entrenched racism and sexism. Today, we can easily recognize the right for honest citizens to protect themselves. Chicago politicians repeatedly defy the courts so federal judges may have to enforce the law themselves. As we saw seven decades ago with school desegregation, justice for the bottom of society will make the elites and their spokesmen very uncomfortable.
This denial of rights by the government has happened time and time again. Graft and regulation often limited who could open a business and how they were forced to operate. Chicago politicians regulated gun shops and gun ranges out of existence. That is both party policy and the voice of anti-gun billionaires making campaign donations. I don’t mean that there are few shooting ranges in Chicago or that they are expensive; I mean there are none available for honest citizens to use. What makes this abuse so egregiously unjust is that state law demands a shooting qualification test before citizens can get their state carry permits.
Democrat Politicians demanded that we go shoot, but Cook County Democrats outlawed everyplace where we’re allowed to do so. Illinois politicians can’t see a problem with this. I do, and so do thousands of honest citizens who want to protect themselves and their families in Chicago.
If there is good news in all this, it is that we’ve been here before. There are solutions like the ones we used seven decades ago when we desegregated schools. Back then, a judge said enough is enough and opened doors that were chained shut.
We’ve learned a few things since the 1950s. More recently, judges looked at where mortgage loans were denied and said that banks redlined people because of race. Using those same tools, judges today can look at the distribution of gun ownership and concealed carry licenses and show that Chicago is discriminating against citizens who want to legally protect themselves.
A blind man can draw the map of gun shops in Chicago because there aren’t any.
Strange that so many Democrat appointed judges can’t see an injustice.
Honest citizens need to try new guns to see what fits them. Honest citizens need to shoot in order to qualify for their carry permits. Just like government employees, honest citizens need to shoot in order to stay proficient and safe with their firearms. Chicago has several city-owned shooting ranges. Since the city has prevented private gun ranges from opening in Chicago, a judge should order that the city open its ranges to the public. The judge should rule that citizens can bring their own guns, ammunition and targets and then shoot for free. Private instructors can shoot and train their classes at those city ranges.
The city has prevented gun stores from opening where honest citizens can legally purchase and transfer firearms. The city transfers firearms to its employees all the time. A judge should order that the city process firearms transfers for the public. Honest citizens should be able to order their firearms and the city should conduct background checks and transfers.. at no charge.
This is Chicago politicians we’re talking about, so the judge would have to stipulate everything. The judge would have to specify the hours of operation and the maximum amount that the city can charge for nearby parking. The only way the city will behave is if the judge imposes heavy fines when the city disobeys his court orders. We can look at the rest of the nation to see what compliance should look like.
Washington DC has to process firearms transfers. For young men living in Chicago, they are faced with a difficult choice. Do they pay the fees and spend the time required to work through the government bureaucracy, or do they carry illegally. Many choose to carry illegally and then have a criminal record. They carry a felony conviction for the non-violent crime of carrying a firearm without the government mandated permission slip.
We are trying to right a wrong that the city created. Since the city barred gun stores and ranges inside city limits, those city owned and operated ranges and transfer offices should be open to the public for free. Hours from 8am to 8pm aren’t unreasonable. Since this is Chicago, the judge should require the city to submit a report within 24 hours describing why they turned anyone away. The person turned away will be given a file number before they leave so the citizen can appeal the finding of that report to a court appointed master.
We deserve our rights, but Chicago will never give them to us unless forced to do so by a judge. For the honest citizens of Chicago, this simple justice is a matter of life and death.