Illinois Review

ISRA: Ryan declares war on law-abiding gun owners

In reaction to IL GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan's response to the AP's primary questionnaire, the Illinois State Rifle Assocation sent out the following notice blasting the former Attorney General:

In an Associated Press wire story released yesterday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan pledged to sign a ban on “Assault Weapons” and promised to veto any “Concealed Carry” legislation that reaches his desk.

In making these pronouncements, Jim Ryan was very clear that he would wholeheartedly support legislation that would result in the ban and confiscation of most of the guns in your safe. You would have two choices – either surrender your banned firearms to the police, or the police will be kicking down your door to take them. Ryan could not have made the point any clearer.

Ryan was equally clear about your right to defend yourself...

Nugent: "I like dead offenders"

This clip has been around for over a year, but if you haven't seen it, you should. Rock musician Ted Nugent succinctly explains his commitment to the Second Amendment, and clarifies any question why he holds that position. Is he too extreme, or is he dead-on?

Your thoughts...

Patrick Hughes, Republican for United States Senate

by Sam Pierce

Concerned Illinois citizens have an important choice to make on February 2nd, 2010. We must choose the Republican nominee for the United States Senate seat once held, albeit briefly and often in absentia, by President Barack Obama. We must choose from an informed position as opposed to letting apathy or the money of D.C. "moderates" decide who wins the primary. Our choice must be ours, not Senator John McCain's or the NRSC's. Our choice, if we want to begin to make a difference should be a Reagan Republican as opposed to an Obama Republican.

We would do well to abandon the flawed yet seemingly permeating logic that suggests that the only way to return this seat to the Republican Party is to avoid Republican values and the Republican Platform. It makes no sense to take issues off the table by nominating one who will share positions with whichever Democrat candidate wins. It makes no sense to support "He Who Must Not Be Nominated" as I and fellow downstate Illinois patriot, Brian Milleville (of www.downstateiladvocate.com) have dubbed Congressman Mark Kirk.

by Sam Pierce

Concerned Illinois citizens have an important choice to make on February 2nd, 2010. We must choose the Republican nominee for the United States Senate seat once held, albeit briefly and often in absentia, by President Barack Obama. We must choose from an informed position as opposed to letting apathy or the money of D.C. "moderates" decide who wins the primary. Our choice must be ours, not Senator John McCain's or the NRSC's. Our choice, if we want to begin to make a difference should be a Reagan Republican as opposed to an Obama Republican.

We would do well to abandon the flawed yet seemingly permeating logic that suggests that the only way to return this seat to the Republican Party is to avoid Republican values and the Republican Platform. It makes no sense to take issues off the table by nominating one who will share positions with whichever Democrat candidate wins. It makes no sense to support "He Who Must Not Be Nominated" as I and fellow downstate Illinois patriot, Brian Milleville (of www.downstateiladvocate.com) have dubbed Congressman Mark Kirk.

Republican Gun Owners, Unite

Alliance for Growth's Greg Blankenship said today that he was surprised that the National Republican Senatorial Campaign asked him to become a member of the Republican Gun Owners Task Force. 

He says he'd never heard of it before he got a letter in the mail  ...

Oath Keepers is Just What We Don't Need

by John Brown's Ghost

When I was alive about 150 years ago, I led armed rebellion between the free state of Kansas and the slave state of Missouri. The cause during the Civil War was the ending of slavery.

Today, there is a new group that is ready to defend this country against what they think might be a coming dictatorship in the United States. This group is called the "Oath Keepers". They talk openly about fighting to preserve freedom in this country.

As an old ghost, and current NRA member, that knows something about armed insurrection, let me be really clear - this is wrongheaded, and just what we DON'T need.

Unprecedented bullet shortages, manufacturers say

An AP story this morning is about unprecedented ammo shortages since Obama became president:

Shooting ranges, gun dealers and bullet manufacturers say they have never seen such shortages. Bullets, especially for handguns, have been scarce for months because gun enthusiasts are stocking up on ammo, in part because they fear President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress will pass antigun legislation — even though nothing specific has been proposed and the president last month signed a law allowing people to carry loaded guns in national parks.

Gun sales spiked when it became clear Obama would be elected a year ago and purchases continued to rise in his first few months of office. The FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System reported that 6.1 million background checks for gun sales were issued from January to May, an increase of 25.6 percent from the same period the year before.

Have you purchased a gun or more ammo since Obama's become president?  More HERE.

Rush pushes for national FOID card

Illinois is the only state in the union that requires gun owners to have a current Firearm Owner Identification (FOID card). Congressman Bobby Rush (D- 1st CD) thinks it's time a national FOID card was issued. He also wants all guns to be registered with the Attorney General.

The National Rifle Association is sounding the alarm over Rush's latest introduction of HR 45. 

The measure calls for all handgun owners to submit to the federal government an application that shall include, among many other things: a photo; an address; a thumbprint; a completed, written firearm safety test; private mental health records; and a fee. And those are only some of the requirements to be licensed! 

Right to protect yourself re-affirmed in IL

One of the only gun rights bills that passed the legislature this spring was signed into law yesterday, as reported in The Southern ...

Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill Wednesday introduced by Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, that is intended to protecting the right to bear arms.

The bill reaffirms that it is legal to possess a firearm in one's own home or on another person's land with permission. The legislation was introduced in response to a 2007 appellate court decision that ruled possession of a firearm was legal as long as it is in a residence where the person has established substantial and uninterrupted ties and treats as his or her home, according to a news release from Bradley's office.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., Meet Hale DeMar

by Bill Pascoe

Listening Wednesday night to Barack Obama tell the tale of the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. at the hands of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, Police, I found myself lulled momentarily into the belief that Obama is a man who believes in the sanctity of the home, the notion that any citizen should safely and properly consider his home his castle, inviolate and inviolable.

But then I remembered the case of Hale DeMar, and I snapped out of it.

DeMar was a 54-year-old restaurateur whose home in Wilmette, Illinois was burgled on the night of December 29, 2003 by Morio Billings, a 31-year-old recidivist whose rap sheet included some 30 arrests, plea deals, and convictions for home burglary and the like. Billings was AWOL from the Army and in violation of his probation. On the following night, the burglar -- having stolen, among other things, keys to the house and a BMW X5 SUV -- returned, to continue his robbery.

Continue reading Henry Louis Gates Jr., Meet Hale DeMar.

Second Amendment Freedom Rally 2009

SELF-DEFENSE IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT

The rally that celebrates the right to keep and bear arms returns to Chicago! Join the grassroots movement that is sweeping the state of Illinois. Don’t miss this event next Saturday, June 26, at the Thompson Center on the 1st anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in DC v Heller!