Thursday, September 12, 2013
Chicago Resident Speaks up on new gun laws
Dear Sarge:I wanted to start out with a thank you for allowing people to read and comment on you fb, and blog site it gives a nice feel to true free speech. Now the business part of this letter. I hold a Pennsylvania, Utah, Florida, and Texas permits. I can go into any restaurant in Indiana, or Wisconsin that serves food and liquor those establishments have bars and before you walk in there is a sign guns welcome but you will not be served any alcoholic beverages while carrying a firearm. I aslo noticed I can not carry on public transportation but I ride the Metra in to Indiana and once that train is across state lines I am strapping up. But I can not carry in Illinois sorry I disagree I will carry on Metra regardless. I also take the CTA were most of the crimes happen so I guess the city will lose the CTA revenue from gun owners because we can not carry which means the people who are not armed that ride will be stuck with higher prices. Places like Roseland, South Shore, South Chicago, Englewood, and the North part of the city where there is a high rise in crimes will not get the new revenue from people who would only visit if they carried. I don't have this problem in neighboring states. Thank you Sincerely, Conceal carry Chicago resident
Monday, September 9, 2013
NRA News: NRA fights Chicago again
The Chicago gun control ordinance rushed into place after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the city’s handgun ban would be “gutted” to satisfy Illinois’ concealed carry law, under a rewrite advanced Monday that delighted the National Rifle Association.
Todd Vandermyde, the NRA’s legislative liaison, went so far as to call it a “great day for gun owners” in Chicago.
“Mayor Daley’s pinnacle handgun ordinance after the loss in the McDonald decision is now, for all intents and purposes, gutted,” Vandermyde said.
“The Chicago firearms permit requirements are gone. The registration of all firearms, for the first time in my lifetime, are gone. Those are some significant developments.”
Two months ago, the General Assembly satisfied a federal court deadline to make Illinois the last state in the nation to allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons. The vote came after lawmakers defiantly overturned Gov. Pat Quinn’s amendatory veto.
On Monday, the City Council’s Public Safety Committee did its part by repealing the gun registry and firearms permit provisions of the 2010 ordinance.
Despite the rare praise, the NRA wasn’t totally satisfied with the rewrite.
Vandermyde noted that the Chicago ordinance still requires gun owners in homes that include residents under 18 to secure weapons “not on their person” with trigger locks or in safes. State law imposes that requirement if children under 14 are present.
“Do you think a 75-year-old woman should be forced to carry her .38 around on her hip in her home every minute she’s in her home because the grandkids are there?” Vandermyde said.
The Chicago ban on laser sights also remains in place. So is a ban on bullet-piercing armor that Vandermyde considers a “potential ban on hunting ammo.”
“So you’re against an ordinance that mandates, if you have a gun in your house, it ought to be secure….You oppose an ordinance that tries to increase safety in the homes in Chicago?” said Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), who sponsored the trigger-lock ordinance.
Vandermyde countered, “We don’t oppose safety measures by and large. But we see these as being impediments to the lawful use of self-defense. For 30 years, your city did not allow somebody to have a handgun in their own home for self-defense.”
Public Safety Committee Chairman Jim Balcer (11th) agreed with Burke, adding, “It’s common sense that you have a trigger lock on a weapon that’s in your house where you have minors. That minor can pick up that weapon, hurt themselves, hurt someone else.”
Afterward, Vandermyde reacted to the hostile questioning from Burke, chief sponsor of another pending ordinance requiring Chicago restaurants that serve liquor to ban firearms or lose their city licenses.
“He’s been a little unhappy about my comments to the press about the fact that he receives taxpayer-funded bodyguards. He doesn’t like the fact that we’re calling him out on it,” Vandermyde said.
“He thinks it’s fine to have bodyguards follow him around and carry in restaurants. But the average citizen should be treated like some second-class citizen because they don’t get taxpayer-funded bodyguards.”
Also on Monday, the Public Safety Committee approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to impose stiffer fines and penalties for gun crimes committed within 100 feet of CTA buses or bus shelters, CTA or Metra trains or train stations.
It’s a companion ordinance to the mayor’s plan to create school safety zones to reassure parents whose children are forced to travel longer distances to school after nearly 50 school closings.
“As a city, we have a responsibility to protect riders of buses and trains, especially the many students who rely on the CTA as a key mode of transportation, from the dangers of gun violence,” the mayor said in a statement issued after the committee vote.
“I am very pleased the Public Safety Committee has taken the next step in creating new Public Transportation Safety Zones.”
Todd Vandermyde, the NRA’s legislative liaison, went so far as to call it a “great day for gun owners” in Chicago.
“Mayor Daley’s pinnacle handgun ordinance after the loss in the McDonald decision is now, for all intents and purposes, gutted,” Vandermyde said.
“The Chicago firearms permit requirements are gone. The registration of all firearms, for the first time in my lifetime, are gone. Those are some significant developments.”
Two months ago, the General Assembly satisfied a federal court deadline to make Illinois the last state in the nation to allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons. The vote came after lawmakers defiantly overturned Gov. Pat Quinn’s amendatory veto.
On Monday, the City Council’s Public Safety Committee did its part by repealing the gun registry and firearms permit provisions of the 2010 ordinance.
Despite the rare praise, the NRA wasn’t totally satisfied with the rewrite.
Vandermyde noted that the Chicago ordinance still requires gun owners in homes that include residents under 18 to secure weapons “not on their person” with trigger locks or in safes. State law imposes that requirement if children under 14 are present.
“Do you think a 75-year-old woman should be forced to carry her .38 around on her hip in her home every minute she’s in her home because the grandkids are there?” Vandermyde said.
The Chicago ban on laser sights also remains in place. So is a ban on bullet-piercing armor that Vandermyde considers a “potential ban on hunting ammo.”
“So you’re against an ordinance that mandates, if you have a gun in your house, it ought to be secure….You oppose an ordinance that tries to increase safety in the homes in Chicago?” said Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), who sponsored the trigger-lock ordinance.
Vandermyde countered, “We don’t oppose safety measures by and large. But we see these as being impediments to the lawful use of self-defense. For 30 years, your city did not allow somebody to have a handgun in their own home for self-defense.”
Public Safety Committee Chairman Jim Balcer (11th) agreed with Burke, adding, “It’s common sense that you have a trigger lock on a weapon that’s in your house where you have minors. That minor can pick up that weapon, hurt themselves, hurt someone else.”
Afterward, Vandermyde reacted to the hostile questioning from Burke, chief sponsor of another pending ordinance requiring Chicago restaurants that serve liquor to ban firearms or lose their city licenses.
“He’s been a little unhappy about my comments to the press about the fact that he receives taxpayer-funded bodyguards. He doesn’t like the fact that we’re calling him out on it,” Vandermyde said.
“He thinks it’s fine to have bodyguards follow him around and carry in restaurants. But the average citizen should be treated like some second-class citizen because they don’t get taxpayer-funded bodyguards.”
Also on Monday, the Public Safety Committee approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to impose stiffer fines and penalties for gun crimes committed within 100 feet of CTA buses or bus shelters, CTA or Metra trains or train stations.
It’s a companion ordinance to the mayor’s plan to create school safety zones to reassure parents whose children are forced to travel longer distances to school after nearly 50 school closings.
“As a city, we have a responsibility to protect riders of buses and trains, especially the many students who rely on the CTA as a key mode of transportation, from the dangers of gun violence,” the mayor said in a statement issued after the committee vote.
“I am very pleased the Public Safety Committee has taken the next step in creating new Public Transportation Safety Zones.”
End of summer heats up South Chicago in gun crimes
A 23-year-old man died after being shot in the South Chicago neighborhood this morning.
Chicago Police said the man was shot in the head about 9:10 a.m. in the 8300 block of South Baltimore Avenue.
The man was taken to Advocate Christ Hospital and Medical Center where he was originally listed in critical condition but later died, according to Police News Affairs.
He was identified as Olawale Giwa, of the 7700 block of South Coles Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. He was pronounced dead at 10:14 a.m., according to the office.
At about 2 p.m., a 22-year-old woman was shot on the 7700 block of South Oglesby Avenue, police said.
The woman was shot in the left side of her body and was stabilized on the scene, police said. No other information was immediately available.
Chicago Police said the man was shot in the head about 9:10 a.m. in the 8300 block of South Baltimore Avenue.
The man was taken to Advocate Christ Hospital and Medical Center where he was originally listed in critical condition but later died, according to Police News Affairs.
He was identified as Olawale Giwa, of the 7700 block of South Coles Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. He was pronounced dead at 10:14 a.m., according to the office.
At about 2 p.m., a 22-year-old woman was shot on the 7700 block of South Oglesby Avenue, police said.
The woman was shot in the left side of her body and was stabilized on the scene, police said. No other information was immediately available.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
White House targets gun loopholes, overseas purchases
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced Thursday that it would close loopholes in the rules on acquiring machine guns and other dangerous weapons and ban U.S. military-style firearms sent overseas from returning to this country.
The announcement of the new executive actions came as Vice President Joe Biden administered the oath of office to the new head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the first Senate-confirmed director in the agency’s history. Biden pledged that the White House would not give up its efforts to set up more gun controls despite congressional inaction after the shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school late last year.
“The president and I remain committed to getting these things done,” Biden said at the White House ceremony installing B. Todd Jones as the ATF’s first permanent director in seven years. “If Congress doesn’t act, we’ll fight for a new Congress. It’s that simple. But we’re going to get this done.”
In the past, some individuals seeking to avoid personal background checks when purchasing machine guns and short-barreled shotguns have claimed they were “trusts or corporations.” But a new ATF regulation will close this loophole and require them to pass background checks. Last year, the ATF said, it received more than 39,000 requests for transfers of these firearms to trusts and corporations to skirt the checks.
The other executive action was aimed at keeping U.S. military weapons sold to foreign governments from being reimported to this country. Since 2005, the U.S. government has authorized requests to reimport more than 250,000 of these firearms. Under the new rule, only firearms reimported for museums and other exceptions would be allowed.
The executive actions drew quick criticism from gun rights organizations who said the requirements will not lower gun violence but instead only continue the president’s fight against legitimate gun enthusiasts. “Evidently he’s been elected king, and not president,” Larry Pratt, director of Gun Owners of America, said in an interview. “He’s made it fairly clear that he doesn’t like the 2nd Amendment.”
However, others welcomed the changes. Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said 90% of the American public demands stronger background checks, and that “today the Obama administration locked one back door used to get around” those checks.
“The president and I remain committed to getting these things done,” Biden said at the White House ceremony installing B. Todd Jones as the ATF’s first permanent director in seven years. “If Congress doesn’t act, we’ll fight for a new Congress. It’s that simple. But we’re going to get this done.”
In the past, some individuals seeking to avoid personal background checks when purchasing machine guns and short-barreled shotguns have claimed they were “trusts or corporations.” But a new ATF regulation will close this loophole and require them to pass background checks. Last year, the ATF said, it received more than 39,000 requests for transfers of these firearms to trusts and corporations to skirt the checks.
The other executive action was aimed at keeping U.S. military weapons sold to foreign governments from being reimported to this country. Since 2005, the U.S. government has authorized requests to reimport more than 250,000 of these firearms. Under the new rule, only firearms reimported for museums and other exceptions would be allowed.
The executive actions drew quick criticism from gun rights organizations who said the requirements will not lower gun violence but instead only continue the president’s fight against legitimate gun enthusiasts. “Evidently he’s been elected king, and not president,” Larry Pratt, director of Gun Owners of America, said in an interview. “He’s made it fairly clear that he doesn’t like the 2nd Amendment.”
However, others welcomed the changes. Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said 90% of the American public demands stronger background checks, and that “today the Obama administration locked one back door used to get around” those checks.
Against what the American people want Syria will be fired upon by American war ships and aircraft
The committee voted 10-7 in favor of a compromise resolution that sets a 60-day limit on any engagement in Syria, with a possible 30-day extension, and bars the use of U.S. troops on the ground for combat operations.
The compromise is more limited than President Barack Obama's original proposal but would meet his administration's goal of punishing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government for what the United States says was the use of chemical weapons on Syrian civilians, killing more than 1,400 people.
The relatively close committee vote reflected the broad divisions on the authorization in Congress, where many lawmakers fear it could lead to a prolonged U.S. military involvement in Syria's civil war and spark an escalation of regional violence.
Five Republicans and two of Obama's fellow Democrats - Chris Murphy and Tom Udall - voted against the resolution. Democrat Ed Markey voted "present," saying in a statement that he is still undecided.
The full Democratic-controlled Senate is expected to vote on the resolution next week. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives also must approve it. Both votes are expected to be close, as scores of lawmakers in both parties have yet to stake out a public position other than to say they are looking for more answers.
Obama and administration officials have urged Congress to act quickly, saying U.S. national security and international credibility is at stake in the decision on whether to use force in Syria in response to the use of chemical weapons.
"If we don't take a stand here today, I guarantee you, we are more likely to face far greater risks to our security and a far greater likelihood of conflict that demands our action in the future," Secretary of State John Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
"Assad will read our silence, our unwillingness to act, as a signal that he can use his weapons with impunity," Kerry said.
Protesters held hands splattered with blood-red paint in the air behind Kerry as he spoke at a House hearing that underscored the skepticism among lawmakers in both parties about the authorization.
House members peppered Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, with questions about the duration, targets, potential response and level of international support for military action in Syria.
"Whether we ultimately support a resolution on the use of force or not, it will depend on how these concerns are addressed in the coming days by the administration," Republican Steve Chabot told the officials.
'LIMITS OF AMERICAN POWER'
In the Senate committee, Murphy said he rejected the resolution because he was concerned a strike could make the situation worse in Syria and he feared the possibility of a prolonged U.S. commitment.
"I oppose it not because I don't gag every time that I look at those photos of young children who have been killed by Assad in his lethal attacks. It's simply because I have deep concerns about the limits of American power," Murphy said.
Senate leaders are unsure if Obama can win the 60 votes needed to overcome possible Republican procedural roadblocks. In the 435-member House, a senior Republican aide predicted most of the 50 or so Republicans backed by the conservative Tea Party movement and a number of Democratic liberals will join forces to vote no, leaving the outcome in doubt.
More closed-door briefings are planned for lawmakers in the House and Senate on Thursday as the administration continues to build the case for the use of military force.
The Senate committee vote came after the panel's leaders - Democratic Chairman Robert Menendez and senior Republican Bob Corker - crafted a compromise to meet concerns that Obama's proposed resolution was too open-ended.
Republican John McCain, a proponent of strong action in Syria, objected to the more narrow compromise. The committee adopted his amendments spelling out the policy goals of degrading Assad's ability to use chemical weapons and increasing the military capability of rebel forces.
Hispanic man stabbed in South Chicago Area
At about 7pm a 40 year old Hispanic male was stabbed in the 8900 block of S. Commercial.The male lives in the neighborhood and was visiting friends when he was attacked. The male was taken to Cook County Hospital in stable condition. The incident is still under investigation and the offender is still at large.
Syria chemical weapons expected at G-20 summit in Russia
The meeting in Russia will pit two leaders with polar opposite views on Syria -- U.S. President Barack Obama, who wants to launch limited military strikes against the Syrian regime, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country stands by its longtime ally in the Middle East.
The views of the 18 other countries at the G-20 run the gamut -- but could be influenced by whatever happens in St. Petersburg.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement that Brahimi was on his way to St. Petersburg, where the G20 developed and developing economies were gathering on Thursday for two days of talks.
"While the world is focused on concerns about the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria we must push even harder for the International Conference on Syria to take place in Geneva," the statement said.
"A political solution is the only way to end the bloodshed in Syria," Ban was quoted as saying.
Russia and the United States announced in May they would try to bring Syrian government and opposition representatives together at an international conference, but no date has been set and there is no sign it could be held in the near future.
With host Russia opposing possible U.S.-led military strikes to punish President Bashar al-Assad for an alleged chemical weapons attack, talks on the Syria conflict may overshadow the G20 summit talks on the global economy.
"While the world is focused on concerns about the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria we must push even harder for the International Conference on Syria to take place in Geneva," the statement said.
"A political solution is the only way to end the bloodshed in Syria," Ban was quoted as saying.
Russia and the United States announced in May they would try to bring Syrian government and opposition representatives together at an international conference, but no date has been set and there is no sign it could be held in the near future.
With host Russia opposing possible U.S.-led military strikes to punish President Bashar al-Assad for an alleged chemical weapons attack, talks on the Syria conflict may overshadow the G20 summit talks on the global economy.
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