Illinois Governor Pulls Anti-gun Legislative Stunt
Michelle notes that Gov. Rod Blagojevich(DEMOCRAT) faces increasing scrutiny of his campaign finance practices, a budget impasse, and a debilitating corruption cloud. So how does he cope? By calling a “special session” to attack gun rights. Best part of this? Anti-gun Democrat lawmakers are attacking the move as a diversionary stunt:
Facing a budget crisis that is six weeks old, Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Monday stunned and angered lawmakers who accused him of using a highly emotional gun-control issue to divert attention from the fiscal breakdown and divide an Illinois House solidly against his spending plans.
Even the Chicago Democrat who is a sponsor of the anti-gun legislation took to the House floor to tell colleagues the primary focus now should be on reaching an accord on the state budget. A Downstate lawmaker who supports gun rights invoked Abraham Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech as a rallying cry for the House to rebuff the governor’s efforts to split them apart. Although he was holding budget talks in Springfield, Blagojevich flew from the capital to Chicago to hold a media event in front of Children’s Memorial Hospital on the North Side, surrounding himself with nearly two dozen family members of gun-violence victims. They called for support of legislation that would ban the sale, purchase and possession of gun clips that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, often used in semi-automatic, assault-style weapons.
The Illinois Senate already has passed the bill, but the House has not. Blagojevich’s call for a special session on the matter zeroes in on the House, led by Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), whose chamber has steadfastly opposed the governor’s plans to increase spending dramatically.
“One can only conclude that an effort to bring a gun-control issue to the floor at this time would only be for the purpose of deflecting our energies and deflecting the media away from what we’re doing here,” said Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), a gun-control advocate. “I, for one, think we should not be doing that deflecting. I, for one, believe we should be concentrating on our budget and only on our budget until we get this work done.”
The Illinois State Rifle Association has a response
July 11, 2007 - 08:38 PM on July 11th, 2007
A little historical note for those anti gunners who believe that the assault weapon ban in Chicago has been such a huge success. The year before the ban, there were exactly zero murders in Chicago involving the banned weapons. With Zero murders being committed with the banned weapons BEFORE the ban, exactly how many murders did the ban prevent? AND how can you prove that number?
July 11, 2007 - 10:48 PM on July 11th, 2007
I understand that the name CHICAGO comes froma idian word meaning BAD SMELL good name the stink from chicagos city hall is overwellming and as for the govenor of ILLINOIS. IMPEACH HIM IMSPEACH HIM SQUAWK SQUAWK SQUAWK
July 16, 2007 - 11:41 AM on July 16th, 2007
My Step-son has a t-shirt that says:
Vegetarian
An old Indian word for Bad Hunter.