Overlooked in the brouhaha over Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is what his imminent defrocking will do to the Gun Rights vs. Gun Control debate.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that G-Rod and his cronies in the Illinois legislature have been at the forefront of those that are trying their best to legislate private ownership of guns out of existence. Illinois boasts a disproportionately large number of firearms manufacturers.Despite the fact that most voters in Illinois are pro-gun, G-Rod and his pals have consistently voted against any and all bills that would make it possible for citizens in the state to own guns for their own protection. Even worse, G-Rod has been positively rabid, trying to pass laws that would effectively make it impossible for gun manufacturers to operate legally within the state. For instance, they’ve tried to pass laws that would forbid the manufacture, transportation, and sale of high-capacity magazines for handguns. Pull that off, and you put every Illinois manufacturer at an impossible to overcome disadvantage in comparison to their non-Illinois based competitors. [Read more…] about Blago goes Ballistic.
I’m I the only one that is watching the situation in Illinois with a sense of 70’s déjà vù? I mean, this is kind of like watching the döppelganger of a famous scandal (that gave us the postfix “-gate”). I was all of 16 years old, between my junior and senior years in high school in 1974. I was at Louisiana Boys’ State, learning about government down in Baton Rouge – the state capitol. They called us into a big hall and had us sit down and get quiet. Nobody told us what was going on, but we knew it was something bad from the solemn looks on all the adult’s faces. Richard Nixon’s voice came on the radio. He announced that he was resigning from the Presidency.