Roving Billboard Will Tell Chicagoans the Truth About Gun Violence

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Feb 26, 2011, 07:45 ET

Media Advisory

CHICAGO, Feb. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):

WHAT: Press briefing prior to launch of roving billboard touting the public safety advantages of privately-owned firearms.

WHEN: Monday, 28 February 2011, 10:00 AM

WHERE: Midwest Sporting Goods, 8565 Plainfield Road, Lyons, IL 60534

WHO: Richard Pearson, Executive Director, Illinois State Rifle Association.

Mr. Pearson will officially kick off a truck-mounted roving billboard campaign touting the public safety advantages of private firearm ownership. The roving billboard consists of two large truck-mounted panels advertising the fact that, on a daily basis, approximately 2,200 Americans utilize firearms to protect themselves from rape, robbery, murder and assault – a fact conveniently overlooked by the "mainstream media."

Sponsored jointly by the Citizens' Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) and the ISRA, the roving billboard campaign comes in response to a similar effort spearheaded by New York City Mayor and gun control activist Michael Bloomberg. The Bloomberg project involves a roving billboard declaring that 34 Americans are shot to death by criminals every day.

The CCRKBA/ISRA roving billboard will depart from the parking lot of Midwest Sporting Goods, 8565 Plainfield Road, Lyons, IL, at approximately 10:00 AM en route to downtown Chicago via the Eisenhower Expressway. Once in the Loop, the roving billboard will work the streets – delivering its message to workers and shoppers in the central business district. Later that afternoon, the roving billboard will return to the suburbs where it will be seen by rush hour commuters.

Mr. Pearson will be available to the press to discuss the roving billboard campaign as well as ISRA's on-going effort in the Capitol to pass legislation that would allow well-qualified, law-abiding citizens to carry defensive firearms for the protection of themselves and their families. Currently, Illinois is one of two states that prohibit citizens from carrying defensive firearms. The other state, Wisconsin, is expected to pass concealed carry legislation later this year.

The ISRA is the state's leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. For more than a century, the ISRA has represented the interests of millions of law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.

WEB SITE: http://www.isra.org

SOURCE Illinois State Rifle Association