Illinois State Rifle Association: Governor Quinn's Deep Dislike For Firearm Owners Fuels Illinois' Latest Push For Gun Control

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Dec 03, 2012, 07:33 ET

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Dec. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):

Illinois hunters and sportsmen have never been at the top of Governor Quinn's list of favorite people. Thus, it should come as no surprise that, just this past week, Quinn personally launched an all-out attack on law-abiding firearm owners.

Late in the week, the ISRA came into possession of a piece of draft gun control legislation that is being shopped around the legislature by the Quinn administration. Touted as a solution to violent crime, the bill would amend SB 2292 and result in the ban and confiscation of most of the privately owned firearms in the state. As is usually the case with this type of legislation, law-abiding citizens are the primary targets while violent criminals are functionally exempt from the ban's provisions.

The ISRA is condemning the proposed gun ban as bad public policy on any number of levels – not the least of which is that transferring the blame for violent crime to lawful citizens flies in the face of this nation's founding principles. With tens of millions of firearms potentially affected, the cost of administering and enforcing the ban would foist an enormous burden on Illinois' already hobbled economy. Given the nature of the ban, it is a safe bet that compliance with the ban would be spotty. Thus, in the end, Quinn's gun ban would be a divisive, grossly unfair, expensive, and largely ignored scheme that would have zero effect on violent crime.

"It's no secret that Governor Quinn and the crowd he runs with harbor a deep dislike for the state's hunters and sportsmen," commented ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson. "They see lawful firearm owners as a rival political constituency that needs to be eliminated. Thus, under the guise of crime control, Quinn and his allies will spare no effort to vilify, ostracize, fragment and politically neutralize the gun owners of this state."

"One thing is for certain," continued Pearson. "Lawful firearm owners are not going to stand by idly and let the governor abolish their constitutional rights. We will fight this proposal at every turn. We'll be working with our legislators to ensure that Quinn's proposal is seen as the folly that it is. If the governor wants a fight, we'll give it to him – and it's a fight we plan to win."

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