Says Uncle:

In Chicago, if Pfleger or Daley assemble two people touting gun control, the Chicago Tribune makes a mess in its pants from all the glee. But thousands of pro-gun folks descend on the capital and it gets nary a mention

Illinois: Court OKs storing guns in car consoles

Illinois law lets people carry guns in their cars if they are unloaded and enclosed in a case or other container. The question was whether a compartment for items like CDs and sunglasses meets the legal definition of a “case” for carrying guns.

In issuing its ruling Thursday, the Supreme Court overturned a 2003 appellate court decision that said a glove compartment is not a “case” under the law.

Via Instapundit.

Why the Confusion on Assault Weapons?

Seems that the antis think the only way they can win is to lie. As usual.

Illinois:

Derek Howald of Chillicothe has had his Utah permit for four years. It’s reciprocal (that means it’s a valid permit) in 29 other states.

In Illinois, it’s worthless.

“It’s sad,” Howald said. “I think with the rich heritage of hunting and fishing, especially when you get to central and downstate … you have very pro-Second Amendment people here.”

The divisive statewide issue of concealed carry has gained a lot of attention in the Peoria area in recent weeks after Mayor Jim Ardis said he wants to see Peoria serve as a pilot city for some sort of responsible state law.

Illinois and Wisconsin are the only two states with no form of concealed carry available to regular citizens.

Also, the understatement of the day:

Struggles to get any kind of concealed carry measure adopted in Illinois hits a roadblock every legislative session in Springfield, where the battle over gun rights often boils down to geography.

Downstate lawmakers of both parties tend to oppose gun control, while officials in Chicago tend to support it.

I’m not sure how a “test city” case would work. It seems to me that it would as tough (or maybe even tougher) to get something like that passed than it would be to pass concealed carry for the entire state.

Still, there’s such a huge gap between the sensibilities of Chicago-area politicians and the rest of the state that it might be the only hope at this point. Maybe we’ll see that efforts to get a limited-area approved fail but fire up enough Illinois voters to bring the thing to a vote on the state level. We can only hope.

UPDATE: Say Uncle points out Many Chicagoans Carry Handguns Illegally.

Which is, as he points out, unpossible.

Good news from a very gun-unfriendly state.

HB 48, the bill banning all private sales of firearm in Illinois went down today 60-55-1. This was THE big push by the Brady Campaign, ICPGV, and ICHV in the state.

Adds Sebastian:

This doesn’t bode well chances of national passage of the same measure if it can’t pass in Obama’s home state of Illinois.

and

Banning private sales would make transferring firearms under certain conditions economically infeasible, which is probably the point. It’s not like gang members will care, and suddenly start process their gats through local FFLs. [emphasis Murdoc's]

None of this has anything to do with keeping gangbangers from getting their gats, and everyone knows it. Just like new AWB proposals have nothing to do with machine guns in Mexico.

Man who gunned down 5 women in suburb of Chicago is still at large

One year ago today.

Part of a letter in the Chicago Daily Herald:

Because Illinois and (especially) Cook County distrusts its citizens and denies their right to bear arms, an armed person is immediately suspect of criminal activity and the ordinary public live in a state of paranoia in the presence of firearms. Many Illinois citizens are shocked to learn that throughout the United States lawful concealed carry is the rule and not the exception. These same citizens would no doubt be surprised to learn that some of their fellow Illinois citizens are licensed to carry in as many as 30 other states. Only in their home state are they deemed unworthy of trust.

A lot of the paranoia about guns comes from living in an environment where guns are the exception and not the rule. Kids raised on the farm in the good old days, all of whom had BB guns and many of whom hunted small game with .22s and such as youngsters, would never dream of reacting to the sight of firearms like so many people in this country today.

The continuous effort to “shelter” children from anything related to firearms (even when part of a military-sponsored, supervised program) is making things worse.

Blagojevich arrested on federal charges

Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested today by FBI agents for what U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald called a “staggering” level of corruption involving pay-to-play politics in Illinois’ top office.

Blagojevich is accused of a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy, including alleged attempts by the governor to try to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama in exchange for financial benefits for the governor and his wife. Blagojevich also is accused of obtaining campaign contributions in exchange for other official actions.

The style of politics in that part of the country is something to behold. You don’t generally succeed if you don’t play the game. And if you play the game, the game has a way of sticking with you. (Or sticking to you…)

Via a reader. Uncle sez: Coming soon to a White House near you?

From the Department of You Just Can’t Make This Shit Up:

One expert sees a darker motive driving some post-election gun purchasers.

“Why are white people buying assault weapons?” said Ben Agger, a sociology professor at the University of Texas at Arlington who wrote a book about the Virginia Tech slayings. “I almost hate to say it, but there is a deep-seated fear of the armed black man, because Obama now commands the military and other instruments of the justice system. They are afraid Obama will exact retribution for the very deep-seated legacy of slavery.”

That wasn’t a drive-by comment in some discussion thread on some two-bit web site like GunPundit.com. That was in a story in the Chicago Tribune. Murdoc continues to think that the election of Obama is going to do just about as much harm as good to race relations in this country. (via Uncle and Armed and Safe)

Why I intend to carry a handgun

I never felt unsafe. Not until I moved to Florida alone. Now I’ll take my chances on fighting for myself. I haven’t had much luck with the kindness of strangers.

Not completely sold on her given reasoning as being anything earth-shaking, but then you shouldn’t need an earth-shaking reason to decide you might like the ability to defend yourself.

Is my mother supportive? No. She jokes about it with my brother and calls me little (Sarah) Palin but something tells me she’s not sold on the idea.

“Why would you want a gun?” she said. “What if someone uses it on you?” “What if it goes off by accident?” “Do you even know how to use a gun?” “What if the other person has a gun too?”

“Little Palin?” That’s hilarious. I’ve decided that Palin truly is a Republican star. Not necessarily because of how much Conservatives like her, but because of how much Liberals hate hate hate her.

And I guess I’d sure want a gun “if the other person has a gun too.” Especially then. But I’m familiar with the (lack of) reasoning her mother displays in her questions. The writer is from Washington, DC, and I’ve seen the same line of thinking from Chicago natives. It has just been driven into so many people in places like that that guns are evil evil evil. They simply cannot imagine a way to regard firearms with anything but pure revulsion.

I’ve read a number of similar “gee, I’ve never owned a gun before but now I’m getting my concealed carry permit” stories by journalists in the past year or so. I always wonder if it negatively affects their careers.