‘GOV. QUINN GRANDSTANDS WITH PLAN TO BAN SEMI-AUTOS,’ SAYS CCRKBA

BELLEVUE, WA – Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to ban so-called “assault weapons” in the Prairie State “is a grandstand play that ultimately punishes law-abiding Illinois gun owners for a crime that no gun law could prevent,” the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

“Pat Quinn wants to take away the freedom of Illinois citizens because some psycho misused a gun in Colorado,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Based on what we now know, that suspect could just as easily have used his bombs, and Quinn knows it. He’s just exploiting that case to please his anti-gun supporters with a gun control tactic that has already failed to keep guns out of the wrong hands.”

Quinn is proposing the ban in an “amendatory veto message” to a bill aimed at mail-order or on-line ammunition purchases by citizens with Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) cards. In his message, Gov. Quinn claims to be a “strong supporter of the Second Amendment.” But he quickly adds, “Banning assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines will make Illinois a safer place to live.”

“Gun bans and restrictive gun laws don’t work,” Gottlieb stated, “and you can look at Chicago as proof. Homicides actually went up during the 25 years that handguns were prohibited in the Windy City, and they are continuing to stack up bodies under the city’s current Draconian gun law, which still makes it nearly impossible for average law-abiding citizens to have firearms in their homes.

“Citizens with FOID cards are the good guys,” he stressed. “People who shoot up theaters, or leave dead people lying in the streets of Chicago, are the bad guys. It’s time for Gov. Quinn to understand the difference. Law-abiding citizens who jump through the hoops to obtain an Illinois FOID card should be able to purchase and use modern sport-utility rifles. These semiautomatic rifles are commonly-owned all over the United States. They are used for hunting, competition, predator control and home protection by honest citizens.

“Shame on Gov. Quinn for his knee-jerk exploitation of a tragedy to push an anti-gun agenda,” Gottlieb added. “Instead of cracking down on his most trusted Illinois citizens, the governor should direct his efforts at lowering the body count in Chicago, which has gotten further out of control since Rahm Emanuel took over as mayor.”