Thursday’s brutal murder of 1-year-old Ashley Hurt by a knife-wielding man at a Midlothian shopping mall outside of Chicago is just one more reason why Illinois citizens deserve a concealed carry law, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today.
“This horrible murder adds another layer of blood on the hands of anti-gun extremists who have fought so hard to keep law-abiding citizens unarmed,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “If a concealed carry law could save the life of just one innocent child like Ashley, it would be worthwhile.
“Published reports tell us that the suspect went through the mall area, also stabbing four adults,” Gottlieb continued. “Had there been a legally-armed citizen at that strip mall, who could have justifiably intervened to stop the rampage, that toddler might still be alive. It took a courageous teenager who recently arrived here, to bring the attack to a halt by clubbing the suspect with a flashlight.”
Newspapers have identified the hero as 18-year-old Suparak Rattananarkin, a Thai citizen who came to the United States recently.
“Suparak obviously has not been in the Chicago area long enough to be cowed by the fear that grips many Illinois citizens who are too scared of legal reprisal if they get involved,” Gottlieb observed. “Yet, all he had was a flashlight, against a knife. I wonder how long it will take Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to start demanding that flashlights be banned as a means of reducing violence?”
Gottlieb noted that Illinois gun laws, and specifically Chicago’s Draconian handgun ordinance, didn’t help another citizen Wednesday night. Terrance Wesson, 32, was shot dead by an unknown assailant at a Chicago gas station.
“Daley, Gov. Rod Blagojevich and all the other anti-gunners in the Illinois legislature know that the state’s stupid gun laws don’t stop crime,” Gottlieb said. “These laws only leave law-abiding citizens at the mercy of gas station gunmen and shopping mall maniacs. It is too late to help Terrance Wesson or Ashley Hurt, but it’s not too late to change Illinois gun laws so that other citizens can defend themselves, and their children, from the criminals and lunatics that have been given free rein under current statutes.”