BELLEVUE, WA – Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is sending city employees home without pay on Christmas Eve, “just like Ebenezer Scrooge would have done,†yet he continues squandering scarce city funds defending an unconscionable, and soon–to–be unconstitutional, handgun ban, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
“This is an indefensible ban designed to leave Chicago citizens defenseless,†said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “yet Mayor Daley is perfectly comfortable pouring public funds down a hole darker than the grave of Jacob Marley, clinging to a law that has been a public safety disaster.
“This folly has cost the citizens of Chicago untold thousands of dollars,†he continued, “and what do they have to show for it? Public employees don’t even get a lump of coal in their Christmas stockings, only a day off without pay. Daley has had years to repeal this law and turn over a new leaf, but his only response has essentially been ‘Bah, Humbug’!â€
The city is being sued by the Second Amendment Foundation, Illinois State Rifle Association and four individual citizens to overturn its long–standing handgun ban. That case is going to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on March 2, and a ruling is expected sometime in June. This case could provide a landmark decision that incorporates the Second Amendment to the states through the 14th Amendment.
“Daley is claiming that every dollar saved from these unpaid furlough days helps save jobs,†Gottlieb noted, “but maybe it’s time to ask this Grinch just how much money is being spent to defend his gun ban. Surely that money could be far better spent by the citizens, and the employees whose pockets are being emptied for the holidays.
“Here’s hoping that Daley is visited by the ghost of Christmas Future Thursday night,†he concluded, “and that he sees a happier Chicago, where citizens will be safer once their rights are protected by the Supreme Court.â€