Opinion
Illinois – -(AmmoLand.com)- Thousands of Second Amendment activists marched on the Illinois State Capitol building in Springfield, reminding lawmakers that gun owners are paying attention, and they’re not taking the rap for crimes they didn’t commit.
According to an estimate from WICS/WRSP, the event drew some 8,000 gun owners, which eclipses the few hundred who showed up for the first such rally and march back in the 1990s. The first such event drew only 200 participants, the station said.
The report noted that Mike Weisman, a member of the Illinois State Rifle Association board of directors, observed, “Every day, you look on the news. Every day, gun owners are under attack. Legislators come up with some new scheme to try to take away our rights.”
The Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day (IGOLD) has become a tradition in the Prairie State. It’s an example that gun rights activists in other states could follow, and did recently in Salem, Oregon, where there is some nasty gun control legislation up for a hearing on Tuesday, April 2, according to the Oregon Firearms Federation. In the Beaver State, 44 pages of amended language to Senate Bill 978 will be the subject of the Tuesday hearing. According to and OFF Alert, “it’s a gun grabber’s dream.”
The hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin at 8 a.m. and OFF is urging Oregon gun owners to “be there early.”
Back in the Land of Lincoln, demonstrators wearing bright yellow/gold T-shirts and caps came from all over the state as they have in past years. The message they deliver annually is basic: Chicago politics should not dictate to the rest of Illinois. A video of the event may be watched here.
Some who were not wearing the IGOLD shirts were wearing gray shirts that stated, “I Will Not Comply.”
They marched, according to the State Journal-Record, from the Bank of Springfield Center down Capitol Avenue to the Capitol building. They couldn’t be ignored as they blocked an entire street from curb-to-curb and the crowd stretched out for several blocks. The newspaper quoted several people who attended, with statements such as that from Effingham activist Steve Tegeler.
He told the newspaper, “We don’t want these bad things to happen to us. I hope these other representatives, and the senators, and the governor is paying attention to what the actual people in the state want and not what they try to force down everybody’s throat.”
One man carried a sign that stated, “Illinois Democrats Are Proving, We’re Not Going Away.” Another person had a sign that said simply “My Gun, My Right.”
There were several speakers, including Republican lawmakers who advised the citizen lobbyists to be polite, but firm.
IGOLD has been an annual event for many years. It always draws thousands of like-minded citizens to the Capitol, where they have an opportunity to visit with state lawmakers in their offices, and also to make a visual statement that there are thousands more gun owners who couldn’t make the trek, but who will be ready to cast their votes on Election Day. They come by bus, or carpool, but they make it every year.
What Illinois gun rights activists have done is provide an example of what their contemporaries in other states could be doing right now, with state legislatures in session. The bigger the crowd, the bigger the impression it leaves when the participants go back home, especially if they stay in contact with the offices of their local representatives and senators.
RELATED: Thousands Rally For 2A in Oregon; Have Antis Reached Their Limit?
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
Yawn. Americans own more guns per capita than any nation on earth.Gun safety does not mean banning all guns. America also has the worst per capita gun violence rate in the developed world. Illinois has stricter gun safety laws than many states AND despite the higher levels of gun violence in impoverished areas of Chicago where trafficked guns are brought in from laxer gun law states like Indiana, Illinois still has a lower gun violence rate than its neighbors.
Gun safety laws work contrary to the NRA’s gun sales fear propaganda claims.
ViolencePolicy.org
If they didn’t incite any riots or tear anything up then they didn’t get the attention of the democrats. They probably cleaned up after themselves and that would make the democrats think they are no threat to bad gun laws. TRhat is what we get for being a polite society.
WCIA ! CIA ? Why, I thought they were our friends !
The oss and the CIA are friends of the Wall Street industrial military complex. Read the Devils Chessboard. It’s all about the CIA.
They are behind the mass shootings I believe.
Oliver North is now the President of the NRA.
Who do you think he was working for in Central America? I don’t know that anyone who works for the CIA is ever really done working for them.
The NRA membership should be concerned about this.
@Tom….And did you notice no mass murdering hypnotools from MKUltra shot the place up, because they figured there would be concealed carry at a gun rights demonstration. Go figure !
“Come and take” — WHAT? NOBODY there was armed! Where were the teeth in their rally/demonstration? Their LIBERTY TEETH??? Corrupt politicians don’t care about people who demonstrate that they are hesitant to back up their words with force or action. They just ignore you. 2,000 people with loaded pistols on their hip and an AR-15 slung across their chests might have a more indelible impression.
@Charley Moore and Everyone Else… I’m sure there were more than a few “concealed carrying”. Regardless, this demonstration showed to the general public how polite the law abiding gun owners are. That can go a long way in forming public opinion. It also showed the politicians that more and more people are getting fed up with their shenanigans, and that they are on the slippery slope to a 3 am Military Tribunal on their front lawns. (Video taped, of course). Just keep in mind that any law they write that infringes on our liberties and God given rights is null… Read more »
This is still no the largest IGOLD, that occurred about 5-6 years a go when the conceal carry was push was big. When you consider that thousands of gun owners have left the state, 8,000 is a big number on a work day.
Many of the news stations here in Illinois were really downplaying this. One news station,WCIA Champaign-Urbana was saying turnout was around 400 people. Laughable but expected from one of the few blue counties on the map downstate.
WCIA ! CIA ? Why, I thought they were our friends !
Well, hush my mouth. I was all beep and rush on Illinois!
Well what do you know, all those gun people and no violence.
And, most likely, no trash left behind in their wake.
Damn Illinois! Makes us confident that Illinois is STEPPING UP! Now, START REMOVING YOUR ANTI-CONSTITUTIONAL “REPRESENTATIVES” FROM OFFICE! Do NOT wait to “vote them out of office”. Remove them for Willful Neglect of Statutory DUTY as per their Oath of Office! A CRIMINAL ACT!
Yup. To swear a solemn oath, then break that oath, is felony perjury. Imagine how things would change if a few of these lying politicians who draft, promote, then vote for, “laws” clearly violating the Constitution were to be charged, arrested, then convicted of felony perjuty. No more guns, no more public office, no more government employment at any level, no more voting… would that not be justice? Half a dozen such cases and lets see how long it takes for holders of pubilc office to realise they need to first READ and LEARN what the Constitution says, then act… Read more »
I think this is indicative of what’s happening at the State level around much of the Country.
Here in Virginia, we have the VCDL ( Virginia Civil Defense League) now 7000 + members strong. We too have a Lobby Day, where we meet with our State Representatives to lend support to the pros and hold the anti’s feet to the fire.
The NRA and GOA do a great job at the Federal level, but remember “ All politics are local “.
What has happened over time is the investment bankers. The people who make fortunes from war have bought all the key politicians in our federal government and elsewhere. When we have a election its between two of their candidates. We have no voice at this point. Its all a show. If I told you all about it you would not believe me, but do some investigative reading. Try starting with Dave Talbot’s The Devils Chessboard. Then you could investigate what Jim Garrison had to say about the Kennedy assination. Form your own independent opinion. Don’t let anyone tell you what… Read more »
I remember well that first rally! We held the info session in the cafeteria of the Howllet building. We filled that roo:up to overflowing and it was grea5 tha5 the mayor of Chicago’s people couldn’t ge5 a seat!
IGOLD day is one of the few things I miss about living in Illinois.
the hippybiker
Englewood, FL
God bless these people and I agree 100% . The DemoRats are doing everything they can to take away our Constitution and our Constitutional rights . I will never vote for any of them or endorse anything they want to do for our country . MAGA 2020