So much heat, so little light, from Jesse Jackson and friends

Yesterday, either "about 1,000" (if you believe the Daily Southtown), or "almost 200" (if you believe the Chicago Tribune) people gathered outside Chuck's Gun Shop, in Riverdale, Illinois (near Chicago), to protest the completely legal and above-board commerce in firearms there. The crowd (whatever its size was) was "treated" to speeches by Jesse Jackson and others. If I correctly understand Jackson's column in the Chicago Sun-Times, he believes that gun shops should not be permitted anywhere near urban areas.

Metropolitan areas -- where most people live -- have no use for gun peddlers, for people packing concealed weapons, for kids fighting gang wars with assault weapons. If given their choice, most citizens in cities and suburbs would simply ban handguns, ban assault weapons and ban gun shops and gun dealers. Hunters could buy their guns in the rural areas where they hunt.

Evidently, he believes that people who use guns for evil would not bother driving to rural areas to buy them.

The Daily Southtown article points out that Jackson is not one to let trivialities, such as a lack of factual information, stop him from presenting groundless claims as fact.

Jackson has said in person and in prepared remarks that Chuck's sold the "majority of guns connected with recent shooting deaths in Chicago."

But pressed on his sources, Jackson admitted to the Southtown after the rally that he does not have statistics on the store.

"The police know -- everyone knows -- they get guns from here," he said.

That's good, Jesse--if you don't have information, just make some stuff up.

The Tribune article pointed out something that Jackson and his cohorts said, that I found a bit puzzling:

Jackson and Revs. James Meeks and Michael Pfleger encouraged the crowd to push for stricter gun laws. They vowed that the rally was just the beginning and that civil disobedience was possible.

What kind of "civil disobedience" would one engage in for advocacy of a violation of rights?

The civilian disarmament advocates weren't the only protesters there--counter-protester on the pro-rights side had a question for Jackson.

One man carried a sign that read, "Jesse -- How many armed guards do you have?"

Apparently (and shockingly), Jackson declined to answer that question.

Too bad--I would like to have heard his answer.