Wow--you guys work fast!

Just kidding--I don't actually think that people responded in droves to my post yesterday, and thus inspired, flooded Commissioner Beavers' office with a mighty tide of calls and emails expressing righteous outrage, thus causing him to withdraw his proposal for a virtual ban of firearms in Cook County. Nevertheless, he is supposedly withdrawing it.

Commissioner William Beavers also introduced two other gun-control ordinances in December, but his staff said Thursday he is withdrawing them.

I had actually somehow managed to miss the fact that he had proposed two citizen disarmament ordinances (the other would have banned gun shows in Cook County--as Commissioner Suffredin's will, if passed--and required gun shop employees to undergo background checks; there were some other provisions, as well).

Anyway, although I know better than to try to take any credit for Beavers' retreat, I do believe that the grassroots activism of Illinois gun owners--led by groups like the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA), Illinois Carry, Guns Save Life (formerly Champaign County Rifle Association), etc.--was what forced him to back off. Grassroots works--remember that as we approach March 11th, and IGOLD '08.

The work in Cook County is far from over, of course. Not only does Cook County suffer already under an inordinately heavy burden of egregiously draconian gun laws already on the books, there's still Commissioner (and State's Attorney candidate) Suffredin's proposed ordinance, which would shut down every gun dealer in the county.

In the Daily Herald article I linked to earlier (here's the link again), Suffredin claims to have eight of the nine votes he needs to pass that abomination:

In the past, Suffredin has enacted county ordinances banning assault weapons, and he says he has eight votes for this one, needing just one more to pass it.

Curiously, by the way, in an earlier (Nov. 29th) article, he claimed to already have two more votes than he needed.

Suffredin was joined by Father Michael Pflaeger and the parents of several slain children as he predicted passage of his proposal which he says has 2 more than the 9 votes he'd need for passage.

So, Larry--were you lying then, or now--or have three commissioners stepped away from your citizen disarmament agenda?

We need to keep up the pressure on the Cook County Commissioners. Here, again, is their contact info:

District 1
Earlean Collins
Phone: 312/603-4566
Fax: 312/603-3696
ecollins@cookcountygov.com


District 2
Robert Steele
Phone: 312/603-3019
Fax: 312/603-4055
rsteele@cookcountygov.com

District 3
Jerry “Iceman” Butler
Phone: 312/603-6391
Fax: 312/603-5671
jbutler@cookcountygov.com


District 4
William M. Beavers
Phone: 312/603-6398
Fax: 312/603-4678
wbeavers@cookcountygov.com


District 5
Deborah Sims
Phone: 312/603-6381
Fax: 312/603-2583
dsims@cookcountygov.com


District 6
Joan Patricia Murphy
Phone: 312/603-4216
Fax: 312/603-3693
jpmurphy@cookcountygov.com

District 7
Joseph Mario Moreno
Phone: 312/603-5443
Fax: 312/603-3759
jmoreno@cookcountygov.com


District 8
Robert Maldonado
Phone: 312/603-6386
Fax: 312/443-9531
rmaldonado@cookcountygov.com


District 10
Mike Quigley
Phone: 312/603-4210
Fax: 312/603-3695
commquigley@aol.com


District 11
John P. Daley
Phone: 312/603-4400
Fax: 312/603-6688
jdaley@cookcountygov.com

District 12
Forrest Claypool
Phone: 312/603-6380
Fax: 312/603-1265
fclaypool@cookcountygov.com


District 13
Larry Suffredin
Phone: 312/603-6383
Fax: 312/603-3622
lsuffredin@cookcountygov.com


District 14
Gregg Goslin
Phone: 312/603-4932
Fax: 312/603-3686
commissionergoslin@cookcountygov.com

I've omitted the contact information for Commissioners Peter Silvestri, Timothy Shneider, Anthony Peraica, and Elizabeth Ann Doody Gorman, because they have committed to opposing this ordinance (although I am tempted to ask them how the motion to suspend the rule requiring public notification of the proposed ordinances passed unanimously).

By the way, some of the resistance to Suffredin's proposed ordinance is coming from the big, new Cabela's in Hoffman Estates, which would be forced out of business by Suffredin's ordinance (here's an article about that), which has the Hoffman Estates Chamber of Commerce agitated. The Daily Herald article says that Suffredin might try to take those parties out of the fight by buying them off:

"We're taking it very seriously," said Commissioner Tim Schneider, a Bartlett Republican who represents Hoffman Estates, where Cabela's Outdoor Superstore is located. The store does significant business in guns. Suffredin says he's negotiating with the store on a possible exception.

I hope Cabela's knows better than to sell the public's good will so cheaply.