Still tightening the screws on Illinois gun owners

I'm still not planning to shut up about HB 48, and what I think we need to do to try to stop it.

The enemy is once again stepping up the pressure to pass HB 48, this time with one of their "polls."

The survey results show an overwhelming majority of Illinois voters strongly support common sense gun laws such as background checks for private gun sales and requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen guns to law enforcement.

Voters statewide expressed overwhelming support for closing the “private sale loophole” by requiring background checks for all gun sales, with 90 percent in support and 76 percent strongly supporting such a measure. Support for universal background checks was strong among Republicans (85%), gun owners (79%), and NRA members (70%). Women, voters residing in the suburbs of Chicago, and Hispanic voters had the highest levels of support for the measure, each at 96 percent.

“It’s not surprising that so many women support background checks on private gun sales,” said Representative Elizabeth Coulson (R-Glenview). “The fact is that women who are the victims of domestic abuse are particularly at risk of being shot and killed and gun violence disproportionately affects children and young people. If you’re thinking about the safety of your family and your own safety, it makes sense to support something as simple and necessary as background checks to keep felons, domestic violence offenders, minors and people with severe mental illness from accessing guns.”

Not mentioned there is that most of the survey was done in DuPage County--one of the "collar counties" surrounding the Chicago area--where the responsible, peaceable gun culture has been all but smothered over the course of decades. The rest of the survey was in the Peoria, IL region--a good deal farther from Chicago, but not exactly "downstate."

I also have to wonder what kind of leading questions were asked.

It seems a push is also being made for HB 845, the Blame the Victim . . . oops--I mean Lost or Stolen Reporting Requirement bill. That just passed in a House committee Wednesday, and can come up for a vote on the House floor any time now. That might be their second biggest priority, at this point.

If it passes, I'm going to be reporting a lot of "lost" guns, I guess.

Did I mention IGOLD '09 recently?