Mission statement:

Armed and Safe is a gun rights advocacy blog, with the mission of debunking the "logic" of the enemies of the Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms.

I can be reached at 45superman@gmail.com.You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/45superman.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

What--no calls to "snuff out" anyone this time, "Father"?

As mentioned Friday, Jesse Jackson and "Father" Michael "Snuffy" Pfleger yesterday led a mob of complainers again to harass Chuck's Gun Shop, in Riverdale Illinois. Thanks to a timely alert from the Illinois State Rifle Association, there were pro-rights activists there, as well.

One of those can be seen in this video segment (click on "Chicago activists target suburban gun shop," on the right). That would be my fellow Illinois gun rights blogger, who pointed out that the civil rights movement would seem to have lost its way, if it is now advocating the suppression of rights, rather than the protection of them. He apparently also tried to make mention of the fact that Pfleger's St. Sabina "Church" does a great deal of politicking, despite enjoying the tax-free status of a 501(c)(3) corporation. The reporter wasn't interested--sounds a bit like Americans United for Separation of Church and State in that regard, doesn't she?

In another video segment (click on "Chicagoans march for an end to gun violence," on the right), we see coverage of several protests, including both the one at Chuck's and the other one I mentioned Friday (the "LIE-IN"). In this segment, we are also treated to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley screeching about the need to license gun dealers--has someone forgotten to tell him about the endless, unconstitutional, bureaucratic hoops required to get and maintain a Federal Firearms License? Maybe Ryan Horsely would be able to find the time to explain it to him--that is if he can take a minute away from the fight against the BATFE stormtroopers who are bent on destroying his livelihood.

In both video segments, the protesters are forced to acknowledge that there is exactly zero evidence that Chuck's Gun Shop has violated any laws--but that's not good enough for them.

No exhortations, apparently, to "snuff out" anyone--this time--maybe there was enough backlash from that last time to convince even Pfleger to be a bit more circumspect.

As David Codrea and I (just me for the moment--David is going to be busy for the next few weeks) keep pointing out, the way to make Pfleger's attacks on the Second Amendment more difficult is to sic the feds on him for his obvious violations of the provisions governing 501(c)(3) corporations. The stated mission of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State is blowing the whistle on just that kind of activity (although they seem to have a marked preference for going after churches on the right side of the political spectrum--going after a church that violates the same laws for the purpose of advocating draconian gun laws would seem to be less attractive to AUSCS). As mentioned here and here, I would like to see AUSCS blitzed with emails (americansunited@au.org) urging them to show some consistency and fairness, and avoid the hypocrisy of applying different rules based on their own political preferences.

Jackson and Pfleger have already announced that they'll keep coming after Chuck's (and other gun shops), and they're just a small part of the threat. There is a War on Guns, and we won't win if we don't fight.

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