Had this swell referendum on the Cook County ballot:
"For the health and safety of children and the entire community, shall the State of Illinois enact a comprehensive ban on the manufacture, sale, delivery and possession of military-style assault weapons and .50 caliber rifles?"
It passed by about 90 percent, which is not surprising given the county demographics and the fact that the mainstream media champions the AWB cause and refuses to conduct even basic journalism as to the "impact" these weapons have. In Chicago, for example, according to CPD reports the generic "Rifle" category accounts for about 1-2 percent of all homicides -- on par with baseball bats. I don't believe the .50 cal rifles have ever been used criminally. The stalled AWB legislation is now going to roll forward armed with this clear mandate
Hopefully only at the county level, though.
Of course, the Tribune ran pro AWB editorial last year that is virtually a cut and paste from the Brady Campaign Web site that uses discredited (from the actual FBI source -- these reports do not indicate trends, shouldn't be used to..., etc.) data involving "crime traces" and phrases like "... while we can't actually tell if the use of these weapons has increased since the Federal ban ended, we still support ... (accurate paraphrase of the line)" WTF! Journalism 101, that research and reporting thing -- but, they don't WANT to let the facts get in the way of a safe, do nothing, solve nothing crusade that will only impact responsible, legal gun owners.
At the state level, although Soon-to-be-indicted Democrat and strong anti 2nd Amendment supporter Blagovitch won, more people voted in total for the two pro 2nd Amendment candidates. And Dick Durbin's hand-picked political tool Tammy Duckworth, running on a strong AWB platform, lost. In one funny add, four terrified soccer moms shrilled how they were going to go Dem this election because the mean Republican man was "just too extreme."
Federally, I think the election was an overall win for the 2nd Amendment. The Dems (nationally) have finally apparently realized that this issue hurts more than helps, and many of the new Dems are pro 2nd. Pelosi picking Murthra is also a very positive sign. These new Dems know that a flop flop will bite them 4 years down the road.
Likely worse case scenario for me and my "evil" M-1 carbine -- I just have to move out of Cook County but can stay in the sate close to family and employment.
Charon
