" So you won't make me hug a tree for my crimes?
"Sure, we support the environment, and if you wish to ride your bike to work, you may do so," he said. "But I'm not going to take your car any more than I'm going to take your gun."
You're not going to take my gun? What kind of Leftist are you anyway?
"We're getting support from progressive Democrats and from traditional-minded conservatives too. Perhaps it's because I support the 2nd Amendment. I'm the only candidate on the ballot [technically speaking] who supports a citizen's right to carry," he said.
He doesn't mean carrying eggs.
"I don't think the government should have a monopoly on weapons," Whitney said. "And if you meet certain objective criteria--completing a gun-training safety class, if you're a law-abiding citizen, if you haven't committed a felony--you should have the right to carry a firearm.
"Of course, we'll have to carefully draw the law so that no one can carry a gun to church or to school or to a bar. But if it's carefully drawn, there's no reason that Illinois can't join other states in allowing law-abiding people to carry weapons."
After the last article about this issue surfaced and I blogged about it, I had a brief conversation with Rich Whitney over email. I asked him about the article and his stance on concealed carry and his response was "I haven't seen the article". I sent him the link and I never heard back from him. When I called his campaign manager, Jennifer Rose, and left a message on her voicemail, she did not call me back.
Now it seems as if they are taking this concealed carry idea and running with it, using it as the wedge issue that it is in most states, pandering for conservative gun nut votes. It will be interesting to see if that works for him. Somehow I think that Stufflebeam character has the market on gun nut voters cornered.
2 comments:
1) Love your blog. Let's just say that first, because I do agree with 98% of what you say and how you say it.
2) DON'T make the common mistake of thinking that people that support concealed carry are "conservative gun nuts". My family? Totally liberal. Environmental nuts, will support almost any candidate that will REALLY support education, recognise that taxes are necessary for good government, will support alternative energy...and we own a gun store. Yeah, there are a lot of conservative gun nuts out there. But, there are also a lot of liberal hunters/firearm owners out there. Most of them don't say much about guns because they're tired of being accused of being "conservative gun nuts". But do keep in mind...it doesn't make you any friends. I vote progressive Democrat, but I *do* also choose to retain the right to own a gun. I also think that it should be hard to get a gun, that you should have to pass safety tests and criminal background tests, etc...but the bottom line is that I don't want to lose that right.
Actually, the more I write about this issue and talk to people about guns and concealed carry, the more I am realizing how many progressive gun enthusiasts there are out there. I have also recently heard many compelling reasons for the right to bear arms, some that I hadn't even thought of before.
I don't have a problem with people owning firearms. I don't have a problem with hunting or someone having a gun in their home. While I do not like guns and feel that their proliferation makes us all a lot less safe (we're not the #1 country for gun violence for nothin'), I recognize that our constitution grants us the right to have them.
I have a problem with folks walking the streets carrying firearms. In a nutshell, I think the majority of people out there are too irresponsible and stupid to carry a gun. I wouldn't want to bet on that by allowing them to carry lethal weapons.
My main point with this post is to illustrate again how Rich Whitney is pandering to a certain conservative base for which concealed carry is a pet issue. He also is very hush-hush about his stance on abortion, which I believe is another attempt to pander to a conservative base group. I find it fascinating that he is doing this and I am eager to go over the election results to how how this strategy panned out.
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