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Chicago Activists Push State Gun Ban
Produced by Tasha Flournoy on Thursday, September 25, 2008
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An activist preacher is continuing his push for a statewide gun ban. Rev.
Michael Pfleger and about 50 supporters locked arms and blocked metal detectors and elevators inside a state building in downtown Chicago to highlight their cause Wednesday.
Pfleger says his actions are meant to push state government to change the state’s gun laws.
PFLEGER: It’s the downstate that have refused to give us the votes to common sense gun laws. So what we’re saying is, ‘Ok. We’re gonna start disrupting your life like gun violence is disrupting our life.' And that’s here at their businesses and that’s coming to their homes. And we’re prepared to go to the legislators homes and visit them.
Protestors are calling for an assault weapon ban and stricter background checks for people wanting to buy guns.
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Carl in Chicago, Chicago // Thursday, September 25, 2008 @ 11:38 AM
Buy "our life" I presume Pfleger means "in our neighborhoods" such as Gresham and Englewood?
Will these people ever learn? Gun laws are not causing crime in those neighborhoods ... and placing blame on others for local problems is no way to evoke meaningful change.
Blocking access to a state building is criminal trespass. If he so shamelessly misplaces blame on this issue, he really goes over the top committing crimes to do so.
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illinois voter, southside // Thursday, September 25, 2008 @ 11:57 AM
The last time I looked, murder , assault and battery, handguns, etc. were all against the law in Chicago. How about enforcing the laws already on the books? It's people's attitudes and their callous disrespect for their fellow human beings that needs to be changed in Chicago. Address the cause (The people doing these crimes) and quit blaming inanimate objects. Look at Britain, they are trying to ban knifes and bats now. It's the people that must change.
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M. Thomas // Thursday, September 25, 2008 @ 12:19 PM
So let me see, 50 people at some government building demanding more "gun control" is newsworthy, but hundreds of people at the Thompson Center demanding that their rights as guaranteed by the Second Amendment be restored is not newsworthy. Yep, looks fair and balanced to me.
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Mike S, Belleville // Thursday, September 25, 2008 @ 12:37 PM
Since Phleger mentions "Downstate" I thought I'd comment. First - Phleger is a waste. He is in the business of keeping his name in the news, just like Al and Jesse. All they do is rile folks up and rake in donations, lining their own pockets.
Second - Guns are simply tools, not animate beings. By themselves they cause no harm. The term 'Gun Violence' is inneffective and idiotic. A better term would be Criminal Violence, since criminals are animate beings and can and do actively commit violent crimes against others. The target Phleger and his sheep need to be concentrating on are the Criminals that have been allowed to thrive in their neighborhoods. The citizens need to get involved in their community. They live there, they see and most likely KNOW the ones perpetrating the crimes. They need to get involved and turn the criminals in to the police. Basically, they need to take their neighborhoods back from the criminals that THEY have allowed to operate with impunity for so long.
Third - Phleger needs to read the Constitution, especially the 2nd Amendment. Without the 2nd, there would be NO 4th Amendment, or 1st Amendment. Heck, without the 2nd Amendment, there would be no Constitution....
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Sirmatthew, Springfield // Thursday, September 25, 2008 @ 12:58 PM
He's on the wrong side of the fence and he knows it.
Citizens in 49 states have the right to carry a loaded weapon. Illinois is the only exception. Recently, SCOTUS decided the D.C. gun ban is unconstitutional and the Chicago ban is being threatened by lawsuits. The 2A supports an individual right and Illinois citizens are swinging IN FAVOR OF having MORE gun rights.
He knows he is losing with his anti-gun agenda. That's why he has to resort to childish antics and bullying tactics. A temper tantrum is the last act of a person who knows they are losing the game.
Don't give him attention and he'll quiet down on his own.
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Andy Freeman, San Jose // Thursday, September 25, 2008 @ 4:37 PM
Why isn't the good Reverend going to the homes of the thugs of Chicago, the folks who are actually doing the shooting?
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Thirdpower, Charleston, IL // Thursday, September 25, 2008 @ 5:55 PM
according to the 2006 IL UCR.
Illinois had a population of 12.8 million w/ a murder rate of 6.1/100K (780)
Chicago had 22.2% of the population of Illinois yet accounted for 60% of murders w/ a per capita rate of 16.4/100K
Cook County had 41.4% of the population of Illinois yet accounted for 73.6% of murders w/ a per capita rate of 10.83/100K
The Cook County murders in raw number/per capita increased 4.4% and 4.9% respectively while arrest numbers and rates dropped over 18% from '05 to '06.
If Chicago were to fall into Lake Michigan, the Illinois murder rate would drop to 3.14
Were the rest of Cook County to follow suit, the rate would drop to 2.74
Seems the problem is Chicago, not 'downstate'.
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Lonna B, Westville // Thursday, September 25, 2008 @ 6:23 PM
If Pfleger, et al would put as much energy (and indignation) into going after the CRIMINALS who commit the crimes as he/they does/do in going after law-abiding citizens, then they might be able to accomplish something.
Blaming an inaminate object for what a 'human' does is insane and irresponsible.
Pfleger is just insuring a safe haven for his criminal flock by supporting their actions and trying to disarm the general public. If he had his way, only the police, politicians, and the criminals would have firearms. Citizens would become subjects!
No, thank you, Pfleger, I am an AMERICAN and proud of it!!
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Mike, Aurora // Friday, September 26, 2008 @ 6:05 AM
On 5/26/07 Pfleger said he was going to "snuff out" politicans and others who did not share his views. It sounds like he is going to put his plan into action now.
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Love Letter, Evanston, IL // Friday, September 26, 2008 @ 10:42 AM
Seven comments have been left, and all seven are pro-gun. If you were to ask ever adult in the state, you'd see that an overwhelming majority supports the 2nd amendment and sees what kind of clown Pfleger really is.
I think it's time that some unknown patriotic American sends this Pfleger clown a 'love letter.'
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Mike W, Illinois @ Large // Saturday, September 27, 2008 @ 10:09 AM
hmm, Pfleger blaming it on "downstate"? Is that anything outside of Cook and St. Clair counties?
I sure hope he plays nice in front of the politicians houses. Last year he made a threat against their lives, recorded live on radio.
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Chicago guy, chicago -- lakeview // Saturday, September 27, 2008 @ 11:21 AM
I'm a regular listener to NPR and enjoy the programming, however, I must agree with M Thomas. The pro gun rights rally held at the Thompson Center filled the plaza. There was almost no coverage on Chicago radio or TV. Then Pastor Pfleger gets handful of supporters to violate the law and it's big news. Whatever happened to the "unbiased reporting" you keep claiming when you are looking for support during the fund drives? Even if you are opposed to 2nd amendment rights, this hardly seems unbiased.
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Mike W, Illinois @ Large // Sunday, September 28, 2008 @ 6:32 PM
Well, Chicago guy, NPR covered that story with about as much space as they covered this one. See for yourself at http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=26526 .
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MCSA, Mchenry, by way of Humboldt Park // Monday, September 29, 2008 @ 11:12 AM
Is it me or is this insane?
How does someone advocate breaking SOME laws in order to call for MORE laws!?
Civil disobedience, at heart, is meant to reform over exuberant government into streamlining, not as a pressure point to get someone to put more laws on the books.
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DRW, Greenville, South Carolina // Saturday, October 04, 2008 @ 12:51 PM
We have just witnessed the overruling of public majority by passage of the bail-out law. Next will be replacement of conservative, constitution-respecting judges with more-liberal ones. Then total gun control. I held an Illinois pistol permit in the 80's and now a CWP in SC. Look to quotes from George Washington, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams and even Mark Twain to see how the Founding Fathers would never have allowed the gun-control movement to ever gain a foothold.
When our elected officials have no fear of voter disapproval, we have a huge problem. Hitler told his listeners they did not need guns and to turn them in...they could depend on him to defend them. Did gun control work for the Germans? Is it working in DC or Chicago? We have been conditioned to tolerate and accept, but the National Socialist Party represents the opposite of what our Constitution was intended allow.
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Matt T, Wicker Park // Wednesday, October 08, 2008 @ 4:58 PM
John F. Kennedy: "By calling attention to 'a well regulated militia,' 'the security of the nation,' and the right of each citizen 'to keep and bear arms,' our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy... The Second Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important." John F. Kennedy, Junior Senator of MA in a 1959 letter to E.B. Mann [From the 1974 Gun Digest, article titled Gun Laws]
Thomas Jefferson: "The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes....Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. Thomas Jefferson's "Commonplace Book," 1774-1776, quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria in Chapter 40 of "On Crimes and Punishment", 1764.
James Madison: "Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the people of other countries, whose leaders are afraid to trust them with arms." (Federalist Paper #46)
ARE THESE MEN ALL WRONG???
NO!!NO NO NO!! LIVE ON SECOND AMENDMENT!!
whoever contributed to killing the second amendment and our liberty in Chicago should be shot.
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MichaelB, Riverside // Thursday, October 09, 2008 @ 3:24 PM
Read "More Guns, Less Violence" and then let's talk about FACTS... not some huckster reverend Rolex who is a fundraiser looking for a cause.
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