Some of you may remember the flyer that State Rep. Kathy Ryg sent out some time ago. It displayed, among other things, an M249 Squad Assault Weapon and stated that such were legal to buy in Illinois.

I sent a polite e-letter to Rep. Ryg asking if she knew about the error in her flyer, and whether she or a staffer had OK'd it. I was just told that the Rep. has sent a snailmail letter to my dad (same name, different town..!) with a response.

Essentially, she stated that she made an 'error' and that a SAW is not legal to own in Illinois. She apologized for the misinformation, then went on to state that her aim was just to 'educate' Illinois residents that 'assault weapons' are again available for purchase in Illinois.

Here's my response:



Rep. Ryg,

Thank you for your response to my recent e-mail, although it was sent to my dad's house several towns away.

Your stated 'error' in picturing and describing a M249 SAW as legal in Illinois is, I'm sure you'll agree, serious. In fact, a jaded person might see it as intentional misinformation about a sensitive issue that's of fundamental importance in American history.

I'm curious if you'll be sending out a correction to those citizens who received the flyer, but don't have the knowledge to know they've been misled by your attempt to 'educate' Illinois residents on the dangers of--well, completely different guns from what you described.

Doing so would certainly prove that intentional misinformation was not your intent.

Please feel free to respond by e-mail to this address. Failing that, my correct street address is:

(Address redacted)


Larry Pomykalski

Here's my question to any lawyers on the board-can we sue a legislator for willfully lying to accomplish legislation?

Larry

i also called and emailed her expressing my concern of false and misleading statements , but yet to recieve a reply

like you i asked her to correct the mailing and if she needed help with that i would be happy to assist

im sure the only thing she knows of firearms is from the movies

Oh, I'm not so sure she doesn't know EXACTLY what she's doing. Let's see:

Pi$$ off some gunowners who weren't going to vote for you anyway.

Scare the bezeezes out of THOUSANDS of non-gunners who don't want the neighbors to own an MG.

Offer a half-hearted 'mea culpa' when caught, but ONLY TO THE GUNOWNERS WHO CATCH YOU.

Way I see it, see 'spread the word' to thousands without any real repercussions to herself.

I'm going to see what I can do about it...

Larry

I called her office and was cut off as soon as I started to explain the reason for my call. I was told that the aid that is handling the complaints was out of the office. I left my name and number. He never called back. Imagine that....

I also called the NRA ILA and explained the flier to them. I dont know if they have a copy of it but I have seen no mention of it on their web site.

I too sent an email with no response.

However, the way I sent the email out I did get a auto reply email that said my email to her was not read.

Obviously all they did was just delete it!

I would post it here but I recently cleaned out all old emails.

Rebel13

Funny, if someone said or posted incorrect information about her, I am sure she and her lawyers would go apeshit!

good to know that politicians feel that boldfaced lies are appropriate as long as it helps get the legislation to go their way.  I wonder if any of the people who were involved ever thought about the fact that they work for the public, not the other way around.  

You really want to get worked up? Think about this-

She almost certainly used OUR money to send this crap out!

Why not give her a call and let her know you don't appreciate it?

State Rep. Kathy Ryg
e-mail: [email protected]
Springfield Office:
231-E Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL   62706
(217) 782-0499
(217) 557-1934 FAX

District Office:
50 Lakeview Parkway
Suite 114
Vernon Hills, IL  60061
(847) 680-5909
(847) 680-5960 FAX
Lake County

This is about as blatant a lie as you can get-and if we let her get away with it, it'll be OUR OWN FAULT when the sheeple support an AWB in this state.

Larry

Larry, did you ever get a chance to talk to Tom about this (big tall SO guy from the Howell's IDPA match)? - He's the one who wrote the letter that I posted here a while back about this very same issue, and I'm sure between the both of you that you could probably organize quite a campaign to teach Ms. Ryg a lesson.

Samantha,

No, I didn't....I'm still putting screen names to faces, as it were.

If he's got an e-mail, I'd be glad to contact him and see what we can come up with.


I imagine it shows, but I'm pretty ticked off ---there's such a blatant disregard for the truth here, and such a calculated attempt to misinform people!


Larry

Yeah - Ryg to me represents a new standard for IL political peons - she's running right up there with the big boys (Daley, Blago and Maddigan) in her level of insidiousness.

I'm going to have to check with Jan, but I think I should send Ryg an invitation to our next ladies shooting instructional clinic - I think it's only fair since I invited Maddigan last time (though she never showed up - gee I wonder why ).

I agree that we cannot let this slide.  We need to take as much action as possible against her, and expose her deception.  Anytime some legislator attempts this sort of thing we shoudl respond.

I'm going to post this story on my website, as I feel it's more than warranted.  A couple suggestions I might make on taking action would be 1) get a copy of the original flyer, and scan it to spread on the net 2) see if perhaps we could find a media organization in her district to carry the story

I'm glad you guys posted this here!



ICarry.org - Illinois 2nd Amendment Legislative Action

Quoted: 1) get a copy of the original flyer, and scan it to spread on the net ICarry.org - Illinois 2nd Amendment Legislative Action

I have scans of the Flyer if you want them SAK, just PM me with the email you'd like them sent to.

I've posted a short article about this.  It definitely deserves our attention.  I think we should pursue this matter.  I've emailed it to the NRA as well, in case they haven't seen it.  It just seems to me that something so blatantly WRONG can not be let go.

anyhow, check out the article on my site, and let me know if there's anything I should add/remove/etc.   If you have higher quality scans, I would love to get those too.  I look at that last picture, and wish I had a copy of the real flyer.  That's something frame-worthy for real!  It would go nicely on the wall!


ICarry.org Kathy Ryg lies article

Thanks for posting it SAK. The guy who sent me the scans just left for the regional championships and won't be back until Monday. Maybe somene else here has a copy of the flyer and can scan it at a higher resolution.

thanx SAK
for the scan

im thinking we all call and try to order a  M249 and M2  

that we got her sale flyer in the mail --       LOL

Are the scans posted anywhere yet? I want to write a few op-eds, but want to have my details straight. (Since I'm NOT a politician!)


Larry

This went out to the Southtown, Tribune and Sun-Times today. We'll see how interested they are in an elected official lying when there's no sex or money involved...


Illinois Citizens Deserve the Truth From Representative Ryg

The gun control debate, like the abortion debate, the death penalty debate and the debate on the usefulness of tax cuts, is one that cuts right across American politics. And whichever side you’re on, you’re convinced it’s the right side.

This letter won’t solve the gun control debate. It’s not even going to try to sway your opinion, whatever side you may be on. The only way our society is going to come to a meaningful conclusion on this divisive topic is through personal introspection, public debate and, ultimately, the informed vote of the American public. This airing of views in the arena of public opinion is our tradition; some would say it’s the basis of American free society.

So what does it do to that system when someone, especially someone in a position of public trust, methodically misinforms the public? How can the public make honest and informed decisions on such an important topic when they’re being misinformed by one of the very people they’ve elected to govern them?

State Representative Kathy Ryg seems to have taken the position that truth and accuracy can take a back seat to her agenda, and those of us involved in the gun control debate are left wondering if her misinformation is intentional.

A recent mailing from Rep. Ryg included photos and descriptions of several firearms, firearms that the Representative asserted were legal for sale in Illinois. These included fully automatic military squad automatic weapons that are both illegal and impossible to obtain in this state, as well as many others. It included ‘facts’ that are contrary to both the truth and common sense, including assertions that one gun’s effective range is 4.2 miles! For the record, that’s about thirty two city blocks…does anybody really believe a conventional firearm can reach that far? And if not, why is Representative Ryg sending out flyers with such a wild assertion?

To compound this, Representative Ryg’s office seems to be ducking calls about the issue; staffers assigned to handling calls about this issue are never in, and messages and calls are never returned. It almost seems that the Representative doesn’t care that what she’s telling the citizens of our state is not only false, but wildly, implausibly false. This is supported by her office’s written responses to questions about the flyer, where the Representative admits the firearms described were ‘in error’, but asserts that she is sending the information out to ‘educate’ the public about the evil of such guns. Whether she means the guns in the flyer-which are already highly illegal-or some other firearms that aren’t in the flyer is never clearly explained.

Representative Ryg, the citizens of Illinois have a right to make up our own mind about the complex issue of gun control. We deserve to get meaningful answers from those we’ve elected when we have questions. Most of all, we deserve to get the truth from those we’ve entrusted to govern us.


Larry Pomykalski
Frankfort, IL

LARRY
high 5    !

great piece . lets see who prints it

did you send it to the Daily Herald ? ( n/w burbs paper )

Not yet-but give me a minute!





Larry

On a side note,  I went to her website to see if she was a Rep. or Dem. (like I couldn't guess).

The only place I found that ID'd her as a Dem was where they posted headlines from newspapers. The headlines put the little (d) next to her name.

I noticed this as a tactic in Dupage County last election.  The democrats are hiding the fact that they are democrats.  She also claims to support the right of citizens to own guns.  Just not the guns she doesn't like I guess.