From todays paper...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/west/chi-0409150308sep15,1,67719.story

Daley, Blagojevich urge new gun ban
They want state to enact law on assault weapons
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First Midwest Bancorp
By Christi Parsons and Gary Washburn
Tribune staff reporters

September 15, 2004

The state's top two Democrats vowed Tuesday to push for a new state law banning assault weapons, a day after Congress allowed a 10-year federal ban to expire.

In separate public appearances, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Gov. Rod Blagojevich decried the failure of lawmakers to extend the ban and pledged to try to remedy it at the state level.

"It's a really sad day when you think America is allowing more and more types of assault weapons," said Daley, who tried to persuade members of congress to extend the ban. "I just don't understand it. I feel sorry for police officers in the line of duty all over this country, worried about whether or not someone is going to have an assault weapon."

President Bill Clinton signed the ban in 1994, but it was authorized to last only a decade unless Congress and the president acted to extend it. President Bush has said he would sign a bill to re-enact the law if Congress passed it, but the Monday deadline came and went without legislative action.

As a result, the measure, which outlawed 19 types of military-style assault weapons, ended on Monday.

On Tuesday, Blagojevich called the expiration a "terrible failure," and called on the Republican president to throw his weight around with GOP leaders of the House and Senate.

"President Bush has said publicly that he supports the assault-weapon ban," Blagojevich said. "He ought to use whatever influence he can in a congressional process that is controlled by his political party, and get an assault-weapon ban passed."

Blagojevich also said he would lead an effort to "do what we can here in Illinois during the veto session," but pointed out that passage won't be easy on his turf. Democrats dominate the Illinois Capitol, just as Republicans run the U.S. Congress.

"The political difficulty of that in Illinois is comparable to what it is in Washington because Illinois is a microcosm of America," the governor said.

Gun rights advocates predicted a state ban would fare as poorly in Illinois as have other gun control measures in recent years. Every year, Daley typically backs a package of gun control legislation in Springfield only to see it defeated by firearms-rights advocates.

"Daley came to Springfield and posed some very sweeping gun bans," said Todd Vandermyde, lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. "They've not passed either chamber in the past. I don't see much changing."

"A majority of the General Assembly does not believe in banning firearms from people who committed no crimes," Vandermyde said. "No matter how you dress it up, it's a gun ban, and that doesn't play well in this state."

Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune

Here we go again, why can't Chicago be forced to have term limits like in NY!?!
I am so sick of Daley and how he thinks he can run the entire state! I'll just stop now before I explode.

Well, I think everybody expected this. In spite of Blago's campaign promise that 'gun owners have nothing to fear from me' we all knew he was a gun-grabber. And Daley+ Blago=bad news for us.

The main thing we've got to do is educate our friends and accquaintances that the AWB DIDN'T affect 'machine guns' and other things the grabbers are trying to link it to. Write measured, calm letters to your legislators and suggest alternative legislation, like the Exile project, for them to sponsor.

Legislators LEGISLATE-they abhor the status quo because it means they're not getting their name on bills. Take it as a given that they WILL pass laws, and try to influence them to pass smarter laws.

But if we all sit on our a$$, you can be we're going to be shooting Airsofts in a couple years...


Larry

Keep an eye on the ball, stay aggressive on the phones. Hold your Congressmen accountable and we will be fine. This I think will be the one and only term for Blago.

Quoted: Keep an eye on the ball, stay aggressive on the phones. Hold your Congressmen accountable and we will be fine. This I think will be the one and only term for Blago.

Amen to that.

I hope it's only one term for Blago. I am really starting to dislike this state with it FOID cards and no CCW. I'd love to leave ASAP, but right now ASAP is at least another 4 years, and I do plan on having a couple of "assult" rifles for Highpower competition during that time. Also, as a woman I think that every single woman in the state of IL should challenge the no CCW/Daley's gun ban in Chicago as gender discrimination. Women are being raped and killed in the streets of IL with no legal recourse to protect themselves and that is criminal on Daley's part as far as I am concerned. Every law abiding citizen should be able to carry for self-defense, but more and more it's affecting women disproportionately, at least when it comes to issues such as rape- which would be more than preventable if every woman had the proper training and a CCW.