A gun show just across the river, in Collinsville, Illinois, did very brisk business over the weekend, despite Illinois' imposition of a 24 hour waiting period on the purchase of long guns, and a 72 hour delay for handguns, necessitating an awkward second trip--after the show, to pick up one's newly purchased guns. Since the Sandy Hook Elementary atrocity, and the anti-gun "feeding frenzy" exploiting it for the forcible citizen disarmament agenda, gun show attendees across the country have braved hours-long waits in line, trying to get ahead of any bans.
The huge turnout was expected, given the nationwide trend, as KPLR St. Louis reported Friday:
Big crowds are expected to jam the Gateway Center in Collinsville, Illinois this weekend because of worry and concern. Gun enthusiasts are fearful of what politicians in Washington may do concerning gun laws so they are expected to turn out for the ECA Gun Show.
KPLR quoted the show's organizer, who knows just why gun owners have been flocking to the shows:
Bob Leckrone is a spokesman with the ECA Gun Show. “Definitely the erosion of the second amendment that`s certainly a big concern with all the people attending these shows and all the dealers and the majority of people in Southern Illinois are concerning [sic] about losing their gun rights,” he said.
After the show, though, Mr. Leckrone sounded quite willing to accept much of the "erosion" of the Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms--perhaps even actively supportive of it. From another KPLR article:
“The Illinois State Police run the background check on these people. If they’re denied, they`re not allowed to pick up the gun,”
Illinois, one must understand, closed the mythical "gun show loophole" years ago, but that has not stopped the state from trying very hard to ban all other private sales every year since then. But that apparently meets with Leckrone's approval (emphasis added):
"And we firmly believe in background checks because we don't want any guns from our shows falling into the hands of criminals."
He insisted, several times, that Illinois had some of the strictest gun laws in the country and that he is eager to follow the rules. Leckrone said he supports President Barack Obama’s push for background checks for anyone who buys a gun, including semi-automatic handguns and rifles.
Hmm . . . "eager to follow the rules," including rules that ignore the fact that "anyone who can't be trusted with a gun can't be trusted without a custodian."
Leckrone did state that he opposes the Obama administration's push to ban so-called "assault weapons," saying, "We don't believe in that. We believe in the Second Amendment." The version of the Second Amendment, evidently, that states that "the right of the background-checked people (who have Illinois Firearm Owner ID cards--for which they had already endured a background check) to keep and bear arms, after a 24 to 72 hour waiting period (so much for "a right delayed is a right denied"), shall not be infringed." And how convenient for him to oppose the infringement almost certain to fail, while supporting the one most likely to pass.
Hoping that crocodile will eat you last, Mr. Leckrone? Perhaps your appeasement will buy you that much, but eat you he will.
See also:
- Closing the Bill of Rights loophole
- Threat to private gun sales might be greater than threat to 'assault weapons'
- Feinstein's 'assault weapon' ban probably not gun grabbers' main effort
- NRA unlikely to strongly fight private sales ban unless pushed to do so
- GOP, NRA may invent distinction between 'loopholes' at gun shows and away
- With GOP sellout on private sales looming, non-compliance is second-to-last step
- Private sales ban
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