Include Cook in concealed carry law

I read the article the Herald regarding the legislature’s debate on the new concealed carry law. Based on what I read, they want to exclude Cook County from the new law based on public safety. In other words, even if you have a concealed carry permit, you would not be able to carry your firearm in Cook County.

How ridiculous. Cook County and the city of Chicago are the two places you will need your firearm the most. It was great to hear that the murder rate in Chicago was back to the 1963 levels for the first part of 2013, no sooner than that was stated, there were 10 people shot on one recent night, and three of them died. These people were not shot with legally owned firearms, and the people who shot them were not “law-abiding citizens.” However, it is these very same people that you need to protect yourself from.

In addition to the shootings and killings, we have the muggings, armed robberies, attacks on women and roaming gangs of youths out to rob people and create havoc in the neighborhoods.

Any concealed carry law that excludes the residents of Cook County actually discriminates against the law-abiding citizens of the county. If the politicians think they can use, “public safety” as an excuse for excluding Cook County, they should realize that public safety actually improves whenever a law-abiding citizen is legally allowed to carry a concealed weapon.

Kenneth J. Wuestenfeld

Elk Grove Village