It's not the guns - It's the gangbangers

And in the news today, another law-abiding Chicago citizen is held responsible for a shooting by a city gangbanger. Isn't the timing (and reporting) of recent gun crime coincidental with the potential passing of Illinois gun laws?

One proposed law will protect the rights of registered gun owners to carry concealed weapons. Why create a law for what criminals have been doing for years? But - there are shootings in Chicago even though the city has outlawed guns. Mayor Daley, how has your law worked so far? Rev. Pfleger, your spiritual persuasion is failing against those that need it the most. The real frustration for them, and many like them, is that they've failed to identify and eliminate the root of the problem - the individual criminal. So they push for the persecution of the good gun owners. Mayor Daley and Rev. Pfleger, you have failed the people of Chicago and want the rest of the state's citizens to suffer from your failures.

If the criminal wants a gun, they'll just steal it under the city's undermanned and underfunded law enforcement agency. Or they'll just take a ride (probably in an unregistered car) to Des Plaines, or Rockford, or Kenosha, or Mississippi, or Mexico - to get a gun. Get the picture, Mayor Daley? Is this a clear vision for you, Rev.? You are not going to eliminate guns if you don't eliminate criminals using a gun. So, let the law-abiding citizens benefit from the laws that will protect them. I would rather walk down the street protected by the right to carry law, and have the criminal wonder if I can protect myself, rather than have them know that I can't.

Mayor Daley, don't blame the registered gun owner. Do your job and get rid of the gangs - not the guns.

John K. Nolan

Mt. Prospect