Gun rights activists are not known for their sensitivity, their sense of irony or their tolerance for opposing viewpoints. They consider the Second Amendment as sacred as the Second Commandment and regard anyone who doesn’t share their views as a traitor to the Constitution.
That passion and certainty is why they’re winning the gun rights debate. That’s why they have passed laws allowing the carrying of concealed weapons in 49 states and won a court case forcing Illinois, the lone holdout, to go along.
Still, it was brassy even for the gun movement to hold a rally at the state capitol around the statue of Illinois’ -- yea, the nation’s -- most famous victim of gun violence.
According to a story by Rafael Guerrero of the Chicago Tribune, “thousands swelled around the statehouse lawn's showcase statue of Abraham Lincoln as they chanted, ‘Concealed carry now.’”
I am sure John Wilkes Booth, who carried a concealed pistol into Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865, would have agreed with that sentiment.
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State Sen. Sam McCann, R-Carlinville, continued the Lincoln theme with a speech echoing the Gettysburg Address.
"Government of the people, by the people and for the people requires you — the people — not the politicians," McCann said.
It’s too bad there’s not a statue of Al Capone, another world-famous Illinoisan, on the state capital lawn. Capone truly appreciated firearms. They were key to his career advancement. As Capone was fond of saying, “You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone.”
