Posted on 07/29/2004 11:20:42 AM PDT by TERMINATTOR
WILMETTE -- About 35 Wilmette residents, including three paintball-loving teens who have already committed to join the U.S. Marine Corps, came out in support of the right to own and sell airguns last Thursday night during a meeting of the Wilmette Public Safety Committee.
Every speaker opposed a proposed ordinance that would ban airguns in Wilmette, including air rifles, air pistols, BB guns and paint ball guns.
"I think they thought they had a slam dunk here, but it turns out they didn't," said Wilmette resident Ralf Seiffe, who opposes the proposed ban and attended the committee meeting. "They got 100 percent negative comments."
Committee members, including village trustees Beth Lambrecht and George Pearce, heard speakers defend the Second Amendment right to own firearms and the right of peaceful citizens to enjoy the shooting sports, including paintball.
Speakers included adults as well as teens who enjoy airgun target shooting. Seiffe said the most effective speakers may have been the three high schoolers who are about to become Marines.
"They were good," he said. "What they want to have is the rights they will be out there fighting for."
In an interview with Illinoisleader.com, Wilmette Police Chief George Carpenter said his department did not come up with the idea for an airgun ban. The village got the idea from Democrat State Senator Jeffrey Schoenberg of nearby Evanston, who has circulated a model airgun-ban ordinance to municipal officials throughout the North Shore.
Carpenter defended the proposed ban and said every supervisor in the police department supports it. Police say they have caught teens and sometimes adults misusing airguns to commit vandalism or cruelty to animals. They also say airguns routinely fall into the hands of juveniles and fear encountering someone with an airgun and mistaking it for a real firearm.
However, police could provide almost no information to back up their contentions. In a July 20 letter to Seiffe from Deputy Chief Brian King, the deputy chief said: "Our information management system is not designed to retrieve reports based on the presence of a specific item, to wit: a BB gun." He went on to say the department has "no plans to commit staff time to retrieve this data" or provide village data that would support a study cited in the model ordinance that purportedly demonstrates a need for airgun bans.
"Many of your questions require subjective approximations," King wrote. "Suffice to say that the Wilmette Police Department believes that this ordinance, if enacted, will enhance the safety of the community."
Seiffe asked if cruelty to animals included shooting vermin, but King did not address the question. He did say, though, that the Wilmette police have never used deadly force against someone in possession of an airgun.
"Deputy Chief King's letter informed me the police department was unwilling make an estimate or to define what 'routinely' meant," Seiffe said.
The model ordinance also cites a 1995 article in the Annals of Emergency Medicine as reason to outlaw airguns. Seiffe said that, based on the nationwide rate of injuries in that study, there would be almost none in Wilmette each year.
"This may be why the police department was unable to help me with any data," Seiffe said. "Also, the article recommends education and care. It never recommends banning airguns and to imply it does is disingenuous."
The Public Safety Committee must make a recommendation to the full village board, which has final say in the matter.
Anti-gun activists claim they only want to ban high-powered, military-style firearms. But they also claim they need to ban air guns and toy guns. So where does that leave the firearms that fall into the center of that spectrum?
This is a squeeze play, designed to eventually ban ALL firearms.
"You'll shoot your eye out, kid!"
Truly there is no place too low for the Demoscum and their Lawyer masters. Gads!
BB guns are an American rite of passage for every red blooded American boy (and hopefully girls too) into man (or girl) hood. Plus they're useful for controlling those darn squirrels from ravaging the bird feeders.
This community needs a ban on stupid deputy chiefs of police. He tells the people of his town that they need to enact a ban on airguns because of a public danger, but refuses to provide examples. Further, he states that he won't waste time proving it with examples.
It just never ends with these leftists. In the UK, they've outlawed swords and knives in addition to guns. Crime continues to skyrocket, of course.
"[John Kerry is]a serious man for a serious time." Hillary Clinton, 7/26/04.
If you do, kill them.
Think of it as Evolution in Action.
So9
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