Editorial

"No Gun" sign isn't about safety

David A. Lombardo

Glenn Keefer is attributed as the first to post a "No Gun" sign on a business in Chicago. Whether or not he actually was the first is debatable, but when he posted a "No Gun" sign on his West Kinzie Street Keefer's Restaurant last summer, he got tagged as being the first. 

Depending upon which side of the aisle you pull up a seat, Keefer is either a cutting-edge visionary or an anti-personal-protection liberal who would rather see you murdered while eating his dumplings with ginger-garlic broth than be able to defend life and limb. 

There was an immediate and rancorous response by the pro-second amendment group. And I suspect Keefer can cut back on the number of dumplings he makes going forward because no true constitutionalist will seek a modest repast in the epicenter of antigun establishments. 

Now many would suggest this is all much ado about nothing. Pro-gun folks can go to the red meat places that share our beliefs and have a steak while the anti-gun people can go to fancy places with silly names and eat overpriced crap that no one can identify and is designed to support anorexia. But I beg to differ. 

In his Sunday Chicago Tribune article titled, "A new dilemma: What about mixing guns and arias?" Chris Jones talks about the "No Gun" signs showing up in Chicago and particularly on the doors of Chicago's finest cultural centers. Jones wondered what message was being sent to tourists visiting the city who see a "No Gun" sign on the door of the Lyric Opera House, for instance. Well, that's simple enough, we're telling them they're about to enter a killing zone because we know historically that homicidal whack jobs seek out gun-free zones. 

Jones' editorial was prompted by his surprise at seeing a "No Gun" sign as he was entering the Chicago Cultural Center. "The Cultural Center shouldn't need the stickers, being a building controlled by a unit of government and thus exempt," he wrote. I would suggest the contrary.

What better place to put a "No Gun" sign than the Chicago Cultural Center because the sign has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with Chicago culture. The "No Gun" sign isn't a talisman hanging outside the door to ward off evil spirits but rather a harbinger of yet another wave of liberal dogma about to descend upon Chicago. 

Anyone with an ounce of intelligence knows that none of the 49 states that have had concealed carry, some for many years, have one iota of blood running in the streets. There is simply not a single shred of evidence that law abiding firearm owners turn into homicidal maniacs when they get the right to carry a concealed firearm, which leaves Chicagoans with two possibilities.

Those who put "No Gun" signs on their doors are either stupid, or they're flaming liberals doing their best to Vulcan-mind-meld their dogma with the unsuspecting and uninformed John Q. Public. Which leaves the pro-second amendment crowd with an easy choice: do I want to eat a meal that is either prepared by an idiot or by someone who is subtly trying to convince people that the constitution and civil rights are outdated, or do I want to go to a place that's second amendment and personal protection friendly? 

For me, I prefer a place where there's less chance I'll end up face down into a bowl of dumplings with ginger-garlic broth because some nutcase knows he can walk in and shoot the joint up with impunity. 

Senate gets proposed 50-state-reciprocity bill

One, but certainly not the only one, of the stumbling blocks to a federal concealed carry reciprocity law was Illinois not having concealed carry. Now that Illinois has crawled into the 21st century, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has introduced the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2014. The bill will create a nationwide reciprocity program for concealed carry permit holders to enable them to travel to other states and legally carry a concealed firearm. The concept is hardly unheard of as it models state driver's license reciprocity. The thorny issues Cornyn will face before his fellow Senators is the wide variation in licensing requirements between the states. Some, such as Illinois, require as much as 16 hours of instruction and a live fire qualification, while others have no requirements at all beyond being a law-abiding citizen. Cornyn has been quoted in the press saying he feels the bill has a good chance of approval. He notes that most people are concerned about the firearms getting into the hands of someone with a history of psychological problems and not the right of the law abiding citizen to legally own a firearm for personal protection. [Source: National Shooting Sports Foundation]

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Hollywood mogul

aims to attack NRA with new film

Hollywood producer and Obama mega-fundraiser Harvey Weinstein used an appearance on The Howard Stern Show Wednesday to announce what he billed as a new anti-NRA movie: The Senator's Wife. Weinstein called NRA a "disaster area" and said of the film, "I'm going to make a movie with Meryl Streep, and we're going to take this head-on. And they're going to wish they weren't alive after I'm done with them." Weinstein indicated that the movie is also intended to decimate the gun industry and leave viewers thinking, "Gun stocks, I don't want to be involved in that stuff. It's going to be like crash and burn." But talk about the pot calling the kettle black: as a wealthy producer he fully avails himself of hired security. Further, Weinstein makes a rather laughable candidate to self-righteously lecture the rest of the country on the evils of guns and those, like NRA, who promote lawful and responsible firearm ownership. Weinstein has accumulated much of his fortune producing movies with depictions of violence so graphic and sensational they must be seen to be believed, such as revenge fantasy Kill Bill, Halloween (2007) and Rambo (2008), which depicts rapes, beheadings, disembowelment, a mortar attack on a defenseless village, people being burned alive, and a Christian missionary being fed feet first to a pig. Most recently, Weinstein claimed he would stop exploitative violence in his films; that remains to be seen, or not, as the case may be. [Source: NRA/ILA] 

SHOT Show shatters all-time attendance record

The 36th SHOT (Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade) Show, held last week at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas, was bigger and, based on early feedback, better than all previous shows. The show, which fills the entire 635,000-sq-ft convention center, had an all-time-high total attendance of 67,000 industry professionals, an increase of 5,000 over last year. More than 100 of the 1,600 exhibitors were new, and the show has more than 400 companies on its wait list. "I think that really speaks to the quality of the event and the enthusiasm and passion of our industry to provide quality products for hunting, target shooting and personal and home defense," said Chris Dolnack, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which owns and manages the show. This upbeat SHOT Show, the first under new management company ConvExx, gives the industry good reason to believe that 2014 will be another strong year for sales of firearms, ammunition, outdoor gear and law enforcement equipment. Revenues from the SHOT Show support NSSF's mission to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports.