Editorial

Otis McDonald:

The passing of a gun rights' gentle giant

David A. Lombardo

The first time I met Otis McDonald, I was immediately struck by what a quiet, modest, true gentleman he was. I'm not sure what I expected of the man who brought the City of Chicago to its knees over gun control, but shaking his hand for the first time impressed me far more than if he'd been Rambo himself.

I asked him what it felt like to be a giant in the gun rights movement-to be a hero to thousands of Illinois residents. He looked embarrassed for a moment then said he hadn't done anything heroic; he just wanted to be able to protect his family if necessary. 

 Otis lived in Chicago's Morgan Park area, and over the years he watched with dismay as the gang and drug traffic continued to grow to the point he felt he needed a firearm in his home for self-protection. The city disagreed. Otis wasn't important; he wasn't an alderman or a county board member, for whom gun laws don't apply. 

 Otis McDonald was born in Louisiana in 1933, the son of a sharecropper. After being discharged from the Army in 1952, he moved to Chicago where he got a janitorial job pushing a broom at the University of Chicago. Over time his hard work and friendly demeanor saw him rise through the ranks to maintenance engineer. The thing about Otis McDonald is that being a quiet, modest, true gentleman didn't preclude wanting to protect his family, and the fight was on; McDonald verses the City of Chicago was filed in 2008.

It took about two years to work its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which voted 5-4 in favor of striking down Chicago's gun ban. Time and again, throughout his life, Otis McDonald faced and overcame personal challenges with dignity and honor, which, in my book, constitutes a courageous hero. Theodore Roosevelt expressed the sentiment better than I would ever be able to do. In a speech given in France, Roosevelt said: 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." 

I think that defines Otis McDonald who passed away April 4th at age 80. He is survived by his wife Laura, their five children and hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans who owe their Second Amendment rights to Illinois gun rights gentle giant Otis McDonald. 

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NY officials want flexibility

for city employee gun violators

Some of New York's most strident gun control advocates have rushed to the defense of an unwitting traveler who was arrested at an airport for a technical violation of a draconian gun law.  Has a new era of sanity arrived in the Big Apple?  Not really.  This defendant happens to be an NYPD officer who is alleged to have violated India's strict firearm regulations. On March 10th NYPD Officer Manny Encarnacion was arrested when officials at the airport in New Delhi discovered three rounds of ammunition in his baggage that he claimed accidentally remained in his pocket after a trip to a shooting range. Since his arrest he has not been allowed to leave India and faces charges that could land him seven years in prison. New York City's mayor Bill de Blasio expressed support for the officer and suggested that the Indian government may have had an ulterior reason for the arrest. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) wrote a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, in which he states, "This excessive act by the Indian government is clearly politically motivated," and alleges that the incident is retaliation for the December 2013 arrest of an Indian official in New York. These staunch gun control proponents apparently don't have a highly-developed sense of irony or of their own breathtaking hypocrisy.  New York City has been engaged in a longstanding effort to persecute travelers that mistakenly violate the City's unusually harsh firearms laws or commit the "offense" of believing an out-of-state permit will be recognized in New York. These visitors often face a felony charge that mandates a minimum three and a half year sentence, if convicted.  The persecution of these peaceful and otherwise law-abiding persons who, like Encarnacion, pose no threat to public safety is entirely politically motivated. [Source: NRA/ILA]