Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Taxpayer Funded "Reasoned Discourse"

At the moment, the anti-gun lobby in Illinois is not making much headway, despite large infusions of cash, strategy and expertise from the Joyce Foundation and groups like the Legal Community Against Violence, or LCAV. They could be forgiven for being frustrated; they came into this year thinking that they had just won big in the elections and were about to get rolling again, and so far they've generally gotten rolled instead. They lost their biggest priority by two votes in the Illinois House last year and picked up three additional seats in the elections, but they only ended up losing the same bill by a much larger margin this year. But these people are the heads of a hydra, and you can never stop to crow about cutting off one head lest you be swallowed by two more.

The latest Big Idea(tm) coming down the pike is House Joint Resolution 51, which would create the "Interstate Gun Trafficking Task Force" to recommend methods for dealing with illegal gun trafficking. The findings at the beginning are full of questionable "facts," several of which come from fairly new "research" projects such as the U of Chicago Crime Lab--pretty clearly the new wave of anti-gun "research" foundations and funding are part of a broader plan to chip away at public support for gun rights. But today I want to focus on the makeup of the proposed "Task Force," as follows:

  • The Director of the Illinois State Police or his designee (Jon Monken)
  • The Illinois Attorney General or her designee (Lisa Madigan)
  • The Cook County State's Attorney or designee (Anita Alvarez)
  • The Cook County Sheriff or designee (Tom Dart)
  • Superintendent of Chicago Police or designee (Jody "J-Fed" Weis)
  • Three (3) appointees of the Governor
  • Three (3) appointees of the Mayor of Chicago
Hmm. Let's put that through the Flunky Filter, shall we? In Illinois, it's important to know who will have the most flunkies on any panel, committee, or board. So who's really going to control this thing?
  • Quinn
  • Madigan
  • Alvarez
  • Dart
  • Daley
  • Daley
  • Daley
  • Daley
  • Quinn
  • Quinn
  • Quinn
By my math, that means Daley gets four flunkies, Quinn gets four flunkies, with Madigan, Alvarez and Dart less controlled (but since all three are consistent anti-gun activists, I don't think they'll be bucking Daley very often as long as the "Task Force" is discussing guns. Everyone on this "Task Force" is going to walk into each meeting knowing exactly what the findings will be; that was decided long ago. I suppose they ran out of chairs before they got to anyone who might have a different opinion or a new idea.
Right?

8 comments:

  1. The University of Chicago Crime Lab is funded by the Joyce Foundation. In fact Crime Lab Executive Director Roseanna Ander was the gun violence program officer of the Joyce Foundation for ten years.

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  2. Exactly--the Joyce Foundation funds the research, the LCAV (probably) writes up these plans for a "Task Force." If they can get the "Task Force" seated, then they have a way to come out with the same proclamations of "solutions" they do now--but the recommendations come from the prestigious "Illinois Interstate Gun Trafficking Task Force" rather than from one of the current crop of "Three Guys With a Fax Machine" anti-gun groups.

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  3. From the resolution "According to a five-year study conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 43% of all guns seized within five police districts in the City of Chicago originated in Mississippi" and I thougt they were all coming from Chuck's Gun Shop :-) I'd like to see the data on when each was sold and when it was brought to Chicago. How many came north lawfully with residents relocating from Mississippi to be stolen or confiscated when they reached Chicago? How many had already been in CPD evidence and stolen from evidence lockup?

    Where's Quinn going to get the funds for the support staff that will be necessary for the task force? Siphon more of it from my retirement most likely.

    This task force will be a waste of time and State resources. They need to be figuring out how to cut down on the gang and drug activity in Chicago. Fewer gangbangers on the street equals fewer murders.

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  4. I'm looking into that. I also want to know about the 1,400-some-odd "such weapons" the CPD claims to have confiscated since the end of the Assault Weapons Ban. I'd like to know how many they confiscated during the ban and what "such weapons" means. But those things are secondary to the importance of making sure this doesn't get off the ground.

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  5. I'm wondering if also Tiahrt and new proposed changes by the president are the impetus for this Illinois legislation?
    http://www.alphecca.com/?p=1434

    http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/0509/Obama_picks_fight_on_alien_jail_funds_dodges_on_gun_tracing.html

    "The changes would allow the tracing data to be shared with state and local officials even outside the context of a investigation of a specific crime. Localities could use the data to identify gun dealers who sell lots of guns traced to crimes, but rules prohibiting the use of such data for civil suits would remain in place. "

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  6. We had similar problems with the NRA doing backdoor deals, and trying to represent the gun owners of Nebraska in the Unicam from Fairfax....... I recall them doing a deal with Senator Asshford to support his "Too dangerous for civilian use list" bill in exchange for abolishing the Firearm Purchase Certificate, which allows us to avoid waiting on NICS. This boiled down to them trading away something we liked for something we hated...... quick networking by local gun organizations and gun clubs put it down, but it was a near run thing. That whole experience showed me that the NRA can no more effectively defend your gun rights from Fairfax than the Gubmint can manage local issues from Washington.

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