DRAWING A BEAD

Jackson's Tactics

Richard A. Pearson
Executive Director, ISRA

The recent actions of Jesse Jackson, Fr Michael Pfleger, and others claim to target “the scourge of illegal guns in the United States.” This is a blatant misinterpretation designed to draw the press even further into the fight against lawful gun owners. The true targets are legal gun owners, legitimate dealers, and lawful firearm manufacturers. The tactic that Jesse Jackson and Fr Pfleger use is the “lie-in,” which blocks the doorways of legitimate gun dealers and manufacturers to prevent them – the law-abiding citizens – from exercising their Second Amendment rights. It is ironic that George Wallace used the same tactic against Black children to prevent them from getting an equal education.

Someone is always sticking a microphone under my nose and asking how I would solve the problem – the answer is simple: keep criminals in jail! The Chicago Police Department’s own murder analyses prove my point – the target should be criminals, not us, the law-abiding gun owners. Below are the facts and figures:

• 87.8% of all murders are committed by those with previous criminal record

• 76% of those murdered had previous criminal record

• 42% of murderers are known to be related to a gang and drug activities

Since most of the known murderers and their victims have previous criminal records, the answer would seem obvious: no early outs for any reason. And this also means the State’s Attorney should not plea bargain gun charges or any other charges. When criminals are convicted, they must serve their terms consecutively, not concurrently. How about “three strikers and you’re out?” – there would be no repeat offenders and a definite drop in the first two statistics. That leaves the 42% or more murderers that are affiliated with gangs and drugs. Since most criminals rejoin gangs as soon as they get out of jail, this statistic would also drop.

I would like to suggest a use for Jackson, Pfleger, and their “lie-in” tactics – why don’t they lie down in front of gang headquarters and crack houses – Mayor Daley could walk right up to their door and demand the gang bangers and the drug dealers to “cease and desist,” and walk right in to arrest them. After all, Mayor Daley has personal bodyguards and 13,000 policemen protecting him – we don’t.
 

Richard A. Pearson
Executive Director, ISRA
 

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