THE iLLINOIS OBSERVER

Illinois Politics & Issues at a Glare

In NIU Killings Response, IL House Lawmakers Shooting Blanks Gun Rights Folks Say, NIU Victims Silent

(Springfield, IL) — The shooting spree murders on Feb. 14 at Northern Illinois University prompted House Executive Committee lawmakers last week to approve legislation to limit Illinois gun buyers to one handgun a month and ban the purchase of .50-caliber rifles.

Small Newspaper Group Springfield Bureau reporter STEPHANIE SIEVERS scored reaction from JOEL BRUNSVOLD, National Shooting Sports Foundation lobbyist, former director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and a former Democratic State Representative. According to Sievers, Brunsvold urged lawmakers to avoid gun control restrictions and instead focus on increasing funding for criminal background searches.

The NIU shooter had no criminal record. Piffle.

And Todd Vandermyde,the National Rifle Association’s lobbyist for Illinois, asked: “When is enough, enough? How much red tape, how many background checks, when are they ever going to be satisfied?”

Presumably, the “they” to whom Vandermyde was referring were not the slain students. They had no comment.

March 3, 2008 Posted by David Ormsby | Illinois House, gun control | , , , | No Comments Yet