General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Chicago abolishes gun registry in place since 1968 [View all]ColesCountyDem
(6,944 posts)I now live in deep southern Illinois (south of I-64), in the same county where I was born and grew to adulthood. I subsequently lived in Chicago for several years and thereafter lived in central IL for almost three decades. My natal county was once known as 'the most Democratic county in Illinois', because not a single Republican held any county office from 1930 until the early 1980's. With the exception of that single officeholder (now deceased), that remains true to this day. Both our State Representative and State Senator are Democrats, and carried the county by substantial margins. The county is very much pro-union, supports social welfare programs, teachers and educations, etc., etc. etc. . That said, it is helpful to understand why Chicago is Chicago and why the rest of the State of Illinois is NOT Chicago.
When I lived in Chicago, a call to 911 for emergency police assistance normally resulted in a blue-and-white, or several blue-and-whites, arriving on the scene in under 5 minutes. Where I now live, a call to 911 will result in a deputy being dispatched immediately, but since there may well be only 2 or 3 deputies on-duty in a county of 420 square miles, it may well take 15 minutes OR LONGER for him/her to arrive on-scene. Even in incorporated cities or villages with a police officer or department, the response time is OFTEN substantially longer than it would be in Chicago, due to the area being poorer and unable to afford as many sworn L.E.O.'s per-capita as Chicago. In short, RURAL residents have every reason to view 'concealed-carry' in a very different light than does a citizen of Chicago. That difference of opinion does not make them any less 'Dem's'!
Chicago has exercised a 'tyranny of the majority' on this subject (and others, like school-aid funding, e.g.) for decades, knowing that even if downstate Dem's and Rethugs combined to support CCW legislation or override a veto thereof, they simply didn't have the numbers to do so. Finally, the 7th Circuit stepped in and settled the issue, and did so in favor of the minority.
In closing, downstate Democrats ARE Democrats but, to quote Lyndon Johnson, we are 'inside the tent pissing out' on the subject of CCW. Downstate Democrats routinely and loyally support the Democratic leadership on virtually ALL 'party line' votes, so please, don't cast aspersions on us because we differ on the subject of CCW.
Thank you.