Gov. Quinn to Sign Illinois Firearm Owner’s Privacy Bill

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, accidental Governor Pat Quinn is finally doing something right. He has pledged to sign HB3500, a bill that will keep confidential and away from the eyes of anti-gun activists and the Old Media alike the personal information of registered firearm owners in Illinois.

The Illinois Senate passed the bill 42 to 1 overturning a decision by left-wing Attorney General Lisa Madigan to turn over to the Old Media the names, addresses, and personal info on file of all citizens that have registered with the state for an Illinois Firearm Owners ID card (FOID).

Illinois citizens are not allowed to buy or sell firearms or ammunition in the Land of Lincoln without registering with the state and because this information is in the hands of the Illinois State Police, the Associated Press imagined that this information should be public.

The AP claimed it wanted this information as an effort at “transparency” in government. Naturally, the only real reason the AP could want this information is to “out” gun owners, discomfort them, and make them unsafe in their homes by harassment by the media as well as open them up to criminals targeting them for their firearms.

Initially, when the AP made its request, the State Police refused said that this would violate the privacy of the people. Attny Gen Madigan, however, was happy to help the AP harass legal gun owners in her state and instructed the police to turn over the list to the press.

This prompted the legislature to write a law to prevent Madigan’s anti-gun activism.

Fortunately the bill passed both houses of the legislature and the Governor has pledged to sign it. It’s a win for gun owners in a state where that does not often happen.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.

For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.


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