IL:Marion Bank Lets Tellers Carry Guns

The Article said:

The bank is currently sitting on very tight surveillance all around the perimeter and inside the bank. And there are signs let intruders know they're packing.

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Doesn't mean:

OP said:

And there are signs that say "Protected By Smith & Wesson".

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Although I'd like to see a picture of the actual sign. Any Chicagoland peoples out there wanna take a pic?

Regardless, this is most reasuring news.

I wonder if THIS bank will be robbed anytime soon?

NOT. LIKELY.

There is more to this story; that bank robbery recently in Cairo was brutal.

Synopsis;

Bad guy waits until closing time. Ambushes three employees as they leave the bank - only to go in with them and find everything locked up. Kills two of them and flees. Cops catch up and he surrenders.

I've been arguing with my bank president about his "no guns" sign for months now. They cite "insurance reasons" for the no guns posting.

I cite my right to protect myself as I leave the establishment.

Because bad guys aren't THAT stupid; they know when people are walking out of a posted building they are vulnerable (at least) until they get in their car.

Midwest said:

Send him a link to the video. Also tell him that maybe his bank might get free publicity like South Porte Bank did.

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The bank president is very pro-gun, we go back quite a ways; it's the damn board he's having issues with convincing.

I keep sending him whatever supporting info I can, so he can keep working on them.

So far the best result I've obtained is "well, we aren't going to call the cops on YOU, as long as you keep the handgun you are carrying concealed."

Of course I worry about a random patron seeing me print, but the sheriff and states attorney are also very pro-gun; so I'm not exactly worried about charges. Of course this is prosecutorial discretion - something which can (and may) change with elections.

I'd rather see the sign come down - the chances of NEEDING a gun to defend oneself go up remarkably in a gun free zone....

Marion, IL is a good 350 miles from Chicago. Any similarity between Marion, IL and Chicagoland is purely coincidental.

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I thought all of IL was Chicago?

Jeff White said:

I'd like to add that the two murdered employees were stabbed.

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WHOA! Did not know that part of it.

Tyeo098m, Comparing Southern Illinois to Chicago, in post #8, is almost comical. We have Goreville Illinois that passed its ordinance requiring every household to have a firearm at the time Morton Grove near Chicago passed a handgun ban. Pittsburg Illinois down here as well passed a similar ordinance. If Southern Illinois, (Illinois south of I64) were its own state we'd probably have had concealed carry since the 80's and open carry as well by now. The police chief in Carbondale, population about 26,000 teaches a CCL course and a few years ago my wife and I took a handgun course offered by the sheriff's department in a neighboring county, I bet that doesn't happen in Cook County.

Even now a couple months after CCLs have been issued I don't find many places here that are posted that aren't CPZs designated by the carry bill.

tyeo098 said:

Although I'd like to see a picture of the actual sign. Any Chicagoland peoples out there wanna take a pic?

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LOL! You're better off asking someone from Cincinnati Ohio to go take a picture. They're closer to Marion, IL.

295 miles from Chicago to Marion as the crow flies.

257 miles from Cincinnati, OH (two states away lol)

People forget how BIG Illinois is sometimes.

junglebob said:

Tyeo098m, Comparing Southern Illinois to Chicago, in post #8, is almost comical.

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I believe Tye was just joking. You can see his emoticon, possibly this! , did not come out.

Sorry to be overly sensitive, I guess its like someone from New York State living in the Adirondack or Catskill Mountains being asked how they like living in New York City. Down here in Southern Illinois we are a lot closer to Kentucky, about 60 miles for me, than Chicago and have more in common with Kentucky folks than Chicago. Of course you can open carry in Kentucky and not in Southern Illinois. Even the landscape from here south is different, not flat like central Illinois and not all the big corn fields. I live less than a mile from the Shawnee National Forest, yes that is in Illinois.

The city most like Chicago in Southern Illinois would probably be East St. Louis, because of crime and also the smaller Cairo, Illinois for the same reason.

Southern Illinois is sometime referred to as "the other Illinois".

Shawnee national forest is beautiful. Back when life wasn't so fast paced I used to take the family down there for camping trips. I live in Central IL and that's still a 4 hour drive to get to the parts of Shawnee I like. We used to rent a little cabin in Cave in Rock state park, take a ferry across to Kentucky to Amish country. Also camped at Garden of the Gods a couple times.

Compared to Central IL that place is a paradise. Around here all you see if corn fields from one horizon to the other.

I went to high school in C'dale IL, where SIU is located. Marion is right next door. Carbondale was like Chicago Jr. Eveyone there seemed to be from Chicago.

Russellc

Mexico....

A co-worker I had in the early 2000s once told me in many small banks/finance offices in Mexico, armed guards(rifles-shotguns) would be posted at each side of the building with strict SOPs to fire on any robbers/armed crooks who try & flee.

That might seem excessive in the USA, but it's a great way to deter any crimes.

RussellC said:

I went to high school in C'dale IL, where SIU is located. Marion is right next door. Carbondale was like Chicago Jr. Eveyone there seemed to be from Chicago.

Russellc

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Trent, Interesting that you grew up in Carbondale and find similarities to Chicago. I go to church in Carbondale. I go to a church of about 150 members in Carbondale. I went last fall to Frontsight for 4 days of handgun training with a doctor, an intern, and two other guys from our church. Me and 4 others from our church took the concealed carry course for the Illinois CCL license here in Illinois. There are 4 others who plan on taking the course and getting their CCL sometime, 3 are doctors. My pastor has no opposition to carry at church.

Maybe we aren't the norm for Carbondale and more people do live outside Carbondale, some surrounding towns and even from Kentucky, than inside the city limits. The number of people in our church that have lived in Chicago is fairly small.

??? I didn't grow up in Carbondale. Think you got the wrong guy.

Although I've debated the anti-gun mayor once (after he joined MAIG), I never have stepped foot in the city itself.

Whoops, I thought I was replying to RussellC. Another difference between Carbondale and Chicago is that the Carbondale police chief teaches Illinois CCL classes.

Trent said:

??? I didn't grow up in Carbondale. Think you got the wrong guy.

Although I've debated the anti-gun mayor once (after he joined MAIG), I never have stepped foot in the city itself.

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Joe Fritzler who was a member of MAIG is not longer mayor of Carbondale, BTW.