GoRon
Member
http://www.newstrib.com/main.asp?FromHome=1&TypeID=1&ArticleID=20186&SectionID=1&SubSectionID=207
AP photo
Pointing toward November: Gun lobby plays role in governor's race
Monday, April 17, 2006
By Tom Collins and Shelby Sebens, [email protected]
Gun owners may not like Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but Republican Judy Baar Topinka wasn’t necessarily their first choice to run against him.
Topinka squeaked through a close Republican primary and did it without the endorsement of the gun lobby, which threw its support behind dark horse Bill Brady. Yet one local guns advocate likely will support her.
“I think she’ll stand up for our rights better than Blagojevich has although he said he was going to,” said Teri Kramer of rural Spring Valley, who co-owns a firearm business with husband Chris. “I believe she would definitely be better for our gun rights and not going so much with everything (Chicago Mayor Richard) Daley has to say.”
Topinka’s campaign staff hopes to find other voters like Kramer in downstate Illinois, where Topinka’s A-rating from the Illinois State Rifle Association should be better received than in Chicago.
“She’s been consistent with this (Second Amendment issues),” said David Loveday, Topinka’s campaign spokesman. “It’s not that this is a winning issue now; she doesn’t make decisions based on polls.”
Firearms will, however, be a hot issue in the November general election. Since the Sept. 11 terror attacks and especially since Hurricane Katrina, Americans are taking pro-gun positions. Both events underscored the ease with which civil order can collapse, and renewed interest in home security.
Democrats have been getting the message that gun control is becoming a loser with voters. Since 2000, some Democrats — though not all — have begun courting the gun lobby.
Blagojevich hasn’t budged on his position toward the Second Amendment, giving Topinka an opportunity to wrest votes from hunters and hobbyists who bristle from measures Blagojevich signed into law.
But she may have to do it without a formal nod from the gun lobby. Richard Pearson, the usually expansive executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, was largely mum on the subject of whether Topinka could get the ISRA’s nod as well as its campaign cash.
“She could get the endorsement,” Pearson allowed. “It depends on how she answers the questions (in a forthcoming candidate questionnaire).”
Pearson noted Topinka is a more attractive candidate than Blagojevich, but gun advocates were leery of statements in which her staff alluded to support for the hated assault weapons ban.
Meanwhile, campaign officials say Gov. Rod Blagojevich is trying to strike a balance between safety and recreation when it comes to guns.
“He wants to support the hunters,” said Shelia Nix, spokeswoman for Friends of Blagojevich, noting the governor has vowed not to back an increase in the Firearm Owner’s Identification card.
Nix says Blagojevich’s recent push for a semi-automatic assault weapons ban is solely a safety issue and not an attack on hunters and gun owners.
“Those guns are extremely dangerous,” Nix said of the assault weapons that include AR-15s, UZIs and .50-caliber rifles.
But these are the exact guns Teri and Chris Kramer sell at Kramer’s Guns and Supplies in Spring Valley and have used in competitions for the past 18 years.
Teri argues the large and expensive .50-caliber weapons could not feasibly be used for crime and violence.
“It’s nothing that you’re going to use in a drive-by (shooting),” Teri said, noting the .50-caliber, when propped up, stands equal to her height.
Chris says Blagojevich and other Chicago Democrats falsely describe these types of weapons.
“They’re trying to make people believe they are fully automatic when they’re semiautomatic,” Chris said adding fully automatic weapons have been banned since 1934.
Blagojevich might have alienated pro-gun Democrats downstate, but he’s never wavered in his gun-control stance and has firm support from the gun control lobby.
The Brady campaign has yet to issue an endorsement. Illinois field director Jennifer Bishop said the organization held off until after the March primary and soon will issue candidate questionnaires.
“But I can tell you right now — proudly — that Gov. Blagojevich has been a hero of gun violence prevention,” Bishop said, anticipating an endorsement for Blagojevich.
Though the gun lobby and local hobbyists think Blagojevich’s stance has hurt him south of I-80, Bishop said survey results suggests that the assault weapons ban draws support from 75 percent of respondents statewide, including gun owners.
“People who care about public safety and supporting law enforcement will always run well everywhere,” Bishop said, dismissing suggestions that Blagojevich has lost his downstate base. “We know there are a noisy few who feel otherwise, but we know their numbers are not as great as they would have us think there are.”
But Joe Mikyska, IVCC instructor of state and local government, said Blagojevich’s strong push for an assault weapons ban and his veto of Illinois State Rifle Association backed initiatives could have a negative impact on his campaign downstate where hunting and outdoor activities are more popular.
In addition, Mikyska said, Blagojevich might have a hard time getting the Legislature to pass his assault weapons ban even though he has a Democratic majority.
“You’ve got a lot of Democrats from downstate areas,” Mikyska said, noting unless the proposal’s sponsors change some of the harsh language it is unlikely to pass in its present form.
However, Steve Brown, spokesman for state House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) said sponsors of the initiative have been working on a roll call.