Illinois: Shooting at State Capitol!

[Bud Wiser]

Illinois' Governor, Rod Blagoyovich, is a rabid anti-gunner and may try to use this event as outlined in the following news report to ram more Draconian gun laws through the Illinois House and Senate in Springfield and make Mayor Daley happy.

It appears the Shooter just strolled in and opened up for no good particular reason. And of course he got away and so far nobody seen nothin'.....Isn't that Special?

And it's only one week since the AWB ban Expired.

Don't we all anticipate that there will be more of these spur of the moment and unexpected attacks taking place at schools, malls & it also seems, State Congressional Buildings to demonstrate that we need stricter gun control laws?

How many of us will be actually surprised when the first shoot-out takes place at a hospital or church sometime in the next 60 days?

Especially before the November Elections.

It's called Black Ops and we can all guess who's behind them....
_____________________

Security Guard Shot at State Capitol

By Ryan Keith
Associated Press Writer

September 20, 2004, 3:01 PM CDT

SPRINGFIELD -- An unarmed security guard was shot just inside the state Capitol entrance this afternoon, and authorities were searching for the shooter, who apparently fled.

The shooter entered the north entrance and shot the security guard at about 1:45 p.m., then escaped in a vehicle, said Randy Nehrt, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office, which has law enforcement jurisdiction over the building. He said the shooter had not yet been caught an hour later.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich was not in the Capitol at the time, and the Legislature is not in session.

Dave DeFraties, chief of operations with the Springfield Fire Department, said paramedics were called to treat someone who had been shot and that the victim was taken to a hospital. He said he could not release details of the person's conditions.

The Capitol entrance has no metal detectors, and its law enforcement officers are not armed.

``It just sounded like a bomb went off. Then someone immediately yelled, 'Someone's been shot,''' said Leslie Root, who works for state Sen. Chris Lauzen on the first floor near the location of the shooting.

She said staff went inside the office and locked the door.

The Capitol was locked down for about an hour, following an announcement over the intercom ordering everyone to stay in their offices.

Outside, police cars and ambulances surrounded the building, and officers roped off the entrance. After the lockdown was lifted, everyone entering the building was required to sign in, rather than the usual procedure of simply showing a badge to enter.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...1946674,print.story?coll=chi-newsbreaking-hed

 

[erik the bold]

Maybe if the "security" guards were armed, there would have been a different ourcome. I'll pray for the guard, though.........

 

[tyme]

I wonder why it's taking them so long to use their brilliant firearm owner ID card system to track down the shooter. Oh, the FOID system doesn't prevent or solve crimes? Silly me.

 

[boofus]

I hope the shooter used a double barreled Elmer Fudd gun. Then the hunters might feel the need to get up off their asses and fight the antis when they come for their deadly roombroom scatterguns.

Also make John Forgery Kerry look like a dumbass totin' a shotgun that supposedly can't be used to commit crimes like those evil AK-47s

 

[The Real Mad Max]

It's called Black Ops and we can all guess who's behind them....

Let me guess...the Cigarette Smoking Man?

 

[Jeff White]

It looks like the weapon may have been a shotgun. I'll try to get the latest when I go to work at 8 tonight. This will surely give the Daley bunch a tradgedy to beat up the legislature with in the upcoming veto session.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...=At+least+one+person+shot+at+Illinois+Capitol
Guard shot and killed at Illinois Capitol
Associated Press
09/20/2004

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- An unarmed security guard was shot to death just inside a state Capitol entrance Monday afternoon, and authorities were searching for the shooter, who escaped in a car.

About 4:45 p.m., Springfield police surrounded an apartment building about three blocks from the Capitol. Authorities did not say whether they thought the gunman was still in the building.

The shooter entered the north entrance and shot the security guard at about 1:45 p.m., said Randy Nehrt, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office, which has law enforcement jurisdiction over the building.

The attack was fast, with the gunman immediately firing one shot that hit the guard in the chest and then getting out, putting a gun in the trunk of a car and driving away, said Col. Larry Schmidt, chief deputy director of the Secretary of State Police. He said the guard died in a hospital operating room.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich was not in the Capitol at the time, and the Legislature is not in session.

At least three or four people saw the shooter, Schmidt said. Most of the witnesses were outside, and officials were also reviewing footage from surveillance cameras in the area, he said.

Springfield police said they also were investigating another shooting about an hour earlier at a military surplus store about 2 miles from the Capitol involving a man who matched the description of the Capitol shooter.

The Capitol entrance where the man was shot has no metal detectors, and its security guards are not armed.

Leslie Root, who works for state Sen. Chris Lauzen on the first floor near the location of the shooting, said she and her colleagues heard the gunshot.

"It just sounded like a bomb went off. Then someone immediately yelled, 'Someone's been shot,"' Root said.

She said the staff rushed inside the office and locked the door.

An announcement over the intercom ordered everyone to stay in their offices, and the building was locked down for about an hour.

Outside, police cars and ambulances surrounded the building, and officers roped off the entrance. After the lockdown was lifted, armed officers were in the halls and everyone entering the building was required to sign in, rather than the usual procedure of simply showing a badge.

Springfield Deputy Police Chief Jim Burton said someone matching the description of the Capitol shooter and carrying a 12-gauge shotgun had gone into a nearby military surplus store, Birds and Brooks, at about 12:25 p.m. and demanded a high-powered rifle.

The man, described as white and about 20 years old, fled after the owner recognized him as someone who had stolen a shotgun on Sept. 14, locked himself in his office and began shooting through the door, Burton said.

A man with the same description went to the Capitol a little over an hour later and shot a security guard, Burton said. He said Springfield Police are investigating the two shootings as possibly connected.

Police said they were searching for a silver or gray two-door car.

------

Associated Press reporters Christopher Wills in Springfield and Nicole Ziegler Dizon in Chicago contributed to this report.

 

[Sergeant Sabre]

How did this happen? Isn't thier capitol building a gun-free zone? Must not be. Funny how that works.

May God have mercy on the soul of the guard, if it is right that he should do so...

 

[2nd Amendment]

I'm just sort of sitting back waiting. I'd like to think it won't happen and I'd like to think there's no one in government at any level who would do such things. OTOH, if we're to believe the left, we have a sitting president who started an entire war for oil or vengeance or because he's on medication or(insert nefarious scheme/reason here). As such that same group, at least, shouldn't find it that difficult to believe someone like Schumer would see offing a few hicks in fly-over country to further his agenda as acceptable.

Afterall, it's for a good cause...

 

[Edmond]

I wonder why it's taking them so long to use their brilliant firearm owner ID card system to track down the shooter. Oh, the FOID system doesn't prevent or solve crimes? Silly me.

You mean the criminals don't use their FOID to buy their guns at a gun shop?

The 9:00 news did say that it was a shotgun. They thought they had located the person in an apartment but it turned out to be false.

I don't know why the security guard wasn't armed. What's the point in having security? Especially in a government facility. Is a dirty look supposed to turn criminals away.

Don't even get me started on Hitler, err, I mean Daley.

 

[Roadkill Coyote]

Well, according to this from The State Journal-Register, the likely shooter stole the shotgun on Tuesday, by going in as an employee opened the store, immediately jumping the counter, grabbing the shotgun and running. Would he have pulled it off if the employee opening the store had a legally carried weapon on him? Well, when he went back to get a rifle, an employee had access to a gun, and he left with only what he brought.

It seems clear that CCW might have prevented this tragedy. I look forward to more information.

 

[DigMe]

That's incredible that the LEOs at the state capitol are unarmed!

brad cook

 

[Roadkill Coyote]

I apologize for the link, The Journal-Register has updated the story, including new information on the suspect, but dropping the mention of how the first robbery occurred. In the earlier version of the story it mentions the employee opening the store.

 

[Don Gwinn]

I see what you meant at TFL, Coyote. The employee wasn't armed when he entered the store because he couldn't legally carry until he arrived. Interesting take.

I wonder why it's taking them so long to use their brilliant firearm owner ID card system to track down the shooter. Oh, the FOID system doesn't prevent or solve crimes? Silly me.

The inconsiderate honyock didn't have the decency to apply for a FOID card like a well-behaved criminal; but don't worry, because they're charging him with that, too! Thank God. They'll probably give him a longer sentence for the crime of "no FOID" as the SJ-R so eloquently puts it, than for murdering Mr. Wozniak in cold blood.

The very randomness of it is what's chilling. . . . it makes NO sense at all.

Once he killed the guard, he was unopposed and had the free run of the Capitol for at least a minute or two until armed Sec'y of State police (they do have those in the Capitol, just not at entrances) responded with firearms and dogs. He chose instead to withdraw. Thank God he did, because he could have just used up his ammo at his leisure if he'd been willing to trade his life for the privilege, and people this crazy often are.

Security at the Capitol entrances is a joke. Unarmed rent-a-cops have small tables or podiums (podia?) where they keep a log book you must sign. You're also supposed to print your name and DL number. I don't know what that was supposed to accomplish, but I signed in as "Rusty Shackleford" when I was reporting at the Capitol for a living and generally made up numbers at random. I was never asked about it.
(I wasn't paranoid or anything, just a big "King of the Hill" fan.)

Metal detectors would NOT have prevented this.

Arming the current guards would NOT have prevented this.

Arming police officers at the doors would probably NOT have prevented this.

Even posting Marines probably would not have prevented this.

If someone decides to target the guards themselves without warning, nothing can save them but their own awareness of danger--which has been systematically ground down to nothing by years of uneventful, yawn-inducing days of watching the peaceful crowd go by.

 

[Roadkill Coyote]

Well, that's what the initial story on the Journal-Register's site suggested, so I'm very curious about the possibility. There's a guy over on ARFCOM who was in the store later that day, but he hasn't responded to my post over there yet.

As to prevention, the US capitol had metal detectors and guns at the time of the shooting there in '98. The only thing that could have really made a differance in either situation, is time to react. In this case, if they had more people, and one of them monitoring outside CCTV, then they might have been able to react. Time and warning are the greatest of luxuries, are they not?

Oh, and for the record, although I doubt arming the guards would have prevented this, the fact that they were put there, unarmed and defensless, is utterly inexcusable.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

Coyote, you're right that arming the guards might not prevent the killing. A sad situation. But arming the guards might have caused the immediate termination of the shooter by one of the other guards.

It's interesting that one of the solutions proposed by the Governor is "more guns", even if they're just limited to the security folks.

If more guns make the security folks safer, imagine what they'd do for the rest of the civilian population.

Regards.

 

[Nathaniel Firethorn]

Semiauto?

- pdmoderator

 

[Don Gwinn]

The man, described as white and about 20 years old, fled after the owner recognized him as someone who had stolen a shotgun on Sept. 14, locked himself in his office and began shooting through the door, Burton said.

That is REALLY inaccurate and inflammatory. They make it sound like Dale locked the door, loaded up Ol' Bessie, and just started blasting away.

Now, I agree that shooting through a door is not a good idea, but the local NBC affiliate was running the video of Burton explaining these events this morning. What he actually said was that Dale locked himself in the office and loaded the shotgun, but did not fire. Then the SUSPECT fired through the door at Dale, who then felt he had no choice and returned fire through the door. There's still no indication of whether he knew where his son was as he fired or even that the son was in the store.

No, shooting through a door does not allow you to identify your target, but when you're locked into a very small room with big windows on the other side and rounds are incoming, you try doing that math instantly.

I hate reporters.

In other news, the local radio station has decided that Potts was after an "assault weapon" because the police said he wanted a long gun. . . . even though at the press conference they carried live, their own reporter asked that question and was told that there was no indication that the perpetrator cared what rifle he got as long as it was a rifle, and that the information about him seeking long guns had only been given out to make it clear that he had not asked for handguns. Don't know why that was a big deal, but whatever.
The point is that they've actually been told by the people who know that there's no evidence at all for that assertion, but they chose to make it anyway.

• I don't know who said it, but at work yesterday I walked past a TV and distinctly heard the words "12-gauge handgun wound in his arm."
• At the same press conference, another reporter stated that a shotgun probably was not used if there were no "BB's" on the floor of the Capitol, since that's all a shotgun can fire.
• Most disturbing was the reporter who asked FOUR TIMES for the officer to explain the difference between long guns and handguns.

 

[armoredman]

More idiots per square inch in the media than any other place.
Arming the security staff might have prevented this assault the same way our CCW permits do - knowledge that some one there might just stamp his ticket PAID, might have influenced him to try somewhere else, or give it up.
Wow, crime in gun free Illinois....who'd a thunk it? That's almost like violnet crime in peacful disarmed Washington DC, or peace loving gun free New York City/New Jersey......

 

[six 4 sure]

Anyone want to take bets a state 'assualt weapon' ban is proposed by the end of the month?

 

[boofus]

The best thing that could happen now is for the antis to go crazy and turn regular shotguns into banned 'assault weapons'. Every redneck elmer fudd in the state will be up in arms to vote them out.

Maybe when their guns are on the chopping block more of them will pay attention. When the antis start saying stuff like 'A single shotgun blast has the same firepower as 9 shots from a submachinegun' it might get some hunters off their asses.

 

[cobb]

'A single shotgun blast has the same firepower as 9 shots from a submachinegun' it might get some hunters off their asses.

Sad, but true.

 

[Jeff White]

The latest from the St Louis Post Dispatch

I had a friend tell me last night that the St Louis TV stations were reporting that the suspect had demanded an assault rifle. Odd how the press never gets anything right and gets pretty creative in filling in the missing details.

Potts is from about 40 miles from where I live. I'll ask a Richland County deputy I know if he knows him. Given that Potts had a record, it's likely someone I know knws him.



http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...=Suspect+apprehended+in+state+police+shooting
Suspect apprehended in state police shooting
By Ryan Keith
Associated Press
09/21/2004

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- A man suspected of fatally shooting an unarmed guard inside the state Capitol was arrested without incident Tuesday morning as he knocked on doors in a residential neighborhood, police said.

Authorities had been searching for Derek W. Potts since Monday afternoon, when they allege he marched into the state Capitol and shot 51-year-old William Wozniak in the chest, then walked back out the main entrance, stowed his gun in a car trunk and drove away.

"He's in custody," Deputy Police Chief Jim Burton said following the 7:15 a.m. arrest. "We're interviewing him now."

Potts was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder, burglary and gun violations.

State's Attorney John Schmidt said Potts would face 45 years to life in prison if convicted. He said his office was reviewing the possibility of seeking the death penalty.

Acting on a tip, police searched Potts' apartment in Springfield late Monday and discovered a shotgun that had been stolen a week earlier from a military surplus store, though officials weren't sure if it was the gun used in the Capitol shooting, Burton said.

Then, around dawn on Tuesday, police were called about a man matching the description of the Capitol shooter who was knocking on doors and asking for a ride to the police station, Police Chief Donald Kliment said. He said Potts was unarmed when an officer found him.

Phillip Giger, 50, who lives in the neighborhood where Potts was apprehended, said he was making coffee when he heard several car doors slam shut. He looked out the window and saw more than a dozen police cars and a man matching the description of the shooter talking with authorities in the street, he said.

Police cuffed the man, patted him down and placed him in a squad car, Giger said.

"There were no sirens, not a one," he said. "They were so quiet my dog didn't even notice it."

Police didn't know the motive for the shooting and knew of no connection between Potts and Wozniak.

Potts, originally from the small downstate town of Olney, has some traffic offenses and two misdemeanor drug charges on his record, both resulting in fines and court supervision, Richland County officials said.

"He didn't have any unusual circumstances, as far as the criminal cases we had," said Richland County State's Attorney Kaye DeSelms. "There were no red flags."

Potts attended Olney Central College and had recently enrolled in the criminal justice program at the University of Illinois at Springfield, but he withdrew from UIS on Sept. 13 after less than a month, university spokeswoman Cheryl Peck said.

Police believe Potts was involved in a robbery at a military surplus store the following day, Sept. 14. Then on Monday, shortly after noon, someone matching Potts' description walked in the same military surplus store carrying a 12-gauge shotgun and demanded a high-powered rifle, but fled when the owner recognized him, police said.

A little over an hour later, at about 1:38 p.m., Potts apparently drove up to the Capitol's main entrance, walked in and shot the guard once in the chest, then drove off with his tires squealing and witnesses shouting for help, said Col. Larry Schmidt, chief deputy director of the Secretary of State's police force.

The building doesn't have metal detectors, and the security guards are unarmed.

"I heard the blast," tourist Steve Bubb of Peru told the Chicago Sun-Times. "Then, I saw this guy lowering an object that looked to be a gun, turn around and walk out the door."

Wozniak, who had worked at the Capitol for 18 years, died at a hospital shortly after the shooting, Col. Schmidt said.

Rep. Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg, had known Wozniak for about 30 years. He said Wozniak had a wife and two teenage children and had moved to the small community of Petersburg decades ago to escape the violence of Detroit.

"What can you say? He was just real friendly and outgoing," Brauer said. "To me it's incredible that we have this guy that is in charge of security at the Capitol, and he's there with no protection at all. And a guy comes in with a gun."

Secretary of State Jesse White, who manages the Capitol, had previously asked lawmakers to install metal detectors but said it never happened because of budget constraints and a debate over concerns it would turn the seat of government into a fortress.

"That debate is now over," Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Tuesday.

Blagojevich said he would issue an executive order to install metal detectors as soon as possible and would consider other security upgrades, including arming the guards. He said he also would commission an expert from the U.S. Capitol to consult on the security changes and might be able to pay for the changes with Homeland Security funds.

Tuesday morning, state workers and visitors were met by armed police outside the Capitol entrances, but inside, the security guards were still unarmed and there were no metal detectors.

The attack had happened quickly, with the gunman entering the north entrance just long enough to fire a shot that hit the guard in the chest, Col. Schmidt said. He said metal detectors likely wouldn't have prevented the attack, though others say they could be a deterrent.

The Legislature was not in session, and Gov. Rod Blagojevich was not in Springfield at the time.

No one saw the shooting take place but several people saw the suspect leaving, Col. Schmidt said. He said officials were also reviewing surveillance tapes.

------

Associated Press reporters Christopher Wills and John O'Connor in Springfield and Megan Reichgott in Chicago contributed to this report.

 

[Jeff White]

Another article from today's Post Dispatch

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...ooting+of+guard+terrorizes+Illinois+Capitol++

Shooting of guard terrorizes Illinois Capitol
BY KEVIN MCDERMOTT
Post-Dispatch Springfield Bureau
09/21/2004

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois' capital city remained on edge late Monday as police searched for a gunman who walked into the ornate seat of state government and murdered a security guard within earshot of the governor's office.

Police say a man carrying a long-barreled gun stepped through the glass doors at the north entrance of the Illinois Capitol about 1:35 p.m. Monday and fired a single shot into the chest of the unarmed security guard stationed in the entry hallway. Witnesses say the gunman then walked back out to his car - a silver or gray two-door foreign economy car with no plates - put the gun in the trunk and drove off.

The guard, William Peter Wozniak, 51, of Petersburg, Ill. - a bedroom community northwest of Springfield - died in surgery Monday. He had been employed at the Capitol since March 1986. He is survived by his wife, Sheila, a 16-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter.

By late Monday, police had announced a murder warrant for a Springfield man identified as Derek Potts, 24, previously of Olney, Ill. Potts was identified as white, 5 feet 8 inches tall, 125 pounds, clean-shaven with medium-length dark hair. He apparently has no prior criminal record.

Police were guarded in what they would reveal about the information they have on Potts, but said he is considered dangerous. They are asking anyone with information about him to call 217-558-0672. The motive for the shooting was unknown as of late Monday. Gov. Rod Blagojevich was in Chicago at the time of the shooting, and the Legislature wasn't in session.

The shooting "was an act of brutality that took place at the front door of our state government," Blagojevich said later Monday, after flying to Springfield following news of the guard's death. "I want to make something very clear here: We will not allow cold-blooded killers to keep the people of Illinois away from their government."

But Blagojevich predicted that the state's unusually open Capitol building soon would have metal detectors and armed guards.

Secretary of State Jesse White - whose office is in charge of Capitol security - agreed. He noted pointedly in a news conference late Monday that he had sought metal detectors in the Capitol and was rebuffed by legislators who "didn't want it to look like an armed camp."




Gun shop robberies






Late Monday, officials were trying to piece together the events leading up to the shooting, which may have included two altercations in the past week at a gun shop on Springfield's south side.

Police say a man fitting Potts' description snatched a 12-gauge shotgun from the Birds 'N Brooks Army Navy Surplus store on South Sixth Street just after the store opened the morning of Sept. 14.

The man returned to the store about 12:30 p.m. Monday - an hour before the Capitol shooting - and attempted to rob the store using the stolen shotgun. Police say the robber indicated that he wanted more firearms, specifically assault rifles.

Springfield Deputy Police Chief Jim Burton said the owner of the gun store had locked himself in a separate room. Burton said Dale Patterson, the owner, had fired several shots at the robber through a closed door, accidentally shooting his adult son, Dale Patterson II, in the left shoulder.

The gunman fled. The younger Patterson's injuries weren't life-threatening, Burton said.

Neither Patterson could be reached for comment Monday. The gun shop was closed and locked by Monday afternoon.

A few hours after the Capitol shooting, Springfield police, acting on a tip regarding the gun shop robbery, surrounded an apartment building four blocks from the Capitol where they believe Potts lived. Police cordoned off traffic and pedestrians for several hours as they awaited a warrant to search the building's interior. When they finally did, they found no one inside.

But Springfield Police Lt. Doug Williamson said that police had found the stolen shotgun and that a car similar to the one described by witnesses was found in the parking lot. Police didn't know if the gun was used in the Capitol shooting.





An open Capitol


The state Capitol, completed in 1888, is a towering, silver-domed structure with wood and marble interiors so imposing that has been used as the backdrop for Hollywood films set in the U.S. Capitol.

For years, the Capitol was open-access, with almost no restrictions on people entering it from any side. That changed after the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, when, for several months, the Capitol guards were armed and cars were searched before they entered the circular drive to the north doors - which is where the gunman parked. Those restrictions have long since been lifted.

The scene in and around the Capitol was chaotic Monday afternoon, as police were initially unsure whether the gunman was still in the building. An announcement over the intercom ordered state workers to stay in their offices, and the building was locked down for about an hour.

Outside, police cars and ambulances surrounded the building, and officers roped off the entrance. Schools were locked down briefly, and students at schools near the Capitol were not allowed to walk home alone.

Though several people saw the gunman leave the building, no one witnessed the shooting. People throughout the building heard the shot.

"I heard a 'boom' - something that sounded almost like a bomb," said Judy Johnson, an administrative assistant to state Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood. "I thought maybe something had crashed into the building."

Leslie Root works for state Sen. Chris Lauzen on the first floor near where Wozniak was shot.

"It just sounded like a bomb went off," she said. "Then someone immediately yelled, 'Someone's been shot.'" She said the staff had rushed inside the office and locked the door.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[Harry Tuttle]

NEWS RELEASE
ILLINOIS CAPITOL MURDER PROVES GUN LAWS DO NOT STOP KILLERS
Monday's brutal murder of an unarmed Illinois Capitol security officer by a shotgun-wielding killer proves that restrictive gun laws like those in the Prairie State cannot stop determined criminals, and never have, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today.

"If the Draconian gun laws in Illinois worked," said CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron, "then security guard William Wozniak would still be alive. Instead, the anti-gun philosophy has so permeated politics in Illinois that cold-blooded killers can stroll right up to the Capitol with a shotgun, while security guards are expected to perform their duty unarmed.

"This mindset is not simply limited to Springfield," Waldron noted. "Up in Chicago, Mayor Richard Daley continues pushing his gun-hating hysteria by scraping up arguments against a new federal law that allows retired and off-duty police officers to carry firearms all over the country, including in the City of Chicago. He says this law will make Chicago's streets less safe. Well, perhaps that's true, if you're a criminal. Guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens, including off-duty and retired police officers, have never been a threat to anyone."

Waldron praised police in Springfield for quickly tracking down and arresting the suspect, who is also being held for an armed robbery committed prior to the Capitol shooting.

"Mayor Daley would have us believe that Springfield officers, either off-duty or after they retire, are somehow less trustworthy," Waldron observed. "He would extend that same insult to officers from across the nation. He might as well hang a sign at the Chicago city limits that says ‘off-duty and retired cops not welcome here.'

"While Daley and his soulmates in Springfield, including Gov. Rod Blagojevich, will no doubt rationalize that Monday's tragedy is somehow the fault of some imagined ‘loophole' in the gun law," Waldron suggested, "the truth is that restrictive gun laws, promoted by Daley and his ilk, have never prevented a single violent crime. These laws have penalized honest citizens, while criminals are left to roam the streets and gun down unarmed security guards and other citizens. It's time to stop punishing law-abiding gun owners for crimes like Monday's outrage, and it is also time arm Capitol security officers, so that good people like William Wozniak will never again be targets of opportunity for murderous lunatics."

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.

 

[Roadkill Coyote]

from the above story,

Police say a man fitting Potts' description snatched a 12-gauge shotgun from the Birds 'N Brooks Army Navy Surplus store on South Sixth Street just after the store opened the morning of Sept. 14.

from a customer who was in the store later that day,

When I was there last week, Dale Sr. was saying that the kid was there at opening time. As Dale turned to the right to go behind the register, the kid turned left, made it back to the rifles, then he jumped the counter, and grabbed the shotgun. Didn't sound like he even ran out, walked quickly towards the door. I guess Dale tried to tackle him but missed. I'm so suprised he didn't just walk in fireing the second time. I haven't heard the news yet today, don't know if they caught anyone yet or not.

http://ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=276693&page=1

If the employee (or owner) could have legally carried from home, would he still have been reduced to trying to tackle a guy in the process of stealing a deadly weapon? Could CCW in Illinois have prevented this in the first place?