I attended the town hall meeting tonight and is was very emotionally charged. Father Pfleger from St. Sabina Church was there with his members. They riled against State Representative Annazatte Collins for opposing SB 48 which would ban private sales of guns, and for proposing that Chicago Public School students receive gun safety training. There were many stories of children lives lost to gun violence and the atmosphere got very tense towards the end of the meeting with Chicago police being called in. Two gun supporters spoke very eloquently about the need to teach our children about how precious life is and that by teaching gun safety to our children, we can reduce the incidence of gun violence in our community. But the majority of people attending were strongly in opposition to Representative Collins lack of support for gun control and threaten to remove her from office in the next election cycle.
Here is the link to Fox News coverage of the meeting:
http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/Gun_Control_Fight. There also a poll regarding the subject of gun safety education for Chicago Public School students which I suggest we take.
I also want to quote Metamurph's thoughts on the subject of how to approach those opposed to our constitutional right to keep and bear arms; it was something that I was thinking of as I sat through the meeting:
The thing I think as I watch this is that to a large portion of the public, this is an appealing message. Especially at the end when the parent talks about celebrating their son's birthday at the cemetery. The fact that we do credit the police with great work and applaud when they get guns possessed by criminals out of their hands. Our appeal to the community can't just be 2nd amendment you can't hurt my guaranteed freedom. We need to also find solutions. We must show care for the victim of a drive by as well as caring for our own rights and ability to protect. The challenge is there are no easy answers and because we live in a fallen state, there are going to be Cains slaying Ables guns or not. But, when you run into the gun control advocate you need to be able to express concern not just for your rights but that we have compassion and want to work for positive solutions that are win win solutions and not just slap on another law that makes us feel good so we can all get back to our own little live but which ends up not really helping solve the problem. -Metamurph
