Chuck Gun Shop is a small shop, complete with a five- or six-lane indoor range at the rear.  Unfortunately for Chuck’s, they are located just outside of Chicago.  As such, they see a lot of business from Windy City residents who wish to buy guns to protect their families and children from the violence that is Chicago.  Their proximity to America’s Second City and its virulently anti-gun politicians and community agitators has earned it a special place in their hate-filled hearts.

For the third time in less than a year, Chuck’s Guns in Riverdale, IL has been targeted by local radicals.  At least two of the events have been financed by the Brady Campaign.

Dan Gross of the Brady Bunch surely hoped the third time at Chuck’s would be the charm to score a public relations coup.  Alas, it wasn’t to be as scores of gun rights defenders showed up to counter the increasingly irrelevant Brady propaganda machine and prevent them from blockading the business.

Watching this spectacle unfold on the anniversary of D-Day was very educational.  Among the many things I learned or had re-affirmed for me:  Father Pfleger and Jesse Jackson go nowhere without armed bodyguards while preaching against gun ownership for the “little people” like you and me.  I also learned that there are plenty of good people in Chicago,  plenty of folks who need educating in the big city and how the media is terribly hypocritical in its anti-gun bias.  Oh yes,  and how the media fawns and drools over Jesse Jackson.

More on each of these issues dead ahead.  On the whole, it was a great day supporting freedom and defending a pro-gun business from bullying by the Brady Campaign.  Many of us on the pro-gun side were lawfully armed.  We were the good guys with guns.  And while Chicago saw almost a dozen and a half shootings this day, none of them were near Chuck’s guns.  Our guns probably made that immediate neighborhood the safest place in Cook County.

The Brady Campaign set out to blockade Chuck’s entrance and prevent people from conducting lawful commerce.   Jesse Jackson, Father Pfleger and Dan Gross were all in front of Chuck’s just before noon, effectively blocking the store’s entrance for a short while.   Seeking to avoid a physical confrontation (like the one that happened a few years ago when Jesse Jackson was arrested – and reportedly found to have $26,000 in cash in his pockets), the store’s staff had closed the gate out front and told Jesse and crew that the store was closed for lunch until 2pm.

Jackson, with plenty of news cameras in his face, said he was prepared to stay there until the store re-opened and he was arrested.

That wasn’t necessary as The Brady Campaign had only rented the three buses until 1pm.

At 12:30, the bus captains advised Jackson, Pfleger and Gross that the St. Sabina’s parishioners would have to begin boarding the buses to return to St. Sabina’s as the buses would soon be leaving.  If they didn’t begin boarding right away, thy would be forced to walk home.  “And this is an unsafe neighborhood to walk home in,” they added.  St. Sabina’s church is home of the inflammatory, gun-hating Father Pfleger – the Catholic priest who a few years ago encouraged people to “snuff out” John Riggio, the owner of Chuck’s Gun Shop.

Jackson pretty much acknowledged that the cause was lost.  “Next time, we’ll rent the buses,” he was reported to have said to Gross with some irritation in his voice.

With that, the crowd dissolved back towards the buses, where they loaded up, leaving the rally/protest/blockade to end with nary a whimper.  The bused-in group wasn’t exactly energetic to begin with, but after the buses loaded the St. Sabinas parishioners, the handful of remaining die-hard white liberal activists quickly left.  It was almost as though they were afraid that those gun owner would hurt them without Father Pfleger and Dan Gross there to protect them.

In filing for the permit to rally, the Brady Campaign paid about $7,000 to the Village of Riverdale to pay for the police presence, according to the Riverdale Deputy Chief.  They likely paid over $3,000 to rent the buses and who knows how much more they paid to print up those t-shirts and the post-rally food planned for rally participants from St. Sabina’s.

What did they get for spending over $10,000 for Saturday’s spectacle?  More sympathetic reporting from the mainstream media.  More on that in a moment.

The Hypocrisy of Armed Bodyguards

There was no shortage of irony present as Father Pfleger, the rabidly anti-gun Catholic priest who called for “snuffing out” the owner of Chuck’s Guns in 2007, had his usual contingent of armed bodyguards.

If guns are so bad and dangerous, why doesn’t Pfleger dispense with his armed protective detail?

Father Pfleger had at least four armed bodyguards at this rally.

Jesse Jackson, who was late to the festivities, must have felt safer because he only brought two and they generally hung back.  All of the bodyguards were widely believed to be off-duty Chicago cops.

One wore the same cover garment as he wore last time I saw him last September.

Gun rights advocates repeatedly shouted towards the red-clad anti-gun demonstrators:  “If guns are so bad, why does Father Pfleger have armed bodyguards?”

As we mentioned earlier, Jesse Jackson brought two bodyguards.  Speaking of Jesse, he didn’t look all that healthy.  He looked tired and sounded tired.

Jackson’s bodyguards.  To the trained eye, they were about as subtle as a 2×4 across the forehead.

More shots of Pfleger and Jackson and their guards.

Can you spot the bodyguards?  Hint:  they are wearing hats in this photo.  And cover garments.

And the guy with the earpiece.

Note his little Chicago flag lapel pin.

Another question we asked among ourselves:  Just who are those protective details primarily concerned with?  Was it the phalanx of armed and trained gun owners a few feet away or the people bused in from St. Sabina’s church?

It was plainly evident who the Riverdale cops were keeping their eyes upon.  And who did they have their backs to?

Law-abiding gun owners – the majority of which were carrying guns – were kept in the side lot, directly behind these officers.  We were asked to remain in the fenced in lot to reduce any intermingling between the groups, to protect us from Pfleger and his minions.

Good people in Chicago

There are lots of good people who live in and near Chicago, willing to take time out from their Saturday to rally in support of a business that provides a valuable service to the community and beyond.

There were scores of ISRA and GSL members standing up for Chuck’s.  GSL’s Chicago Coordinator Alfreda Keller was present, talking up Guns Save Life’s planned Sunday, June 28th meeting in Oak Lawn.  GSL’s Executive Director John Boch was there taking photos and doing his best to heckle the opposition.  ISRA had one or two of their directors present along with VP Mike Weisman.

We had a great bunch of people there, and we didn’t give the Brady bunch a moment to collect their thoughts.  We kept interrupting the Brady speeches to get their astroturfers to think.  “Armed blacks don’t get oppressed” seemed to get results.

When Dan Gross tried to get his group to chant “Chuck’s sells guns that kill our kids!”, our side chanted “Chuck’s sells guns that protect our kids!”

Plenty of folks needing education

There were lots of folks who could have benefited from learning more about the proven benefits of firearm ownership.

The media and others were busy taking pictures of us.

The buses arrived.

Were we supposed to be intimidated by a woman who doesn’t even know how to hold a camera?

More than a few of the younger folks bused in seemed clueless why they were there.  A couple of the young girls looked positively terrified.

We encouraged them not to listen to that “white devil” Dan Gross.  Dan, if you have to tell your people what to say, is it really grassroots or is it more like astroturf?

The anti-gun demonstrators walked laps around the empty lot.

I kept waiting for pictures of so-called “gun violence” victims flashing gang signs.

This left-over hippie from the 1960s was so dedicated that he was using his sign as a sun screen.

Look!  Someone with an Everytown “Orange” shirt.

Considering they brought three buses and had a couple of dozen people who drove themselves, they didn’t have all that many people there.

John winning friends and influencing people

I spotted this guy early on.  He looked like “trouble”.  And he spotted me.

He didn’t like me keeping an eye on him.

His friend turned around to see who he was cussing – me.

Later, he came around to the front of the car.

His friend seemed more interested in the girl than anything else, including pulling up his pants.

The hypocritical media

Employees of Chuck’s were told to refuse entry to the side lot where pro-gun folks were rallying for anyone without a FOID card.  This was in an effort to keep out troublemakers from the other side.

Personally, I thought that was a tactical mistake.  You shouldn’t block the media from getting the pro-gun side of the story.

Anyway, both “Evelyn” and the two videographers all produced either FOID cards or Concealed Carry Licenses.

Imagine that, right?  The very reporter who extolls the virtues of gun control uses guns for self-protection.

Not only that, but this TV cameraman from Channel 2 was a member of the NRA as well!

God bless him!

They did a nice job interviewing a wide range of people inside the pro-gun area.

It was all pretty much for nothing though.

The anti-gun bias came out for all to see in the reports of the event.

Protesters take aim at ‘bad apple’ gun dealers at Chuck’s Gun Shop in Riverdale by Evelyn Holmes from ABC7.   From a woman who has guns for self-defense, here’s Ms. Holmes giving the pro-gun side one quote and mis-reporting where we came from.  12.37% of her story explored the pro-gun side of the story.  0% of her story rebutted the Brady Campaign’s claims.

The gun shop also had their supporters out.

“The problem isn’t Chuck’s,” said Jim McNally. “The problem is criminals. Criminals don’t obey gun laws.”

Fawning over Jesse Jackson

Don’t get between Jesse Jackson and media cameras.

But he didn’t have to go looking for them at this event.  They wanted his soundbites from start to finish.

When he arrived, he got a hug from the woman from ABC7.  He gave her a kiss on the cheek.  No worries about impartiality, right?

What’s more, after the buses left, Jackson was still holding court with his admiring mainstream media sycophants.

Jackson spotted a box of donuts.  They offered him one.  Or a dozen.

But first, one of the media guys looked around and saw me, an unfamiliar face in their little huddle.

He pondered it for a moment, then cracked open the box for Jesse.

Jesse didn’t take any.  He was looking for one with coconut sprinkles on top.