The Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day was envisioned and later started in 2007 through the work of one Guns Save Life member: Emery “Gene” Martin.
Gene was a great man. He was an inspiring coach of young people for many years, and inspiring in his insatiable passion for the Second Amendment.
He brought together every Illinois gun rights group and got us all working together as a team. One could say it was like herding cats on the best of days. Gene Martin herded those cats – even overcoming bruised egos and hard feelings of the past – to get everyone on the same page of music and marching to the same beat – just as he would his Unity High School athletic teams over the years. It was truly a renaissance for the gun rights movement in Illinois.
Guns Save Life embraced the IGOLD event with both arms from Day One.
- We contributed cash – up to $2,000 each and every year in a direct donation to the Illinois State Rifle Association to offset costs of the event. Some years it hurt to donate so much, but we made it happen.
- Each year, we donated thousands of dollars’ worth of publicity. IGOLD has been prominently featured in nearly 200,000 copies of GSL’s monthly journal GunNews, including high-value, front-page real estate.
- We lined up media promotion of the event in the mainstream media, including print and radio.
- We sponsored dozens of buses over the years, at a cost of roughly $1200 per bus, sometimes more. Yes, we asked for donations, but we still lost money on bus sponsorships most years.
- We promoted the event to our members, families and friends at our meetings across Illinois, ginning up excitement for the event.
- Our members volunteered on the day of the event to act as “hosts” and “guides” to help gun owners get to where they needed to go in an orderly manner.
This year, we’re sitting out the event.
There was an unfortunate incident at last year’s march, and later, towards the end of the event, Guns Save Life was invited not to return. Numerous and repeated efforts to communicate with The Illinois State Rifle Association, Illinois Carry, and IGOLD spokeswoman Valinda Rowe in order to resolve these issues have been completely ignored for ten months now. We haven’t been able to secure a meeting, much less a negotiated solution.
We are frustrated and saddened by this. But alas, we recognize that for some, growth and success in the Second Amendment community sometimes leads to a growth of egos.
Rest assured, we’re not abandoning our members and gun owners in Springfield and at the state capital. Far from it, in fact.
Springfield is the site of our newest Guns Save Life satellite meeting location – and fastest growing, with well over 100 people turning out on the first Monday of each month at the magnificent Sheels store conference room.
We’re still going to ask our members, and other gun owners to contact specific public policy makers at critical times. Frankly, this targeted action (pun intended) is far more effective at shaping public policy than simply holding a flag-waving rally – especially one ignored by the mainstream media. Sure, IGOLD makes gun owners feel good, but ask yourself does it really influence or shape public policy towards meaningful change?
We’re also not off the reservation with the National Rifle Association or the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. They support what we are doing.
What’s more, Guns Save Life has a great working relationship with both the NRA and the NRA-ILA. They’ve embraced Guns Save Life and our public work educating and influencing our fellow Americans into becoming better, smarter citizens. They also support our work behind the scenes influencing public policy makers and their decision-making. We are humbled and honored that NRA thought well enough of us to suggest us as the organizational plaintiff in the Guns Save Life v. Ali suit against the Cook County ammo and gun tax.
We will continue to work on behalf of our members and Illinois’ 2 million gun owners. We’ll champion our cause in Springfield, working in concert with the NRA. While a handful may bristle at this, we’re reminded of the old expression “you are known by the company you keep”. Working seamlessly alongside the NRA to jointly shape public policy in Illinois is good enough for us.
Thank you for reading.
May God bless America and her gun owners.
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