John, Shannon, Ericweb — Guns Save Life Executive Director John Boch, National Rifle Association – Institute for Legislative Action Illinois Liaison Shannon Alford and Guns Save Life President Bear St. Pierre at the Peoria GSL meeting after a day lobbying at the Illinois State Capitol.

There is an old expression in politics: “How does it play in Peoria?” It refers to how a given topic plays to average Americans.

The NRA-ILA must be well-loved by average Americans as Guns Save Life Peoria enjoyed a record turn-out last night.

A hundred or more people – men, women and a few young people, turned out to participate in grassroots gun rights activism in the Peoria area.

Shannon Alford, the NRA-Institute for Legislative Action’s Illinois liaison, was one of our main speakers. She shared her background around not only gun ownership, but also how her parents in Maryland taught her that with ownership comes responsibility.

Then she explained how ‘responsibility’ meant to help protect and defend gun rights from the relentless onslaught of those working to peel away our liberties and freedoms.

She related that at her high school graduation breakfast, each graduating senior had to step up to the microphone and say, “In twenty years, I’m going to be …”. Her answer: “In twenty years, I’m going to be a lobbyist for the NRA.”

“I made it just under the wire,” she laughed, coming in just before Illinois entered into that big battle over the type and scope of what our new concealed carry law would look like. “The court decision said only that Illinois must adopt a carry bill. It didn’t say what type of carry would be required and the other states ranged from constitutional carry to highly restrictive ‘may issue’ schemes like that in Hawaii where exactly one person has ever been issued a license. We weren’t guaranteed anything other than some form of carry law.”

She elaborated that some in Illinois politics wanted a highly-restrictive “may issue” law while she, Todd and the pro-gun folks fought for a “shall issue” law. What we got was a mostly “shall issue” law. It allowed for things like keeping your gun in your car even on a prohibited location’s property (a big battle in many states), and carry in restaurants that serve alcohol (another big battle in some states). We got strong language on posting requirements, and on training issues to protect from rule-making that would later make the law much more restrictive through rule-making. No, it’s not perfect, but she explained, we did pretty well considering the legislative makeup of Illinois.

(Click for larger size above or below)

Also Susan Sanders delivered a terrific presentation about opportunities available at the Peoria Skeet and Trap Club – for men, women and kids. They’ve got a lot of talent at that club, including some national champions and at least one Hall of Famer, and they delight in teaching new shooters how to shoot skeet and trap. They’ve also got a busy season chock full of matches, championships, registered shoots and even fundraising events.

Bear St. Pierre gave his President’s Report, talking about how volunteer opportunities allow our members to vastly expand their influence of people to hundreds or thousands of people with just a few hours’ time and effort (or hundreds of thousands with help on our sign program).

John Boch gave his Executive Director’s report, which included legislative issues, good news from across the country on Second Amendment issues, and noted how two former Guns Save Life members are making a huge difference for freedom and liberty both in Iowa and Florida.

And lastly, Wendy Boch promoted the 2016 HOOAH Deer Hunt for Heroes Golf Outing and fundraising dinner coming up on September 24th this year.

Did we mention that we give away a gun at every one of our grassroots meetings?

Dave Fike from Pekin won tonight’s gun, a Rock Island Armory Ultra Model 1911 45 automatic. It was provided by Terry Grawey of SIPCO in Peoria Heights.

It was a NICE gun.