Roughly 300 Land of Lincoln patriots rolled into Springfield on April 15th for this year’s IGOLD — Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day.
A solid core of fighters made the trek, but where the hell was everybody else? The seats should’ve been packed wall-to-wall with freedom-loving Illinoisans ready to roar. Instead, the place felt half-empty, and that silence is deafening. Heck, we’ve had almost as many people at some of our monthly GSL meetings in the past.
David McDermott dropped some serious red-pill wisdom on the crowd, backed by his partner Irena Stefanovski. No fluff — just straight talk on what it really takes to keep from getting victimized by the criminal justice system in Illinois after you use force after being victimized by a criminal. We need to codify “Stand Your Ground” in Illinois to raise public awareness of its existence in our increasingly hostile state.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Good: Hats off to the ISRA for stepping up and sponsoring the event again. Somebody’s gotta carry the torch, and they did. Respect.
Also good: Props to the NRA-ILA for showing up and pressing the flesh. Thank you Fritz Fritzgerald (say that ten times in a hurry). We love the NRA 2.0 leadership.
The Bad: Only one kid of school age or younger in the whole crowd (check the feature photo — you know the one). I could’ve tripled that number, but my soon-to-be ex-wife dragged the kids off on a birthday trip. Next year, they’re coming — no excuses.
Where are the younger gun owners? Clearly, most didn’t think showing up to defend their future rights was a priority. That’s a massive red flag heading into November. If memory serves, less than half of Illinois gun owners even bothered voting in 2024. And get this: 700,000 of them aren’t even registered to vote. Seven hundred thousand armed citizens sitting on the sidelines while their rights get torched? That’s not a movement — that’s a surrender in slow motion.
Also bad: The audience overwhelmingly believed Illinois is a “Duty to Retreat” state. I was straight-up appalled. Guns Save Life members know better — and if you don’t, you need to find yourself a better concealed carry instructor AND brush up on the real deal law in Illinois. Illinois is not a stand-your-ground state by statute, but instead by Illinois Supreme Court precedent. (Spoiler alert: Hammond v. People) Ignorance like this gets good people in trouble and a felony status.
The Ugly: Springfield is looking rough. Unmowed lots, the old Hilton and the rest of the block across the street boarded up like a war zone, and sketchy characters loitering on the sidewalks. ISRA wisely brought in off-duty cops in uniform for security inside… but next year?
Post a couple of them a block or two out in every direction. Make sure the good guys don’t get rolled walking back to their cars. (I wasn’t sweating the two mopes I spotted — I didn’t plan on going through magnetometers — but most folks did.)
Really Ugly: Bob Fioretti was there, smiling like he belongs. Yeah, that Bob Fioretti — the guy now running for Illinois Attorney General as a Republican.
Remember him? He marched arm-in-arm with Father Pfleger — Chicago’s most infamous gun-grabbing priest, the one who publicly suggested assassinating John Riggio, owner of Chuck’s Guns — alongside Jesse Jackson.
All to try and shut down a lawful gun shop. Now this same character is running for the state’s top law enforcement job… on the Republican ticket.
I’m not sure if the Dems are secretly funding this circus to guarantee Kwame Raoul’s re-election (which was never really in doubt), but it sure smells like a setup. Either way, gun owners should be paying very close attention.
I wouldn’t urinate on this guy if his toupee was on fire, much less vote for him.
Hints for Next Year (ISRA, Are You Listening?)
If leadership changes or they finally decide to crank this thing up to eleven, here’s some straight talk:
- Save the cash. Ditch the oversized venue. Rent something that fits 250-400 people max… unless you actually commit to #2.
- Bring IGOLD back to its roots — a true coalition of ALL the gun groups, ranges, and clubs across Illinois. Shared podium time. Shared promo. Free tables for non-profits. Give people real ownership and input. That builds turnout. Right now it feels like an ISRA-only show, and that limits how big this can get. Are we here to make a profit, or to flood Springfield with gun owners and scare the hell out of anti-gun politicians?
- Don’t negotiate anti-gun bills. Period. Don’t help them make a bad bill better. Don’t even think about doing it. Don’t help those who do. Draw the damn line.
Illinois gun owners have the numbers. We have the tools. What we need now is fire in the belly and boots on the ground. November is coming fast. If 300 is the best we can do when our rights are under daily assault, we’re in bigger trouble than we think.
Next year, we should all work together to make IGOLD impossible to ignore. Show up. Bring the kids. Bring your friends. Bring the energy.
The fight isn’t optional.
Lock and load, Illinois. See you in Springfield in 2027 — and this time, let’s fill the damn place.
Well, past events had literally thousands in attendance. What did it get us, other than a big middle finger from Jumbo Prickster and the rest of the Democrat clown show? They laugh and spit in our faces. People start seeing it as pointless.
Was Pritzker in office way back when we had those big crowds?
You are correct. We also had a General Assembly that wasn’t a super majority. ISRA has turned this into the Richard Pearson show. People see it as pointless because it is. The ISRA needs to move past this yearly embarrassment and figure out a better way to accomplish gun owner representation in Springfield. But they won’t.
To be honest, I’m surprised Boch even attended.
Cool story, bro! Quick, correction for the record – the kids weren’t on a birthday trip. They were at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital with their mother Wendy, because Owen, who was born with CFC syndrome requires ongoing specialized medical care.
While their mother was making sure her medically fragile child was taken care of someone was here posting misinformation, and apparently wishing they could use those same kids as political props. Isn’t it telling that someone apparently didn’t have any interest in knowing where his kids were or why, but their mother sure did. Priorities are certainly something aren’t they?
Cool story, sis! But let’s torch this fairy tale with some actual facts instead of divorce-war fan fiction.
No, it wasn’t some urgent “medically fragile emergency” that required dragging both kids to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Mom straight-up called it a birthday trip. And hauling the healthy twin brother along for the ride? That wasn’t medically necessary — it was a choice.
Owen has CFC syndrome, sure. But the doctors treating him have repeatedly said his case is mild — so mild that specialists have been stunned at how well he’s doing and even wondered how he got diagnosed in the first place, since his symptoms are minimal and genetic testing is expensive as hell (insurance fights it tooth and nail). He’s not the fragile little victim you’re painting. He’s a joyful, fun-loving kid who lights up every room — not “the CFC crippled kid” for sympathy points.
Funny how every toxic divorce suddenly features one parent screaming “narcissist” while the other cosplays as the saintly single mom with a “sick kid.” Classic script.
Now let’s destroy this pathetic little jab:
“Someone apparently didn’t have any interest in knowing where his kids were or why…”
What a load of self-righteous garbage. That’s rich coming from the side that loves keeping the other parent in the dark, then weaponizing the resulting lack of information to paint him as uncaring. You don’t get to hide details, obstruct communication, and then smugly complain that the other parent “didn’t know.” That’s not a flex on priorities — that’s textbook high-conflict divorce manipulation.
Priorities? Real priorities look like actually co-parenting instead of playing martyr while dragging the kids into the narrative. Wanting to take my own children to the Illinois State Capitol to watch the political process in action isn’t “using them as props.” It’s called being a father who wants his kids informed, engaged, and prepared for the real world — not sheltered and weaponized in a custody battle.
Accusing someone of not caring while the other parent controls the flow of information and then attacks for the information gap? That’s not just dishonest — it’s straight-up slimy.
Bottom line: Stop twisting a mild, well-managed condition into a divorce weapon. Owen deserves to be known as the awesome kid he is, not reduced to a sympathy prop. Teaching children about how government actually works isn’t exploitation — it’s responsible parenting.
Next time, get the full story before running your mouth. The kids deserve way better than this one-sided misery parade.
I was a ISRA life member, but I returned my membership card. At the same time I also stopped attending IGOLD after Richard Pearson, and the ISRA, backed the FOID card when there was an opportunity to get it overturned. Pearson personally told me at a meeting in Pittsfield, he thought the FOID cards were a good idea. I will not be a part of IGOLD or the ISRA until Pearson is gone. I think ISRA leadership has lost touch with what their gun owner base truly wants.
You made a wise decision. The leadership bows to his royal highness Richard Pearson and simply nods and ok’s whatever outdated or ludicrous policies or schemes he can dream up. IGOLD is no longer about the Illinois gun owner, it is an opportunity for Pearson to get his ego stroked by the audience, the guest speaker, and the few smiley gladhand politicians who come out and speak in front of the capital building.
Every year, it gets worse and worse. ISRA is a major problem in Illinois, from defending the FOID card when it could have been abolished to supporting the NFA ban to supporting the Red Flag Law. They are about Richard and begging for money to pay him and his decrees. They are certainly no friend to the Illinois gun owner.
Glad you mentioned negotiations. That is what brought us to today. Not understanding who they were talking to or how the game is played really showed the amateur status of ISRA. Haven’t seen anything since then that would change my opinion. They’re just as naive today as they were then. I have no confidence in that organization.