Sangamon County GSL is back at SCHEELS on October 5
Ignore the meeting box in the October GunNews. The Air Combat Museum listing for October, November, and December was a typo. That venue was September only, after SCHEELS closed early for Labor Day.
Sangamon County Guns Save Life is back where it belongs: SCHEELS, 3801 S. MacArthur Blvd., Springfield. Monday, October 5. Come early, eat, talk, then stay for the program. Meetings are free and open to the public.
Josh Witkowski of the Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources will walk through the carnival sideshow that is Springfield. Yes, we have a governor who says Chicago is not even in the top 30 most murderous cities in America. Chicago is sitting just shy of 300 homicides this year. That is more bodies, year-to-date, than 34 entire states posted in all of last year. If you want the unfiltered version of how that kind of math becomes “public safety” law, Witkowski is the guy who works the building.
John Boch will cover the rest: Viramontes oral argument on December 2, what a win actually does to PICA and your dealer, the Post Office carry injunction for SAF and FPC members, and the rest of the litigation pile Illinois gun owners are living in.
Fatcat nepo baby JB Pritzker says President Trump is lying about violent crime in Chicago.
Chicago has already seen 1,200 shootings and 360 homicides in the first nine months of this year.
But Pritzker thinks there are some tourists downtown, so everything’s fine. pic.twitter.com/kqaORLgIoV
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 17, 2025
Chicago crime so far this year:
Shot & killed: 235
Shot & wounded: 1,069
Total Shot: 1,304
Homicides: 282What is Illinois Governor JB Pritzker focused on?
Requiring every public university in the state to provide abortion pills to students. pic.twitter.com/N5xGChPsuJ
— Christian Collins (@CollinsforTX) August 29, 2025
Grab a stack of the October GunNews while you are there. That issue is not filler. It is the briefing packet:
- William English’s new National Firearms Survey: 26.4 million adults currently own an AR-style rifle, a majority of gun owners have magazines over 10 rounds, and about 2.2 million defensive gun uses a year.
- What a Viramontes holding kills immediately, what still needs an injunction, and why “drive over at lunch and buy a new AR” is not the plan.
- Post Office carry is now legal for SAF and FPC members at ordinary post offices. Non-members can join and get covered.
- The Freeport follow-up: a mother stopped a knife-wielding 13-year-old in her living room, the system bagged her gun, and the invader’s family organized a “Justice for Jasiyah” rally. Read it before you ever give a statement after a good shoot.
- Hospital parking garages and ER driveways are not safe spaces. UI Health, Northwestern, Endeavor Swedish — Illinois already wrote the examples.
- “Half-Sack”: why appendix carry still points at the parts that keep you walking.
- Fire Safety Month: the extinguisher you already own is useless if you do not know the class, the gauge, or PASS.
SCHEELS has the room, the cafe, and Illinois’ largest gun counter if you want to wander before the meeting. Bring a friend who still thinks Springfield will “fix” PICA if we ask nicely.
Sangamon County Guns Save Life
Monday, October 5
SCHEELS, 2nd floor
3801 S. MacArthur Blvd., Springfield, IL 62711
Dinner and conversation first. Program after. No charge to attend.
We defend your right to defend yourself. Show up.