The ICHV is organizing a central Illinois chapter in Champaign, IL, trying to put together a group of well-meaning gullible folks to work against their own civil rights.
They are already using deception and sleight of hand, claiming they have an office suite at a Champaign, IL address (we’re not going to link to them and drive traffic their way). In reality, their “suite” is nothing more than a private mailbox at a UPS Store. We have to give them credit though as the “rent” on their office “suite” is probably pretty reasonable.
They need inexpensive office space as last we knew, ICHV closed their Springfield office in 2010 and fired the secretary to save money. They also ditched their lobbyist in Springfield as well that year.
Judging by their website, they fired their internet person as well.
So today they are back with a paid employee trying to organize a Central Illinois chapter of the Illinois Coalition Against (Hand)Guns.
We don’t think for a moment that ICHV randomly picked a city in Illinois to set up shop.
Why Champaign?
Champaign was one of the only cities in Illinois that held a satellite Million Mom March outside of Cook County in May 2000. Never mind that the one-hundred or so self-defense opponents marched smack dab into scores of pro-civil rights activists carrying Old Glory and bearing positive messages and nearly got themselves arrested before being turned back by police.
The look on their faces when they saw us was priceless.
Anyway, what ever happened to one of the most active local MMM chapters?
Well, we wrote about them in June 2002’s issue of GunNews Magazine.
TyrannyWatch
Champaign County Million Mom March organization nearly comatose as interest in victim disarmament ebbs
(Guns Save Life) – Today, Champaign County’s Million Mom March organization is virtually on life-support after a big splash two years ago on Mother’s Day.
The “Million Mom March” of 2000 saw local Champaign-Urbana anti-self-defense activists turn out about two hundred well-meaning but often underinformed men and women, along with another hundred plus children and more than a few aspiring gun-grabber political candidates.
Following that event, interest and participation in the CCMMM group has decayed like a big, smelly goldfish in the desert sun.
Fooling the uninformed
It remains clear that many people are afraid of firearms (and firearm owners) because they don’t understand guns. Groups like the CCMMM contribute to this misunderstanding by publicizing inaccurate data and deceptions, often times as “studies,” to further scare and mislead the uninformed. Many well-meaning people hear these half-truths and are understandably concerned about criminal misuse of guns.It is this uninformed, but well-meaning concern that brought out scores of families to hear the local moms back in 2000. However, since then, it’s been all downhill. Interest in their montly meetings waned to the point that they meet only occasionally and irregularly.
CCMMM activists also staged a “First Monday” event in October 2000 at the Illini Union on the UI campus. One of their featured speakers was almost 30 minutes late. Even worse, only a half dozen people participated in that event – a complete embarrassment for the organizers.
One of their last newsletters came out in early 2001. It cried about Illinois de facto permit-to-carry of unloaded, encased firearms by FOID holders. The letter urged their members to contact their local representatives with erroneous information to urge them to oppose the right of self-defense for certified, carry carrying good guys here in Illinois. It’s regrettable they aren’t as enthusiastic about ending the criminal misuse of firearms.
The Moms did try briefly to emulate the phenomenal success of CCRA / GSL. They flirted with taking “www.gunstakelife.com” for their website, but instead went with the low-cost (free?) option of having a website on Prairienet.
In another incident at the Farmer’s Market in Urbana, a couple of gun bigots were dumbfounded when an elderly man approached their table and loudly berated them, snatching a stack of their propaganda and storming away.
One leader of the local moms reportedly wanted to buy a pistol (a Smith and Wesson revolver because of “the agreement” in effect at the time) so that she could then claim knowledge of guns and gun safety “as a handgun owner.” However, the thought of bringing a handgun to her home troubled her. She was worried that the gun would just “go off” (you know, like you read in those “it just went off” gun accidents in your newspaper) and injure or kill a family member. To prevent that, she floated the idea of taking the gun apart to the smallest parts and putting the pieces inside the walls of her house.
More recently, friends of the CCMMM organization belonging to the Champaign County Health Care Consumers held a press conference (see article below) to publicize the fact that firearms played a role in seven (count ’em folks, seven) murder suicides in Illinois last year. Ignoring the tens of thousands of crimes prevented – and hundreds of lives saved by firearms and their owners, they once again exploit the fears of the uninformed. They urged people to rid their home of firearms to prevent these murder-suicides. Using this logic, maybe if we rid certain homes of insulin we could eliminate diabetes!
Thankfully, for the second year in a row, there was no “Dozen Mom March” assailing our liberty and civil rights in Champaign-Urbana on Mother’s Day.
Murder-suicides, guns “linked”
Champaign-Urbana, IL (Daily Illini) – Gun control activists commemorated the three-year anniversary of the Columbine school shooting by releasing a report that links handguns and violent crimes.
The Champaign County Health Care Consumers presented findings of a recently released study on murder-suicides on Friday at the Champaign County Coroner’s Office. The study, titled “American Roulette,” was completed and released by the Violence Policy Center.
The study documented and recorded incidents of murder and suicide throughout the country through analysis of newspaper clippings during the first six months of 2001.
Brooke A. Anderson, one of the presenters and gun regulation project manager of Champaign County Health Care Consumers, admitted limitations existed in collecting data but that the study managed to convey the widespread effects of murder-suicides.
John Boch of the Champaign County Rifle Association said he gives little credence to the study because he feels it lacks legitimacy.
“It is really a simple report written up in a way that makes their position sound scientific and legitimate, when in fact it is really a collection of personal opinions opposing the rights of law-abiding Americans,” Boch said.
Boch said most gun opponents base their assertions on fear or lack of understanding.
“Guns are emotion-invoking objects to most people,” he said. “Many people who don’t understand them fear them. They fear what they don’t understand or don’t know.”
“America has a tendency to glorify violence,” she said. “But in none of the clips are you going to get the message ‘take your guns out of your homes to protect yourself.'”