Open Letter to My State Legislators

I ask that you vote in favor of House Bill 7 and/or Senate Bill 27 which are intended to keep Firearm Owner Identification Card information confidential.

Publicizing the names of gun owners throughout Illinois will create problems, not solve them.

First, it will cause any number of people who now own firearms legally to simply refuse to register, or re-register themselves. Because the FOID card is required for legal weapon and ammunition purchases, as people decide not to register, the black market for guns and ammunition will expand. This will increase the number of weapons bought and sold illegally in the state and criminalize those individuals who would otherwise follow the law by obtaining an FOID card.

Second, if firearm owner information is allowed to become public, those individuals will be at risk of being targeted by thieves looking to steal guns. The reverse is also true. Those residents without a FOID card will be seen as vulnerable for burglary because they, apparently, do not have a registered weapon.

Finally, what purpose is served by allowing the news media, or anyone else, to have the names of legally registered gun owners?

Since the FOID card program began in the 1960’s, law-abiding citizens have registered with the understanding that their information will be kept confidential. I submit it is a great disservice to them to release their names. I realize the opinion from Attorney General Madigan considers that only the names of FOID card holders are “public information.” With the ready availability of search engines, however, their addresses and other information about them can be easily obtained by the news media or anyone else.

I also ask what sort of precedent this sets for the potential release of other confidential information held by the state. If the Attorney General believes the Open Records Act allows the media to have access to FOID card documentation, what will they request next?

Why Does the A.P. Want A List of Illinois Gun Owners?

I was startled to see a story in today's Tribune that the Associated Press wants a list of all gun owners in Illinois and has filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act to get it.

And Attorney General Lisa Madigan, daughter of the most powerful Democrat in Illinois, House Speaker Michael Madigan, says sure, let's give it to them.

To own a gun in Illinois the state requires we register ourselves by obtaining a Firearm Owner Identification Card. The Illinois State Police, however, maintains the registry and has, apparently, taken issue with Madigan's order to release the information.

I agree with, and applaud, the State Police.

I can't think of any reason the A.P. would want the list other than to make it public. It's pretty obvious they want to do a story about the evil that lurks in every lawful gun owner's home. Probably in some misguided attempt to save us from ourselves. Their reason, of course, will be that they want to assure that the process is working as it should. How will they do that? Why publish the list, of course. Maybe run some random background checks, too.

First of all, that's an invasion of privacy. Second, it is an invitation to burglars everywhere, even though Madigan is quoted as saying gun owners' addresses should remain private. How long do you suppose it will take the media, with all the online data bases it has access to, to acquire every shred of information about individual gun owners that it wants?

Thus, burglars who are so inclined will know just where to go to get what they want.

Of course, any halfway intelligent thief will also understand that, if there's a gun in the house there's also a decent chance the owner of said firearm will choose to use it, rather than lose it.

It's the dummies I worry about. And there are far more stupid thieves than there are smart ones.

There are also the anti-gunners to worry about. What sorts of mischief will they cook up for us once they have our names?

This sort of ruling also makes me think the National Rifle Association and other groups are not so wrong in believing that liberal-leaning lawmakers would love to pass a law allowing the seizure of all firearms. Wouldn't this be a logical start to such a process?

Illinois already has among the toughest, if not the toughest, firearms laws in the United States.

Why put the lawful owners of firearms at risk of becoming victims of theft or worse by publishing a list that, rightfully, should remain private?

"Curveball's" Curveball, Lara Logan's Beating, Drew Peterson Live

"Curveball" lied.

Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, an Iraqi defector, has admitted to The Guardian newspaper that he lied to U.S. officials about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction program because he wanted to "get rid of" Sadaam Hussein. Codenamed "Curveball," al-Janabi was one of the sources cited by the CIA and others in the Bush Administration as justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

None of this comes as any surprise and "Curveball" wasn't the only one making stuff up. Others came forward with little or no proof, too. The Administration was looking for an excuse to go to war. A large percentage of Americans were ready to get revenge for 9/11. Thus ... we got a war. And all the horrific casualties that go along with it.

Speaking of casualties, Lara Logan is the latest high-profile journalist to report suffering beatings and worse covering what amounted to a war zone in Eqypt, the day Mubarek announced he was leaving the Presidency. Anderson Cooper also claimed to have been beaten. Many other journalists were attacked covering the Egyptian tumult, often by government forces intent on getting revenge against the foreign media for just showing up.

It's awful and inexcusable that journalists become victims. But it is also inescapable fact in such situations and Cooper, Logan and the others knew the risks they faced. Were their injuries worth the risk? Was their reporting part of the reason Mubarek left office? I'm guessing they would say it was.

Drew Peterson, accused wife killer, will stay in jail today but his lawyers will be arguing before the 3rd District Court of Appeals that the "hearsay" evidence presented in a hearing several months ago should be ruled inadmissable. At issue is a new Illinois statute permitting the use of hearsay evidence in certain situations. Today's arguments break new ground in that they will be televised live.

I think the Appellate Court will throw out the hearsay evidence and that, eventually, Peterson will be set free.

The risks and realities of the legal system.

"Chicago Code" No "Shield"

Shawn Ryan set the cop-show bar pretty high with The Shield. Expectations were that his new Chicago Code would be just as gritty and high tension.

If the pilot episode is an example of where Code is headed, it'll be dumped in the river by the fourth or fifth show.

The production values are terrific. Chicago Code looks like a feature film and the city shines. However...

A couple of dum-dum things struck me immediately. A chase scene, wherein the balls-to-the-wall detective instructs his partner to ram their unmarked car into the front of a line of several marked squads chasing the bad guy...is something out of Starsky and Hutch. Pulling up beside the bad guy so the detective can "negotiate" with him was ludicrous; it might have worked with snappier dialogue. "Escorting" the bad guy to see his girlfriend before taking him down . . .would get any real cop fired. Again, had the dialog been better...might have worked. It wasn't and it didn't. It just reminded me of the "Jared" commercial where the football player has tears in his eyes watching the guy propose to his girlfriend.

The main problem with Code...the characters lack motivation and aren't likeable. I have no problem with a female police superintendent...but her sudden desire to establish an anti-corruption squad isn't well enough established in the lame voiceover that opens the show. It's explained, yes, but without heart. The lead detective is so cliche (read cocky and unpleasant), it hurts to watch him struggle through his scenes. McGarrett in Five-O is arrogant, too, but his character is given great dialogue and a cast of equally strong co-stars.

Delroy Lindo, as Code's wicked alderman, has potential. He looks like the Devil in a nice suit. There's a bit at the end of the episode where he instructs his secretary/assistant to "kiss my ear" that's nicely malevolent and tells us a great deal about him.

But when you establish the bad guy as a corrupt politician with life and death power over a city like Chicago, the good guys at least gotta have potential. So far, the rest of the cast gives me no reason to think they have the balls to go up against this guy.

The Shield's pilot hooked me in the opening scenes. Chicago Code has a long way to go.

Should George Be At Lura Lynn's Bedside?

Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich suggests today that convicted former Governor George Ryan be allowed to spend more time with his reportedly dying wife, Lura Lynn.

Ryan is serving time in federal prison. He's been allowed one short visit to her bedside already.

Schmich's column has generated hundreds of comments which, of course, was the intention. Whether she sincerely believes her argument or is making it for the purpose of "sellin' papers" is something only she knows. But she says society isn't punishing George by keeping him from his terribly sick wife, we're punishing her.

The fact that Schmich and so many others care about the lovely former First Lady of Illinois is wonderful. By all accounts, she's led a good life and has been a great wife and mother. And it goes without saying that anyone who is dying deserves to be surrounded by their loved ones.

Unfortunately, through no fault of hers, Lura Lynn Ryan happens to be the wife of someone doing time.

When an individual is convicted of a crime and goes to prison, it's said their family goes to prison with them. It is an unintended but unavoidable cruelty of the criminal justice system. Fallout, some would call it. Collateral damage.

Schmich never explains why she's asking for mercy specifically for Lura Lynn Ryan.

Aren't the ill and suffering spouses of other convicts just as worthy of our concern? If we're going to ask for mercy for Lura Lynn Ryan, let's include all of the mothers and fathers who are dying. All the sons and daughters, too. The grandchildren.

Surely they're just as deserving, aren't they?

Or is it just because Lura Lynn Ryan is the wife of a prominent person that Schmich thinks she should be shown special consideration?

Or maybe she thinks of George as a big ol' teddy bear. When I covered the Illinois General Assembly, George was Speaker of the House. Because of his surly voice and manner, some of us called him "George of the Statehouse," mimicking the cute "George of the Jungle" cartoon and song.

George of the Federal Pen isn't cute. He's well known, but he certainly isn't special nor deserving of any sort of extras. He's a convicted criminal doing time for heinous acts.

And like other convicts, his family, sick or well, good people or bad, must suffer for his actions right alongside him.

Add Lura Lynn Ryan to your prayers, Mary Schmich.

That's the best and only thing we can do for her.

The Politics of Murder

A US Congresswoman is shot in the brain, 6 others are killed including a nine-year old girl and a federal judge and a dozen people wounded in an attack at the most unexpected of all places, a supermarket parking lot.

The immediate response...political finger pointing. The basic argument: hate mongering, both from the left and the right, is partially to blame.

I don't disagree.

I've said it before. We are a society furious with ourselves. Republicans AND Democrats, office-holders and pundits, ramp up the fear and hate while more media outlets than ever in history gleefully repeat their rants in a never-ending cycle of vicious attacks and violent slander.

And we're surprised that some viewers/watchers/readers are reacting with actual violence to what they perceive as a call to arms? When you touch fire to kindling, don't you expect it to ignite?

FBI Director Robert Mueller made the point in a news conference from Tucson today that, by virtue of the internet, "Hate speech is more available to individuals . . .the lone wolves, particularly,...than it was even eight to ten years ago." The Pima County Sheriff concurs, adding that hate speech has a special impact on "people with unbalanced personalities."

Put more directly, whackjobs who used to cover their windows with aluminum foil and scream at their televisions have started packing pistols and acting out in public.

How do you identify those whackjobs? We all know a few. Should we lock them all up? Some unstable individuals certainly should be hospitalized. If they don't appear to pose a danger to themselves or others, good luck. Won't happen. President Ronald Reagan and every administration since has made sure of that.

The obvious kneejerk reaction, then? Keep the nuts from getting guns. An easy and, in some quarters, popular call to make which carries no practical weight whatsoever. Short of banning handguns outright, what would you have lawmakers and gun sellers do?

It would be great if gunshops could install a whackdoodle detector to identify those customers with murderous intent. Some states, such as Illinois, require a waiting period between purchase and acquisition. That certainly helps avoid spur of the moment incidents but patience will out. The shooter in Arizona reportedly bought his handgun in November. No waiting period is that long. If it were, the really determined would . . . wait. Or buy illegally.

Bottom line, no Congress and no state legislature will ever be successful in an effort to ban handgun sales to the public. Just will not happen. And it shouldn't.

Many today have called for better protection for members of Congress and the federal judiciary. Bodyguards, as it were. I imagine we'll hear a great deal about that proposal in the next few weeks, just as we heard calls for better national security in the wake of 9/11. Frankly, it's a great idea but entirely cost prohibitive. Even a notoriously narcissistic Congress will never spend the money. Individual lawmakers may decide to personally take action and hire their own security personnel. It will be a short-lived solution because, frankly, after a few months with no problems and high overhead, they won't want to keep paying the bills. A couple of lawmakers vow to carry guns when they're in their home districts. I hope they're properly trained. Eventually, though, the guns will be left in desk drawers or glove compartments.

So...what's the overall solution. How do we keep such awful things from happening again?

Quick answer...we will do nothing useful. Sure there will be some short term responses and some cosmetic changes.

The fury won't subside. Guns won't go away. Armed guards cost too much.

And a year from now, what happened yesterday, just like 9/11, will be a fading memory.

Until the next time.

Grief and Respect During the Holidays

This has been an unusual Christmas season. We've lost a few public faces and one from the neighborhood as well.

Ron Santo. Even if you weren't a Cub fan, you couldn't help knowing who he was. I was impressed and touched by the way he handled the way his diabetes ravaged his body. Both legs amputated and yet he continued working, continued cheering his beloved Cubs. He showed courage and grace.

Elizabeth Edwards, who died yesterday at 61. Diagnosed with breast cancer she continued working in her husband's campaigns, first for Vice President and then for President. She dealt with the death of her son. Eventually, she faced her husband's infidelity. An impressive person, she is one of my heroes.

So too was comedian Leslie Nielsen. He came to real celebrity with the movie "Airplane," and followed it with the "Naked Gun" series. Slapstick humor and goofy lines defined him as a guy who embraced his inner clown. He loved silliness, as do I.

My neighbor from across the street died last week, too. Izzy was a quiet fellow with, it's an understatement to say, a loving and devoted family. His death brought literally hundreds of people to our neighborhood to mourn him and comfort his wife, including many of the staff members from the care home where he finished out his days. One of them said she usually never attends the wakes of patients but Izzy's good humor and kindness made him special. I'd known him for twenty-plus years just as someone to visit with at the end of the driveway but I mourn the loss of a friend. He was one of the good guys.

Rest in Peace.