"Mom's Demand Action" (aka Bloomberg) loses another one in Niles Illinois

[DonP]

The plans for building a new gun shop and firing range, in northwest suburban Niles, were on hold until the zoning board voted 5 to 2 to allow the project to proceed. The zoning board meeting heard from the public on both sides in 3 minutes speeches, the gun owners outnumbered the "Mom's" by about 3 to 1, with a lot of cops from Chicago and nearby suburbs there to support the range as well. The normally short and perfunctory meeting ran until midnight. to allow all who signed in to speak.

The original permits were approved and issued for the project, to be built in an empty industrial area of Niles, a couple of months ago, but the "Mom's" demanded a re-hearing on the project so their concerns could be heard. They were heard ... and rejected.

“The issue isn’t so much that the facility would be unsafe. There’s just a 'common sense' piece to this. Why would you want to increase the potential of having guns this close in proximity, less than a mile to a school,” said New Hope Academy Director Brandy Larrance. Since most gun stores won't allow anyone without an FOID card in, did they actually think that there will be dozens of kids walking the mile to the store and wandering around? So their argument is, "it's not unsafe, but I just don't like want one in my city".

“Legally, we have to look at gun sales as a legal thing to do. On the other hand, people are passionate about the killings in schools.. and the two are associated in a lot of people’s minds,” said Niles Village President Andrew Przybylo.

The mayor also said the board was looking for any factual data showing that gun ranges and stores create a real hazard and nothing was presented to prove that.

(The article on the front page of the Tribune the same morning, featuring the $1 million in additional legal fees Chicago must pay to the NRA may have had some influence on board members as well.)

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/clip/10341665/controversy-surrounds-new-gun-range-in-niles

[Frances]

1. I would not want this range so close to a school my kids attend

[DonP]

2. So, you have some hard evidence of the danger? Or just "Feel" uncomfortable?

Can you give us a few examples of cases where students were injured by a gun shop or range a mile away?

Do your kids wander a mile from their school and try to get into businesses they are not allowed in?

[gejohnston]

4. if it is or was a high school built between the world wars

it probably has a range built in, even in NYC. Why wouldn't you want a range that close to school?

[IronGate]

5. Why?

What possible danger to your kids could this range pose?

[NYC_SKP]

3. This reveals one of their tactics: press the fear, make guns scary, propagandize it.

Fearmongers, associate all guns with the handful of sad events of shootings at schools.

Lie about the actual number of school shooting, never give up, scare the people to get your way.

Assholes.

[Eleanors38]

6. Having been involved in activism, this is where you shine:

Public meetings and before councils. If you can't put together a march or rally, then do it at a town council or at city hall. If you can't at these regularly-scheduled fora, then your grass roots aren't very deep.

LEOs are probably happy about having a range, and likely it will be cheaper.

[DonP]

9. I got to make my little speech too.

It was interesting and very fulfilling, kind of like the feeling when you vote.

We each got 3 minutes.

Nobody on the pro side yelled or interrupted, but several of the "Mom's" booed and spoke up when they didn't like what was being said. They were gavelled down by the board and asked to respect the speakers.

Before the meeting started, the Mom's demanded out loud that the board throw the Illinois NRA and ISRA reps out of the public meeting, or at least not allow them to speak. The board refused. The irony of the Mom's, paid by Bloomberg, demanding that the NRA rep be thrown out because he was paid by the NRA was rich.

In fact he never did speak, didn't need to. Regular citizens did their own speaking and made the point.

This is about the 4th or 5th "Town Hall" that the Mom's have shown up at in the greater Chicago area and failed dismally. Only the 2nd one I've been to, but the pattern seems to be the same at each one. Small Mom's turn out, ratio of pro 2nd folks ranging from 3 - 5 to 1. Gun owners show up early to make sure they get seats up front.

Mom's are asked for facts to support their point and they respond with "common sense "danger to our children" etc but no real examples. Somebody on the panel brings up the court costs issue and the track record of anti 2nd amendment cases, Mom's respond with the "save one child" meme.

I already got several e mails from my cop friends and family, about how nice it will be not to have to drive 45 minutes to get to a range from practice.

[IronGate]

12. Thanks for this first hand insight.

It just proves that MDA, ala, Bloomberg's ideas of gun control are bankrupt and Americans recognize this.

[NYC_SKP]

13. I guess they're not too thrilled with the First Amendment, either, asking to remove speakers.

Thanks for standing up for us at the meeting.

[DonP]

16. I actually think that doing that is what screwed them up.

We all heard it and you could see the people gritting their teeth and getting pissed off.

It was very "motivating" in it's own strange way, realizing the people you are facing are repressive fascists at heart.

Folks don't like Bloomberg and his bought and paid for minions screwing with any of our amendments.

[Eleanors38]

14. Striking, how the antis wanted to get rid of or silence 2A advocates,

Which resonates with what a number of controller/banners want in DU. Speaking of talking points.

[blueridge3210]

15. Otherwise known as "business as usual"

from the pro-control side. If they aren't wanting to deprive me of my civil rights they seem to be fantasizing about gun owners being shot. Yet, I'm supposed to be the intolerant bigot. Go figure.

[Duckhunter935]

17. Thanks for the first hand account

Proves what many of us have been saying about Bloomberg's paid reps.

[friendly_iconoclast]

18. Well done, and well said. Thanks again for standing up for us.

[pablo_marmol]

24. Good job, Don.

Thank you!

[virginia mountainman]

26. Exactly my experience with these sort of meetings myself.

Nobody on the pro side yelled or interrupted, but several of the "Mom's" booed and spoke up when they didn't like what was being said. They were gavelled down by the board and asked to respect the speakers.

Before the meeting started, the Mom's demanded out loud that the board throw the Illinois NRA and ISRA reps out of the public meeting, or at least not allow them to speak. The board refused. The irony of the Mom's, paid by Bloomberg, demanding that the NRA rep be thrown out because he was paid by the NRA was rich.

In fact he never did speak, didn't need to. Regular citizens did their own speaking and made the point.

This is about the 4th or 5th "Town Hall" that the Mom's have shown up at in the greater Chicago area and failed dismally. Only the 2nd one I've been to, but the pattern seems to be the same at each one. Small Mom's turn out, ratio of pro 2nd folks ranging from 3 - 5 to 1. Gun owners show up early to make sure they get seats up front.

Mom's are asked for facts to support their point and they respond with "common sense "danger to our children" etc but no real examples. Somebody on the panel brings up the court costs issue and the track record of anti 2nd amendment cases, Mom's respond with the "save one child" meme.

It is very, very rare, to see a RESPECTFUL, and KNOWLEDGEABLE gun control advocate at these meetings. Sometimes they are so out of line, and know so little of the issues at hand that it is embarrassing for me to even watch the train wreck as they are on the mic... BUT it does help our side win!

[blueridge3210]

7. Gotta love it

when actual citizen involvement shows that the "massive public groundswell" in favor of gun restrictions in nothing more that a fantasy for the pro-control advocates.

[IronGate]

8. I'll bet MDA thought they had this one in the bag,

well, they were wrong.
Isn't citizen involvement a beautiful thing?

What you won't see is this story being posted in the GCRA group, can't have a loss for gun control being posted there, Uh Uh.

[DonP]

10. Speaking of fantasies, I'm pretty sure "92%" of the crowd wasn't for gun control

Contrary to all those family album pix, some folks like to post in GD, the pro 2nd people there also weren't all fat, pasty white people either. Funny how reality works sometimes, ain't it?

[blueridge3210]

11. Yup.

Hilarious even.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

20. Perhaps the pro-2A'ers were NRA shills bused in from other states.

We never can be too sure.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

19. GCers complain that gun owners lack proper training but then they want to shut-out venues

where proper training can be acquired. It seems like this is just a game to them.

[DonP]

21. Update: Niles Trustees OK Gun shop/range

They failed again, 4 to 1

Bloomberg's Moms Demand Action were there again to plead their case with the Niles village trustees last night. It was a last ditch effort by them, after losing on the zoning vote, to try and stop some people from building a gun range and store in an industrial area of Niles, a north side suburb adjoining Chicago and the Edison Park neighborhood that has a lot of cop and firemen families nearby.

"Trustee John Jekot, who voted for the permit, said he could not find studies that showed that the location of a gun shop to a school increased the amount of gun violence against students. “A bad guy,” he said, “if he’s really going to get in there, he’s going to find a way to get a weapon. I just feel that (Sportsman’s) is going to be a safe facility.”

Here's the core problem IMHO, "Trustee Rosemary Palicki, the only village official to vote no Tuesday, said the proposed gun shop did not meet the requirements for a variance. “The perception of danger on the part of these parents and community leaders remains very strong,” she said, “and therefore, the very real issues of public health and welfare remain unresolved.” So, in her world the "perception of danger" is "a real issue of public health and safety". So if I'm afraid it's an issue for everybody?

I didn't testify this time but several of my cop friends did. (Pssst, That's how I know how street cops feel about this stuff, they talk it over at Johnny's Beef after these meetings. Too bad our "control fans" weren't there.)

So Bloomberg's team loses another one, small though it may be.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/park-ridge-niles/chi-niles-gun-shop-shooting-range-201

[Duckhunter935]

22. Thanks again for the latest update

It will never make the national news.

[IronGate]

23. It would seem that Mike's not getting his moneys worth from his stooges.

Thanks for keeping us updated.

[pablo_marmol]

25. Great! Thanks for following up, Don. NT

[Eleanors38]

27. Thank you for the update. Here in the Austin area

there is a dispute over a new outdoor range south of town. In this instance, there appears to be some legitimate concern about residences in the area, and the proprietor is taking steps to install portals at each rifle station. We have a million people in the Austin metro, yet only 3 outdoor public ranges, 2 over the county line. It's getting crowded, what with all the CC instruction and women taking over!