GENEVA – On the morning of March 25, a group of 14 people met in Rep. Randy Hultgren’s office to present a Reduce Gun Violence petition and speak on the issue.
Most present were members of Huntley Seniors for Progressive Action, a progressive political group based in Huntley and Sun City, but among them was an Edgewater resident and residents of Kane and McHenry County, as well as Dennis Anderson, who lost the race for Illinois’ 14th District to Hultgren last November.
The petition was composed by HSPA member and Sun City resident Jessica Chipkin. Posted on ipetitions.com, the petition had 389 signatures as of April 4.
The petition is a call for Hultgren to “actively support legislation that bans the possession, use, selling or transferring of assault weapons, semi-automatic weapons and any high capacity magazines, belts, drums, feed strips, or similar devices that have the capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition by other than the United States military forces.”
Members of HSPA and fellow attendees met with Rep. Randy Hultgren in his Geneva office on March 25. Front row: (left to right)Kay Gamble, Lou Pierce, Randy Hultgren. Back row: (left to right)Susan Glad-Anderson, Dennis Anderson, Sid Lindgren. (Photo Provided)
Additionally, the petition calls for endorsement of legislation supporting universal background checks and closing of loopholes for gun shows.
HSPA communications team member David Williams said HSPA, like much of the nation, started talking about gun control following the shooting of schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn. last December.
“We had a little discussion [on Newtown] at one of the meetings and everyone was pretty upset,” Williams said.
From there, members began to ask what part they could play in this issue. It was then decided that HSPA’s first direct discussion with an elected official should be with Hultgren over gun control.
Their meeting began at 10 a.m. and lasted for 45 minutes. After the petition was presented, the group had an open discussion with the representative.
“He didn’t come out and say that he accepted everything we said, and we’ve got to go out right off and do what we want him to do, but he did seem to indicate he was going to do research to further understand what the failures in the present laws might be and what the actual text of the proposed legislation says about how these things are supposed to work,” Williams said.
Hultgren is an adamant supporter of protecting gun ownership – among the topics on the issues page of his website is “Battle Obama’s plans to disarm America.”
Williams said Hultgren expressed the position that mental health is the root of the problem that leads to shootings like those in Newtown and Aurora, Colo. But when asked what he would do for the mentally challenged in Illinois, Williams said Hultgren referred to the state’s financial issues as roadblocks.
A major area of contention in the gun control debate is the open language of the Second Amendment, which states: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Williams said the definition of “arms” could use an update for the 21st century. He agrees that soldiers need assault weapons but does not think they should be in the hands of civilians.
“Allowing everyone to have these guns is not a well-regulated militia,” Karen Williams, David Williams’ wife and HSPA member, said.
David Williams doesn’t see gun control as a clearly divided issue between the left and right, nor gun owners and non-owners. He said a few of the petition’s signers were gun owners.
Karen Williams said special interest groups play too large of a role in the debate.
“I think the politicians are afraid that the National Rifle Association is going to get them in the primary,” she said.
Hultgren was endorsed in 2010 by the NRA and in 2012 by the Illinois State Rifle Association. Williams said he hopes Hultgren’s answers reflect the start of a shift away from the NRA’s agenda.
“It couldn’t be easy to face people who you know are opposed to what your opinions are,” Karen Williams said.
HSPA plans to stay in touch with Hultgren and follow his work in Congress. They hope to meet with more politicians to discuss other issues in the future.
HSPA’s Petition is viewable at: petitions.com/petition/petition-for-restriction-of-weapon-ownership/
