Go Alan. I hope this guy gets elected in Il. I also hope he
runs…again…for president in 2008.

Chuck

>From:
>Subject: Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004
>14:08:27 EDT
>
>
>Keyes: Let private citizens carry guns
>Senate candidate wants Americans to defend themselves
>August 25, 2004
>By MIKE RAMSEY
>
>of Copley News Service
>CHICAGO – Regular Americans should be allowed to carry concealed handguns,
>have access to the kind of heavier weapons used by foot soldiers and could
>even
>help in the war against terrorism, U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes said
>Tuesday while slamming his opponent on a gun-related issue.
>”I think instead of being afraid of defending ourselves, we would do well
>to
>follow a course of action that re-educated our people in the means of their
>self-defense,” the staunch conservative Republican said at a Chicago news
>conference. “And it would, by
>the way, provide an armed citizenry that would make terrorists think twice
>and three times before they dared to threaten our people.”
>The former presidential candidate from Maryland was joined by state Sen. Ed
>Petka, R-Plainfield, in chiding state Sen. Barack Obama, the Chicago
>Democrat
>running against Keyes, for not supporting legislation aimed at exonerating
>home
>owners who shoot intruders in defiance of local handgun bans. The
>self-defense measure passed the General Assembly this spring but was vetoed
>last week by
>Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
>Petka sponsored Senate Bill 2165 after a Wilmette man shot a home invader
>and
>faced prosecution for breaking the community’s anti-handgun ordinance.
>”Sen. Obama was one of those who voted ‘no’ on this legislation and once
>again demonstrated for all the world exactly what he is – a liberal, a very
>liberal Democrat,” said Petka, who vowed to seek an override of
>Blagoejvich’s veto
>in the fall legislative session.
>Keyes dismissed the notion that residents, rather than arm themselves,
>should
>rely on authorities to protect them.
>”The police don’t exist to protect each and every citizen in each and every
>circumstance,” he said. “They are, as the name implies, enforcers of the
>law,
>guardians of the law. Sad to say, their main role in life is to show up
>after
>the crime has been committed and make sure the malefactor is identified and
>apprehended.”
>Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Obama, issued a written statement that
>characterized Petka’s legislation as “an attempt to override the right of
>individual
>communities to enact their own laws, as Wilmette did in 1989.”
>”Throughout his eight years in the state Senate and as a member of the
>Judiciary Committee, Barack Obama has worked tirelessly to protect
>Illinois’
>communities, while recognizing the legitimate rights of sportsmen,” Gibbs
>added.
>The Keyes news conference turned into a broader showcase for the outspoken
>Republican’s opposition to gun controls. The 54-year-old Keyes, a
>Harvard-educated author and lecturer who owns two handguns, insisted the
>Second Amendment
>allows citizens to carry concealed weapons if they are properly trained.
>Illinois lawmakers have rejected such an idea for this state.
>”I think it has been proven empirically that ‘concealed-carry’ laws -
>allowing law-abiding citizens this access to conceal-carry – actually
>reduces crime,”
>Keyes said. “It makes the world more dangerous for crooks.”
>Keyes said citizens should have access to the more powerful kind of guns
>carried by U.S. infantry, and he advocated wider gun ownership because the
>general
>public is on “the front line of the war against terror.”
>”I think it would be the best thing for this country if indeed we approach
>this the same way as we approach owning an automobile and took the steps
>that
>were necessary,” he said. “You have courses that you can take and other
>things
>to reach minimal thresholds so that you can have access to this, that. As
>you
>wish to move to a higher threshold, you would take other courses until you
>could responsibly enter into them.”
>Gibbs said Obama supports “common sense” gun-control measures, such as the
>10-year federal ban on assault weapons that expires next month. Keyes
>opposes
>the ban.
>Keyes, a former diplomat under President Reagan and onetime television
>talk-show host, agreed to become the Illinois GOP nominee for Senate
>earlier this
>month after candidate Jack Ryan dropped out.
>Keyes and Obama, 43, are both African-Americans but have strikingly
>different
>political views.
>August 27, 2004
>
>http://www.pjstar.com/news/topnews/b3vjudqh050.html