A friend of mine sent me a picture of a 79-year-old Ukrainian woman getting her first lesson on how to shoot an AK47 obviously in preparation of the Russian invasion of her country.  The photo stirred memories of years ago when the anti-gun crowd claimed the Second Amendment was useless when it comes to defending your homeland with armed citizens.  I do not agree with that premise nor do most Ukrainians.  My guess is that there are Russian soldiers who also might disagree with that premise.

I have been watching news story after news story regarding how Ukrainians have, and are, preparing to defend their country against the Russian Federation and Vladimir Putin.  There have been Ukrainians preparing for the Russian invasion for months.  Not enough maybe but they are trying and I am proud of them for doing all they can with what they have.  Firearms are expensive and hard to get in Ukraine.  There is one interview with groups of friends who pooled their money and were able to get two rifles and ammunition.  Another interview was a husband and wife team that had acquired a couple of firearms and had been training for six months.  Recently the restrictions on firearm purchases and ownership were lifted so nearly every citizen can now exercise their Second Amendment rights, Ukrainian style.  In fact, the Ukrainian government is passing out rifles to everyone but they have way too few.  For those who can’t get a rifle because of limited supply, those people are getting wooden cutouts to drill with.

While it may sound cool to those with experience with firearms, they do not understand that it takes a lot more than a wood rifle to produce a trained marksman.  If you are reading this column, you obviously get it.  Even so, I am guessing that there are those in the Russian invading forces who dislike this idea of stepping into a neighborhood and getting shot full of holes.

To those in the anti-gun crowd who preach that a Second Amendment doesn’t make a difference, then why is it that dictators like Putin, Stalin and Chairman Mao always disarm the citizens first?  More than 20 years ago, a friend of mine owned a hunting preserve.  A couple of years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, a couple of members of the now defunct KGB (Secret Police) came to spend a few days at his hunting lodge.  The conversation eventually got around to guns and the Second Amendment.  The guests confided to my friend that invading the United States was never a consideration because of the of the armed citizens of the United States.  Right now, we are watching a replay of world history from 1939. The cast of characters may have different names but the motives are similar.

Prior to WWII, the United States realized war was coming.  On my bookshelf I have a training manual designed to teach citizens how to be a good marksman.  I suggested we train ourselves and others, vigorously starting the moment you get done reading this article.  There are a lot of training classes available.  While the picture of the 79-year-old woman is inspiring, it takes a lot more than just inspiration. 

On the litigation front, we have heard the Vivian Brown case will be finally heard on March 22, 2022.  We will have to see what happens with this case.   The Vivian Brown case comes from a White County case in which the Judge ruled the FOID is unconstitutional in the home.  The ISRA is helping Brown with the case.

By now almost everyone knows that former Speaker of the House Michael Madigan has been indicted on 22 counts of racketeering, wire fraud, bribery and other offenses.  There is no sense rehashing what you already know.  There is already 1000 pages written on the topic with much more to follow.

When I started in Springfield in 1988 or 1989, Lee Daniels was Speaker.  For one brief term the Republicans had taken over the majority in the House of Representatives.
The next election the Democrats took the majority in the House and we have had a Democrat Speaker ever since.  In all the 34 years that I have been going to Springfield, I have only known three Speakers of the House.  Despite that, Springfield and the Illinois House of Representatives in particular, is an ever-changing political scene.

There is a saying: It takes all kinds.  I am not sure about that but what I can tell you is that we have all kinds in Springfield.  Another thing that I can tell you is that for the most part, the people who are elected do reflect the people in their legislative districts.  If you get a cuckoo Representative from a certain district and they retire or just quit for whatever reason, the next Representative from that district will be cuckoo also.  The same can be said for whatever traits they bring, not all are cuckoo of course.

I have to say that even though I may not agree politically with the leaders in the Illinois State Legislature, I have learned to admire them.  That would be Speaker of the House, President of the Senate and the minority leaders.  They are trying to do the people’s business often under difficult conditions.  I sometimes think herding cats would be a promotion.

Michael Madigan was the best Speaker of the House in any state.  He personally read every bill and knew every word in that bill and knew how it fit into the law.  Believe it or not, Speaker Madigan was far more conservative than his Democrat caucus and he put the brakes on a lot of bad stuff.  I know you are sitting there thinking how could this be worse?  Believe me, it could have been much worse.

Michael Madigan was able to control his side of the House because he was able to control the political purse strings of the Democrat State Representatives.  If some representative got too far out in left field, Madigan would withhold campaign funds from them and cut off other resources from them.  They might get another candidate from their own party running against them if they did not fall in line.  To do all that requires lots and lots of money which is where the problem started.  I am not defending Mr. Madigan; I’m giving you my view about how things are in Springfield.  The moral of the story about Michael Madigan and others is that no matter how big you think you are, you are not untouchable.

Henry Repeating Arms is celebrating 25 years business.  The original rifle was manufactured by Benjamin Tyler Henry from 1860 to 1866 when Oliver Winchester purchased the company.  In 1997, a new company, Henry Repeating Arms Company began the manufacture of modern lever action rifles.  Since then, Henry Repeating Arms has grown at a fantastic pace.  Although they started out in New Jersey, they have since moved to Rice Lake, Wisconsin.  They now employ 550 people and the facility is over 330,000 acres.  Henry has become noted for excellent customer service and manufacturing rifles to raising money for good causes, most notably sick children.  You have to love their motto: “Made in America or Not Made at all”.

Biden Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson has quickly garnered support from anti-gun groups across the country.  We predicted this would happen as soon as Justice Breyer announced his retirement.  This, of course, was in the scheme of things since the beginning.  This is no surprise.  It will be important to try to defeat Ketanji Brown Jackson if at all possible.  We may see more nominees.

As of March 1, 2022:
FOID: 2,623,548
CCL: 463,121
 
Tidbits:

March 3, 1931 - The Star Spangled Banner is adopted as the National Anthem.  The original title of the Poem was “Defense of Fort Henry”.

March 4, 1789 - The first day the United States operates under the newly adopted Constitution of the United States.

March 6, 1945 - Dutch resistance attacked German SS General Hanns Rauter.  The SS were murderers on their best day but most of the time they were far worse.  The attack failed and 263 Dutch were executed.  Rauter was later tried for war crimes and he himself was executed in 1950.

 March 7, 1936 – Hitler, recognizing weak leadership, violates the Treaty of Versailles and seizes the Rhineland.  Nothing happened to Hitler or Germany so he seized more and more territory.  Eventually he marched into Poland in 1939 and WWII started.

March 9. 1862 - The battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack, two Ironclad warships, takes place.
The Merrimack’s original name was the C.S.S. Virginia.  This battle changed the design and construction of warships.

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Upcoming Events: ISRA Calendar
For more information, visit www.isra.org

Saturday, March 5, 2022
Range Work Day
Basic AR 15 Maintenance & Care

Sunday, March 6, 2022
Bonfield Muzzle Loaders

Tuesday, March 8 & 15, 2022
Tuesday Night Air Rifle League (5:00-8:00)
Tuesday Afternoon Air Gun Open Practice

Saturday, March 12, 2022
ISRA Academy NRA Basic Shotgun Course

Sunday, March 13, 2022
Marksmanship League

Saturday, March 19, 2022
Air Pistol League

Gun & Trade Shows

Crown Point Gun Show – Crown Point, IN
Lake County Fairgrounds
Dates: March 5 & 6, 2022
Hours: Saturday: 9:00-5:00
             Sunday: 9:00-3:00
Admission: $5.00

Kankakee County Sportsman’s Show – Kankakee, IL
Kankakee County Fairgrounds
Dates: March 5 & 6, 2022
Hours: Saturday: 8:00-3:00
             Sunday: 8:00-2:00
Admission: $6.00

Belleville Gun & Knife Show – Belleville, IL
Belleville Fairgrounds
Dates: March 12 & 13, 2022
Hours: Saturday: 9:00-5:00
             Sunday: 9:00-3:00
Admission: $6.00

GAT Guns Factory Sale – East Dundee, IL
970 Dundee Ave
Dates: March 12 & 13, 2022
Hours: Saturday: 8:00-6:00
             Sunday: 9:00-6:00

Kane County Sportsman’s Show – St Charles, IL
Kane County Fairgrounds
Date: March 13, 2022
Hours: Sunday: 7:30-1:30
Admission: $7.00

Peoria Gun & Knife Show – Peoria, IL
Exposition Gardens
Dates: March 19 & 20, 2022
Hours: Saturday: 9:00-5:00
             Sunday: 9:00-3:00
Admission: $6.00

McHenry County Gun Show – Woodstock, IL
McHenry County Fairgrounds
Date: March 20, 2022
Hours: Sunday: 7:30-1:00
Admission: $5.00