The Illinois State Rifle Association Range in Bonfield, Illinois, has been recognized as a Five Star Range by the National Shootings Sports Foundation.  The ISRA Range has been a Four Star Range for several years.  There are only 13 Five Star outdoor ranges in the United States including the ISRA Range.  There are only two Five Star ranges in the Midwest including the ISRA Range.  A Five Star Range is the highest designation a range can achieve.

The honor of being recognized as a Five Star Range does not mean the ISRA Range will stop improving; in fact, it means we will work even harder to be the best not only now, but in the future.  The ISRA Range is constantly trying to improve our facilities, our firearm course offerings through the ISRA Academy, our leagues and competitions and all other aspects of the shooting sports.

I would like to thank all the members who put in time volunteering at the range, the facilities committee, the range staff and the ISRA Board of Directors for their tireless efforts to improve the ISRA Range.  We would love to welcome you as a new range member.  Our range calendar is available on our website: ISRA.org.

Overview of the November 8^th General Election:  The Democrats not only held onto their Illinois Supreme Court majority, but they won both of the two contested court seats.  In addition, the state House Democrats look like they’ll gain up a net of 4 seats, which would bring their super majority up to 77 seats from the current 73 (Super majority is 71).  District (45) is still undecided, Ladisch (D) Mazzochi (R).  Democrats on the statewide ticket all won by double digits, but the wins weren’t confined to state races. The Democratic congressional delegation safely held all its incumbents.  Plus, their candidate Nikki Budzinski picked up the 13th Congressional District and Eric Sorensen declared victory early Tuesday morning after holding on to a narrow lead in the 17th Congressional District.  The Senate Democrats have lost one member.  Appointed Senator Kris Tharp (D-Wood River) has lost to Republican Erica Conway Harris.  The embattled Senator Michael Hastings (D-Frankfort) trailed Republican Patrick Sheehan by 68 votes, with more votes yet to be counted.  Mail-in and early votes tend to lean strongly Democratic these days, so Senator Hastings pulled out a win.  Senator Doris Turner’s Republican opponent, Representative Sandy Hamilton, conceded election night.  The Senate Democrats currently have 41 seats, so their super majority (36 minimum) has never really been in question.  Simple majorities are required to pass a bill in normal session and super majorities are required to override the Governor’s veto.  It looks like House Democrats will have 77 or 78 seats.  The House Republicans will have 40 or 41 seats. It only takes 60 votes to pass a bill in the House.  It looks like the Senate Democrats will have 40 seats.  The Senate Republicans will have 19 seats. It only takes 30 votes to pass a bill in the Senate. 

The next problem we have to face is that because the Republicans do not control the U. S. Senate, the Supreme Court of the United States is suddenly back in play.  There may or may not be a vacancy but that is not the only issue.  The other big issue is packing the court.  I hate the idea, but it is now possible.

One piece of good news came out of Iowa.  Freedom Amendment 1 has passed and The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is now part of the of Iowa Constitution.  Thanks to our friends in Iowa, the Iowa Firearms Coalition, for all their hard work in getting this passed.  Amendment 1 passed with two thirds of the vote.  Well done.

There is a bill that has been introduced into the Illinois Senate that is aimed directly at sportsmen’s organizations.  The bill is SB4224 (Ann Gillespie D-Arlington Heights).  This bill would prevent the State Board of Elections and the governing body of any county or municipality from issuing a license under the Act to a person that would offer a firearm as a prize at a poker run or raffle unless that person is a certified licensee under the Firearm Dealer Certification Act.  Limits Home Rule powers.  Defines firearm.
Every organization like Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Friends of the NRA, Whitetails Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl, Fire Departments, American Legions, VFWs, and a whole host of other organizations will be affected.  This bill is in Assignments and has not been posted to a committee yet.

If you are a member of any one of these organizations or others who raffle off firearms, you need to oppose this bill.

Our Life Upgrade Special is on.  Don’t forget to take advantage of it.  We put out a reminder earlier this week and we heard from many of you.  One of the things we heard is that some people did not receive the offer in the mail.  We don’t know why.  We thought we sent it to every member.  Please take advantage of this offer.  We are extending this offer to December 16^th.  Email us at member@isra.org.

Tidbits:
November 17, 1965 - The Battles Ia Drang.  This was the first important battle of the Vietnam War.  The 2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalier was ambushed.  The soldiers of the 7th Cavalry were outnumbered but inflicted heavy casualties on the Vietnamese soldiers and the battle was a U.S. victory, but it came at a heavy price.  The 2002 Mel Gibson film “We Were Soldiers“ depicts what happened.  It is worth watching.

November 19, 1863 - Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address.  An attorney, David Willis purchased 17 acres of pasture for a cemetery for Union soldiers who had been killed.  Davis invited Edward Everett, a well know orator, to deliver an address.  Inviting President Lincoln was an afterthought.  Everett spoke for two hours.  Lincoln spoke for two minutes.  Lincoln thought that everyone would remember what Everett said and not what he said.  It was the other way around.  In eighth grade, I had to recite Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.  It is under 275 words.  It is worth reading.  Here it is:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. “But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

November 20,1903 - Tom Horn is hanged for the murder of Willie Nickell, the 14-year-old son of a Wyoming sheep ranger.  Horn had been hired by the cattlemen’s association to run the sheep men out of the country.  There was no real proof that Horn had killed the boy.  If he did, it would have been a mistake.  Horn denied ever shooting a child.  Historians think that the jury convicted Horn for other things he did and not killing Willie Nickell.  Horn had worked for the Pinkerton Detective Agency and was a packer for the Rough Riders.  There is no doubt he killed a lot of criminals without benefit of trial
but well - you know.  

November 21, 1934 - Seventeen-year-old Ella Fitzgerald is at the Apollo Theater for Amateur Night and throws her name in a hat for a chance to perform.  Her name was drawn.  Ella was orphaned at age 15 and was a ward of the state.  Her first attempt was a flop and the crowd jeered her.  Ralph Cooper, the host of the show, helped her pull herself together.  Her second attempt was a hit.  She signed with Chick Web, a band leader, before she was 18 years old.  The state paroled her the band leader until she was 18.  Good for her!

November 22, 1963 - President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.  I was in Physical Science class when the professor announced the assignation.  The girls screamed and one of them thought the United States would fall.  That was the end of that class for the day.  After class I was off to spend the weekend with my cousins, Donald and Dale Bargeman, who were television engineers for WMBD TV in Peoria, Illinois.  WMBD was the CBS affiliate.  Don and Dale were called in and I went with them.  The studio had NBC and ABC news on TV as well as all the wire services.  I watched the drama unfold before my eyes.  It was an unforgettable experience.  And do I think Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy?  He may have shot at him, but he wasn’t the assassin in my opinion.

Thanks for being a member!

Visit www.isra.org
Upcoming Events:

Sunday, November 20, 2022
Defensive Shooting Class

Wednesday, November 23 & 30, 2022
Pellet Rifle League

Saturday, November 26, 2022
Armed Women of America

Sunday, November 27, 2022
Fall Glock League
Pistol Drills

Thursday, December 1, 2022
Women’s Pistol Team Practice

Saturday, December 3, 2022
Range Work Day

Sunday, December 4, 2022
Bonfield Muzzle Loaders

Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Pellet Rifle League
Women’s Pistol Team Practice

Thursday, December 8, 2022
Women’s Pistol Team Practice

Gun & Trade Shows

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

Central Illinois Gun Collectors New Berlin Show – New Berlin, IL
Sangamon County Fairgrounds
Dates: November 26 & 27, 2022
Hours: Saturday: 9:00-4:00
             Sunday: 9:00-2:00
Admission: $5.00

Sauk Trail Gun Show – Princeton, IL
Bureau County Fairgrounds
Dates: November 26 & 27, 2022
Hours: Saturday: 8:30-4:00
             Sunday: 8:30-3:00
Admission: $5.00

Chillicothe Sportsmen’s Club Gun & Knife Show – Chillicothe, IL
Chillicothe Sportsmen’s Club
Dates: December 3 & 4, 2022
Hours: Saturday: 8:30-4:00
             Sunday: 8:30-3:00
Admission: $3.00

Will County Gun Show – Peotone, IL
Will County Fairgrounds
Dates: December 3 & 4, 2022
Hours: Saturday: 8:00-3:00
             Sunday: 8:00-2:00
Admission: $6.00

Crown Point Gun Show – Crown Point, IN
Lake County Fairgrounds
Dates: December 3 & 4, 2022
Hours: Saturday: 9:00-5:00
             Sunday: 9:00-3:00
Admission: $5.00

Peoria Gun & Knife Show – Peoria, IL
Exposition Gardens
Dates: December 10 & 11, 2022
Hours: Saturday: 9:00-5:00
             Sunday: 9:00-3:00
Admission: $6.00

Kane County Sportsman’s Show – St Charles, IL
Kane County Fairgrounds
Date: December 11, 2022
Hours: Sunday: 7:30-1:30
Admission: $7.00