Thousands of gun owners rally in Springfield

Posted on March 27, 2019
IGOLD 2019
Thousands of gun owners marched in Springfield Wednesday to lobby for gun rights. (Photo from Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day Facebook page)

 

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – An estimated six to eight thousand yellow-shirted gun owners marched on the Capitol Wednesday afternoon for the annual I-GOLD — Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day.

“The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; that was a recognition of the fact that it wasn’t something the government could grant,” said former NRA president David Keene.

“It was something that was inherent in the human condition and had existed forever: the right to defend oneself,” said Keene.

Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, said legislation concerns his group.

“We have all these bans and fingerprinting and all kinds of stuff that will cost gun owners more than $1 billion when they all done with it,” Pearson said

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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