December 07, 2011
By Robert W. Hunnicutt
Before he was a governor or a reality TV star, Blagojevich was a congressman from the Chicago area whose main issue, as far as anyone could see, was gun control. He appeared with former Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley to call for a state ban on .50 cal. rifles. The two asserted that someone could shoot through the walls of Wrigley Field and "kill Sammy Sosa on the diamond." How a sniper could see Sosa through the ivy-covered walls of the friendly confines went unexplained.
Blagojevich also advocating raising the fee for a Firearms Owners Identification Card, required in the state to be in possession of a gun or even ammunition, to $500 a year.
Curiously, on becoming governor, Blagojevich signed the legislation creating the World Shooting and Recreational complex near Sparta that now hosts the Grand American Trapshoot as well as other large shooting events. He managed at that time to finesse his former anti-gun position, and made no particular effort to push for gun control in his six years in office.
Blagojevich will join his predecessor, George Ryan, as a ward of the Bureau of Prisons in February. We've had a few crooks on the pro-gun side over the years, but none who tried to sell a Senate seat. When the truth's not in a man on guns, how can you trust him on any other subject?
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