Dear Governor Quinn:

I read your statement in an article today (7/31/12) in the Chicago WLS news stating, “I’ve sworn an oath to uphold our constitution, every single amendment,” and “I believe in it, the right to bear arms.  But I also believe there is a right to public safety.”  Governor, if you do believe in our Constitution, then you should make sure that Illinois citizens have the right to concealed or open carry on our gun rights.  Even in our Illinois State Constitution, article I section 22 it states, “Subject only to the police power, the right of the individual citizen to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Notice the words “keep” and “bear.”  The word “keep” means to own or have and the word “bear” means to wear or have on you.

I use to wonder why you Chicago politicians could never understand why it is important to allow honest citizens to be armed with all the innocent people who are shot and killed in your city of Chicago on most weekends.  If it had not been for your anti-Constitutional law of no right to carry, I’m sure that many of them and their families would be alive today because they could of had the “right as Americans” to defend themselves.  I now no longer wonder why you believe as you do because I have come to the conclusion that you are smart enough to know better.  I believe you are on an agenda to use Gun Control and the chaos and fear mongering of mass shootings throughout the United States to work towards destroying our 2nd Amendment rights as Americans. You want to destroy our armed and free society for a big brother socialistic government controlled society.

Gun Control is not about guns, it is about control. Let’s see now, we’ve implemented waiting periods, background checks, banned private ownership of automatic weapons and assault rifles, require permits to carry a concealed weapons in most states yet Gun Control has proven to be a total failure against criminals.  You see Governor, proof that criminals and people determined to kill others will ALWAYS find some backdoor way or illegal source to obtain weapons.  People who are determined to kill others don’t need guns to do it. Did Timothy McVeigh use guns to kill 168 people in Oklahoma?  Did the Una-bomber Ted Kaczynski use a gun to kill his victims? Did the 9/11 terrorists use guns to kill 3,000 people in New York City? Suicide Bombers have killed thousands around the world. Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons to kill the Kurds in Iraq.  Hitler used Gas Chambers to kill millions of innocent people that stood in his way. Jim Jones used Cyanide in Kool-aid to kill 900 people in Guyana in 1978.

Governor Quinn, banning and controlling guns will NEVER stop mass murders. The problem with Gun Control and all the laws that it has created is that the gun laws only apply to those who abide by and keep those laws which are the honest gun owners. As far as the criminals who break the laws, it does not stop them because they do not abide by laws. We DO NOT need MORE gun control laws, there are already way to many and they do not work to stop killings!

Governor Quinn, we need to be promoting guns for honest citizens with gun safety classes and how to use those guns for ALL honest law abiding Americans.  We should not blame the Gun because guns do not kill -it is people who kill. Do pencils miss spell words?  Do cars make people drive drunk?  Do spoons make Rosie O’Donnell fat? Guns are to be a part of our lives as Americans because it is our American Heritage and what makes US a free people! Guns SAVE lives! They are good tools and to be our best friends in time of need.

Rather than banning guns, Governor, you should encourage gun ownership, as well as education and training programs for gun owners.  A responsible, well-armed and trained citizenry is the best protection against domestic crime and the threat of a foreign invasion.  Our founding founders knew that and it is still true today.  Every time Americans hear that our Government wants to take another one of our rights and freedoms, no matter how small or insignificant, we should stand up in outrage and demand we aren’t having it. Letting little bits of our liberty and freedom go over the past 100 years is what has gotten us to where we are now.

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
—Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.

Governor, just look at the horrible history of “Gun Control” and what it has done to innocent people. In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control.  From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. In 1911, Turkey established gun control.  From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.  Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million who opposed Hitler and the Nazis were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.  China established gun control in 1935.  From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. Guatemala established gun control in 1964.  From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. We as Americans, at all costs, MUST NEVER accept the destruction of our 2nd Amendment rights!!!

No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
—Thomas Jefferson: Draft Virginia Constitution, 1776.

“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed one.”
~ Thomas Jefferson 1764

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government” — Thomas Jefferson, 1 Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

“To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them.” —George Mason

Let us NEVER forget the words of our first President and father of our country: “Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself.  They are the people’s liberty teeth (and) keystone… the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable… more than 99% of them [guns] by their silence indicate that they are in safe and sane hands. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference [crime]. When firearms go, all goes, we need them every hour.” – George Washington address to the 1st Congress.

                                                                            Yours Truly

                                                                       Charles Nicholson

If you want to forward this to Gov Quinn, his email address is:  [email protected]