Buffeted for days by growing criticism from Mayor Richard Daley and other Chicago Democrats, Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday proposed a statewide assault-weapons ban as he tried to placate gun-control advocates furious about his support for a plan to make it easier for older teens to buy rifles and shotguns.
Blagojevich said he would now make passage of an assault-weapons ban a condition for his signature on other legislation pending in Springfield that would reduce the minimum age for obtaining a gun owner’s permit without parental consent to 18 from 21. Federal law prohibits handgun purchases by those under 21, but the age reduction would allow more young people to buy rifles and shotguns.
“Passing and enacting both bills would protect the safety of the people of this state and extend the rights of law-abiding hunters and sportsmen,” Blagojevich said. “That’s an appropriate balance for Illinois.”
But the governor’s need to strike a political and policy-oriented balance on guns stood in stark contrast to the statements made last weekend by his aides. They said the governor planned to unconditionally sign the age-reduction measure if it reached his desk.
It was Blagojevich’s backing for the bill lowering the age for a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card for long-gun purchases–based on a belief that if 18-year-olds can carry a gun in a war they should be able to purchase a rifle at home–that led to a firestorm of protest from his political allies.
Chicago Democrats questioned whether Blagojevich, a vocal gun control advocate when he was a congressman from the Northwest Side, was now backing off from that position to woo Downstate voters who have grown increasingly disenchanted with him.
On Tuesday, just hours before Blagojevich announced his revised position, Daley expressed his dismay over the governor’s vow to sign the gun permit legislation. The mayor facetiously suggested that under Blagojevich’s rationale, 16-year-olds who can drive a car should also be allowed to buy a weapon.
“Are we better off in our homes?” Daley asked. “Are we better off in and around schools, our places of worship, our parks, our malls? I doubt it. I don’t believe in the proliferation of more and more guns in society and allowing younger people” to possess them.
Blagojevich insisted that he had decided on making passage of an assault-weapons ban a precondition for signing the age-lowering legislation before Daley leveled his criticism. But the governor was at a loss to explain exactly when he made that decision.
Gun control package in works
Blagojevich also said he was working on a package of gun-control measures based on proposals backed by Daley. But even as he offered that gesture to gun control supporters, the governor opened the door to signing legislation that would allow only retired police officers to carry concealed firearms (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).
He said legislation passed last week by the state Senate to allow the carrying of concealed weapons by former military police and retired civilian police would lead the state “inexorably toward concealed carry laws” for all of its residents (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).
But as Blagojevich sought to find politically safe ground on a regionally divisive issue that crosses partisan lines, his attempt to package together an assault-weapons ban with a lower age for long guns appeared to be winning few converts.
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Blagojevich did not telegraph to gun-control advocates his decision to support the age-reduction bill before it was approved by the Senate. Similarly, he did not mention to them his plan to link that bill with the assault-weapons ban they have long been seeking before his hastily arranged Tuesday announcement.
Even so, while leading Democrats applauded the call for an assault-weapons ban, particularly in light of so-far failed attempts by Congress to extend the current 10-year-old federal ban past its scheduled Sept. 13 expiration, they continued to oppose the reduced-age requirement.
A spokeswoman for Daley said the mayor “would be happy” to support a ban on assault weapons. At the same time, she said Daley’s opposition to the lower age was unchanged.
Lisa Madigan weighs in
Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, also a Chicago Democrat, said she supported an assault-weapons ban but questioned the wisdom of making it easier for young people to buy weapons.
“You’ve got to be 21 to make a wager on a riverboat … but why would people support a bill that gambles on young people’s lives?” said Madigan. “I’m concerned that there are 18-year-olds that are going to school and–conceivably without their parent’s knowledge–could get a FOID Card and purchase a gun and bring that to school.”
Rep. Brandon Phelps (D-Norris City), who sponsored the age change for FOID Card, rejected Blagojevich’s latest strategy.
“I’m not trading my bill for nothing,” Phelps said. “I’m not for any gun ban at all. And I’m not letting my bill be held hostage. Hopefully he’ll sign my bill.”
Lobbyists for gun-owner rights groups also said they would press to pass Phelps’ bill on its own.
Blagojevich “campaigns like Charlton Heston Downstate and he campaigns like Mayor Daley upstate,” said Todd Vandermyde, an National Rifle Association lobbyist, referring to the actor who once served as the gun group’s president. “I think the real question is, there are a lot of Downstate legislators–Democrats–that stuck their neck out for [Blagojevich], sitting there and saying how good he was going to be. … Well, here he is proposing a major firearms ban across the state of Illinois.”
Some Democratic gun-control advocates suggested that the Blagojevich administration’s master strategy was that of a “poison pill”–to complicate the gun issue sufficiently enough to prevent either proposal from passing the General Assembly. That would leave the state’s gun laws status quo, allow Blagojevich to blame a do-nothing legislature and claim to each side that he tried to champion their cause, they said.
In the 2002 Democratic primary for governor, Blagojevich came under attack from rivals for advocating strong gun control measures during his tenures in Congress and the state legislature, including one proposal to dramatically increase the fee for an FOID card.
To blunt the effect of those charges Downstate, Blagojevich acknowledged at the time that he had not understood the regional differences on the gun control issue and promised to be more sensitive to them. To highlight that, campaign supporters distributed camouflage-colored “Hunters for Blagojevich” bumper stickers.
Support waning
Though he won significant support Downstate in the primary and general election, that backing has eroded amid concerns that his administration has been too Chicago-centered.
Among Downstate residents who were surveyed in a Tribune poll of general election voters last month, only 44 percent gave Blagojevich a favorable job-approval rating while 37 percent disapproved.
Blagojevich has tried to counter the negatives with economic development initiatives, while also catering to the region’s gun-rights supporters. In addition to expanding the deer-hunting season for handgun owners, Blagojevich backed the development of the World Shooting Complex, a trap-shooting facility near Sparta that has already become the future host for several national gun competitions and shows.
Blagojevich also has named to his administration a number of Downstate members of the legislature who also were part of the General Assembly’s Sportsmen’s Caucus that introduced gun-owner rights legislation.