Fred Lutger will tell you that news stories proclaiming there’s something alarming about Americans having thousands of rounds of ammunition in their homes are “just nonsense” and that “just about everyone” who owns a rifle probably owns a sidearm.
As we chat in his second floor office at Freddie Bear Sports in Tinley Park, which sells guns and ammunition, he also enthusiastically explains that this country would be a far safer place if everyone carried a weapon.
Despite the latest calls for stricter gun control in the wake of the San Bernardino massacre and growing fears of a terrorist attack, Lutger’s maintains a strong belief in the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which states that a “well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
“That comes right after the guarantee of a free speech and free press in the First Amendment,” Lutger said, “and it was placed there because our Founding Fathers believed the people had the right to overthrow the government and they wanted to guarantee their ability to do so, if necessary, by giving them both freedom of speech and the right to defend themselves against an oppressive government.”
More Top Picks Best Plus Size Jeans Top Under 40
My guess is that people who disagree, those who believe gun control is necessary to make it more difficult for terrorists to obtain weapons and reduce the more common occurrence of shootings on America’s streets, will shake their heads in bewilderment, or perhaps dismiss Lutger simply as someone who makes money from the sale of guns and ammunition.
It’s easy and all too common in our nation to simply turn a deaf ear to arguments with which people disagree.
I could point out that Lutger is a Vietnam veteran, went to officer’s training school after being drafted and became a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and has as much right to his opinion as anyone else. Heck, on Veteran’s Day this is the sort of man people across the country hail as a “hero.” He also happens to be the owner a local business, which he has been operating for 35 years, making him the sort of guy who creates jobs, pays taxes and is mentioned as an asset to the community every time there’s a political campaign going on, which seems to be just about every day of the year.
It’s that sort of hypocrisy that gets Lutger and a lot of other Americans fuming, whether people are talking about abortion, the death penalty, crime, terrorism or the freedoms we all enjoy.
“Do you know I have to pay a $25 tax on every firearm I sell?” Lutger said. “Cook County passed a law a couple of years ago, the only one in the nation at the time, that says I have to pay a $25 sales tax on every gun I sell. It’s not enough that sales taxes are already higher here than anywhere else in the country, but I have to charge my customers an additional $25 if they want to buy a gun here. I could move my store a couple of miles away, into Will County, and I wouldn’t have to do that. But that’s what they want me to do. The politicians want to drive me out of business, make me leave Cook County, and I’m not going to do it.”
Lutger said he spent $25,000 as part of a coalition of gun store owners in Cook County who brought a lawsuit to get the gun tax overthrown.
“We lost so I’m done, although I still say that tax is unconstitutional and some of the gun store owners are continuing to appeal it,” Lutger said. “The NRA (National Rifle Association) refused to help us out financially, although I don’t know why, because it set a precedent that is going to be followed by governments throughout this country. Seattle passed a similar tax this year.”
He said in order to comply with the Cook County gun tax, he has to document the sale of every weapon sold, fill out forms and mail them to the Cook County Department of Revenue every month. He shows me a row of thick binders on a shelf in his office as evidence of the paper trail he is required to keep. Every weapon that comes into the store or is sold out of it must be documented. Police officers don’t have to pay the sales tax, but if they buy a gun from him Lutger said he is required to take down their name, home address and the type of weapon they purchased, by Cook County.
“It’s a type of gun registration, which is supposed to be illegal in this country, but we do it,” Lutger said. “We spend hours and hours doing the paperwork because Cook County won’t accept sales receipts as proof of a transaction.”
Lutger said that about 50 percent of his business is transacted through Internet sales and contends he “eats the cost” of the sales tax to remain competitive.
“It’s costing me thousands of dollars, but I can’t try to sell guns on the Internet to someone who lives in another state and add that $25 because he’s going to buy it from someone else,” said Lutger, who does a “pretty good business” in antique weapons.
Cook County is also about to implement a tax on ammunition – 1 cent per cartridge on less powerful ammo such as .22 caliber bullets, and a 5 cents per bullet tax on more powerful ammo, such as 9 mm bullets. The Ammunition Tax was approved by the Cook County Board on Nov. 18 and will take effect on June 1, 2016.
According to Cook County officials, by the end of this year the Firearms Tax will have generated about $2.2 million since 2013 and the money is deposited in a Public Safety Fund to help offset the costs of gun violence. Money from the Ammunition Tax will also go into that fund.
Lutger claims that the Ammunition Tax, like the Firearms Tax, is a violation of the Constitution and that brings us to a discussion about the thousands of rounds supposedly found in the home of the two people who murdered 14 during a holiday party in San Bernardino.
Isn’t it scary that people with murder on their minds can buy ammunition in such large quantities?
“I shoot off hundreds of rounds every time I fire my weapons for target practice,” Lutger said. “Anyone who does target practice on a regular basis, and you should do that if you own a gun, probably has thousands of bullets because you probably have more than one gun. The people on the TV news shows make a big deal about that, but it’s very common.”
As for terrorism, Lutger says, “Those people in Paris probably wished they had the right to own guns. That’s why they picked Paris, because they knew no one was going to be shooting back at them because they don’t allow people to own guns there.”
As for San Bernardino, “It was a government building and they knew people wouldn’t be armed. People like that are always going to choose targets of least resistance.”
He noted that despite Illinois passing a concealed carry law, government buildings and many others have signs indicating that people can’t bring a gun through their doors.
“So we don’t have concealed carry at all because you can’t bring your gun with you anywhere,” Lutger said. “People are forced to keep their guns at home, or in their car, where they’re not going to do any good. I recently canceled an account at a bank because they put a sign on the door saying guns weren’t allowed.”
All the talk about banning guns, restricting sales and all the stories about mass shooting, Lutger noted, only drive up gun sales.
Business has been booming since the San Bernardino assault, but he quickly adds that gun sales have been brisk ever since Sandy Hook (where 20 schoolchildren and six faculty members were killed) and the public’s attention seemed to focus on the possibility of restricting gun sales.
“Most of the guns we’ve been selling are sidearms,” Lutger said. “The sort of thing people buy for self-defense. Concealed carry. They just want something for protection.”
At one point during our conversation, I noted that people who really believed the Second Amendment was intended to protect the citizenry against the government should therefore support everyone having access to shoulder-fired surfaced-to-air missiles because that’s the first thing rebels ask for in nations facing government oppression.
Lutger didn’t respond. I don’t think anyone wants to make such weapons generally available because, well, you know they could end up in the wrong hands.
More Top Picks Best Home Gym Equipment For Runners
I wish people wouldn’t deal in absolutes. I wish they would listen to each other more and allow reason to prevail.
No one knows how many guns there are in America. There are more people holding onto thousands of rounds of ammunition than you could ever imagine, unless you are a gun owner.
And a certain percentage of those people are criminals, mentally ill, potential terrorists and just ordinary folks who might get so angry one day they could lose control and start killing co-workers, friends and family members. It might be a small percentage, but out of 10 million, say, you could see the potential for a lot of dead bodies.
That’s the sort of logic that would get me labeled “anti-gun.” I’m not, really. But if you really believe that carrying guns makes our country safer, wouldn’t open carry make more sense than concealed carry. Let people take their shotguns and rifles with them to church, into schools and wear sidearms that are visible, like in the Old West. They would be easier to access in an emergency and have a greater potential for deterrence.
But no one is advocating that. You see, there is common ground , although it sometimes feels more like quicksand.