by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
The arrest of Rev. Jesse Jackson during a protest outside a suburban Chicago-area gun shop seemed to underscore the current level of anti-gun rhetoric echoing around northern Illinois, but amid all the furor, Chuck’s Gun Shop owner John Riggio is taking things in stride and going about his business.
Riggio told Gun Week that Jackson’s arrest came after he had been advised that he was blocking the door to the store, and after Jackson and Catholic priest Michael Pfleger—who earlier had declared he would drag Riggio out of the store and “snuff” him—had been invited inside but declined.
Jackson’s behavior at the store drew sharp criticism from Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizen’s Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), who is now pursuing federal legislation to outlaw such protest tactics.
“It is no more acceptable for Jackson to block the doorway of a gun shop than it is for a southern governor to block the door of a high school,” Gottlieb observed.
CCRKBA has submitted draft federal legislation that would offer the same protections to gun shops that are now given to women seeking abortion counseling. The proposed Freedom of Access to Gun Shops Act of 2007 would prohibit the blocking of access to a gun shop by anti-gun protesters.
“This is not an attack on the First Amendment rights of Jesse Jackson or anyone else,” said Gottlieb. “But it would put an end to the kind of publicity-seeking shenanigans that Jackson and Pfleger have been conducting at Chuck’s Gun Shop.
“Nobody is saying Jackson can’t protest a gun shop,” he added. “We are, however, seeking the same protection from interference that is now guaranteed by federal statute to reproductive health services facilities.”
CCRKBA Public Affairs Director John Snyder noted that “It is against the law for anti-abortion activists to block access to these clinics, and it should be just as illegal for anti-gunners to block access to gun shops. This is neither a First or Second Amendment issue but rather a Fourteenth Amendment issue relating to equal protection.”
Jackson complained that gun shops operating in Chicago suburbs are contributing to violence in the Windy City, a claim he has not been able to document even for media sympathetic to his cause. Jackson, Pfleger and their followers complain that such gun availability contributed to the slaying of Julian High School honor student Blair Holt in May. There is no evidence linking Chuck’s to that slaying, Riggio insisted.
Jackson vowed to “keep protesting until America becomes more conscious of the domestic terrorism allowed by guns.” He was scheduled to return to the gun shop on Friday June 29 for what was termed a “prayer vigil.” According to The Chicago Sun Times and Chicago Tribune, Jackson felt the June 22 arrest was “bogus” and done simply to intimidate him and other protesters.
Jackson at one point stated, “I think people have the right to bear arms at a hunting reserve,” according to The Tribune.
In reaction, Gottlieb stated, “For a guy who built his reputation as a so-called defender of civil rights, Jackson demonstrated a remarkable ignorance on the subject. A civil right is not subject to fences, or specific activities. The right to keep and bear arms is supposed to apply everywhere, just like the voting rights which Jackson and others fought hard to defend a generation ago.”
The protest outside Chuck’s seems a far cry from Jackson’s normal high profile on national issues. It is unusual for the veteran civil rights activist to focus on a local Chicago-area issue, but he evidently has taken it to heart.
Just how long the protests will continue remains to be seen. The audiences appear to be dwindling as summer unfolds and the temperatures rise.
Regardless, Riggio indicated to Gun Week that his busi-
ness is continuing, and his sole interest is in selling firearms legally and not allowing protests to interfere with that, or the comings and goings of his customers.
Under CCRKBA’s proposal, anyone who uses force, a threat of force, or physical obstruction, or intimidates or intentionally injures another person who is attempting to enter a gun shop, or who operates such a store, would be criminally liable.
“This proposal would provide protection to law-abiding firearms retailers and their customers nationwide,” Gottlieb explained. “Chuck’s is a legal business, operating under state and federal statutes. Jackson and his followers don’t have to like it or agree with it, but under this proposal, they will have to accept the fact that a firearms dealer has as much right to operate a business as they have to shoot off their mouths. They have no right at all to prevent public access to a gun shop, or to intimidate or otherwise discourage customers from entering.”