Darren Bailey and his running mate Aaron Del Mar, the Republican nominees for governor and Lt. governor in Illinois, are already the underdogs given the dominance of deep-blue Chicago on the state’s political leanings. One TV station seems intent on tilting the scales even further in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s direction by trying to manufacture a controversy over Del Mar’s support for the Second Amendment.
Del Mar recently shared a video showing him shooting a machine gun, which became a topic of conversation when he sat down with KSDK-TV in St. Louis.
Del Mar, a Palatine township official and the running mate of Republican gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey, campaigned in St. Louis nine weeks before the Nov. 3 election, in which the ticket is challenging Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s bid for a third term.
Asked about the video, which he posted from an Illinois State Rifle Association event, Del Mar said the weapon was not his. “That was theirs,” he said, adding, “I had never shot one before.” Machine guns are generally illegal to possess in Illinois under state law, with narrow exceptions for law enforcement, the military and licensed manufacturers.
The video, posted in late August, is captioned “Switching to automatic,” and “Amazing time at the Illinois State Rifle Association’s Guns and Grub event today. Great people. Great event. And one message loud and clear: Void the FOID.”
KSDK reporter Mark Matthews quizzed Del Mar on who owned the gun, saying “it matters” since machine gun possession is generally prohibited in the state of Illinois. Del Mar patiently explained that the ISRA event featured a number of shooting stations where attendees could try different firearms, but Matthews seemed intent on trying to make this an issue.
“If a licensed dealer were to run the numbers on that gun, it takes just a couple seconds, I’d think you’d want to clear up, you know, who it belonged to,” Matthews declared after Del Mar had already shared that he wasn’t the owner.
Matthews couldn’t let it go, even after Del Mar further explained that a firearms instructor was on hand to help him safely shoot the rifle.
“I guess another question I could ask you is why,” Matthews said in response.
“Why not,” replied Del Mar.
I think it’s important for people to see that I grew up in the city of Chicago and now I live in suburban Palatine, and I’ve never really been exposed to machine guns. I’ve never been exposed to hunting. I’ve never hunted in my life. I’ve never shot anything in my life. There are a lot of Republicans in Illinois, you know, potential voters for us, and I wanted to get a frame of reference and frame of mind of what they’re interested in, so why not get out there and give it a try.
I think Del Mar could have stopped with “why not,” but I appreciate his candor.
When he said he’s never shot “anything,” I think he was referring to anything other than targets. Del Mar did confirm that he possesses both an Illinois Firearm Owner Identification card and a concealed carry license, which also spurred an attempt by Matthews to make Del Mar’s position seem controversial.
The KSDK story says that Del Mar “wants the state’s gun licensing card abolished even as he carries one, which is hardly unusual. I’d say the vast majority of Second Amendment advocates in Illinois feel the same way. Yes, they possess a FOID card because one is required simply to keep a gun in the home, but that doesn’t mean that they want to see that requirement remain in place.
Matthews may have tried to play “gotcha” with Del Mar, but honestly, he’s the one who ended up looking bad in this segment. The reporter doesn’t seem to know much at all about firearms or Illinois gun laws (other than the fact that machine guns are generally illegal to possess), while Del Mar calmly answered the inane questions that were directed at him.
Will Del Mar’s appearance at the ISRA event generate any more news coverage? I kind of hope so, actually. It would be nice to learn which news reporters covering Illinois politics have a thing or two to learn about the right to keep and bear arms and the many ways that the state infringes on that right.
Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to gaslight, spin, and lie about gun owners and the Second Amendment.
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