Will County Board Wastes Time on Gun Resolution

I recently learned that the Legislative and Policy Committee of the Will County Board was considering endorsing a resolution introduced by Councilman Balich entitled “Opposing the Enactment of any Legislation that Would Infringe Upon the Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms."  Both curious and concerned, I decided to attend the second meeting where time would be spent debating and voting on the resolution.

At that March 12 meeting, it was established early on that all present understood the resolution has absolutely no legal power to affect law in Will County.  Republican Caucus Chair Moustis, in attendance but not a member of the committee, expressed his view that, though a gun rights advocate, he questioned use of board time and resources on what amounts to little more than political theater. Committee member Bible spoke at length, questioning the wisdom of using elected officials’ time on any such resolution, but especially one that calls for no restrictions of any kind on the right of every citizen to arm himself. Councilman and Illinois Rifle Association President Moran proposed a new amendment to the original document, which was accepted by the majority of the committee without even a minute of discussion.

Citizens with a wide variety of viewpoints regarding gun rights in general and concealed carry in particular spoke, followed by the committee vote of 4 to 1 to pass the amended resolution on to the Executive Committee. Board members Howard, Collins, Moran, and Balich voted in favor, with Bible voting against.  Ninety minutes in all had passed before the Committee moved on to substantive Will County business.

On March 14, the Executive Committee decided to send the meaningless resolution back to the Legislative Committee for clarification. 

So, two committees will have spent an outrageous amount of taxpayers’ time and resources on a controversial and toothless resolution-- when and if it finally comes before the full Will County Board sometime in April. We can only speculate on the motives of those members who are pushing the resolution.

The bottom line? The advisory statement of support for unregulated gun rights has no significance beyond what it says about those who see it as a good use of Will County Board time—versus those who do not. 

Nancy E.