Mr. Farago,
Attached are a few images from the Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day (IGOLD) that was held in Springfield last Wednesday. In the first image you will see the family of the late Otis McDonald, including his widow, two daughters, his brother and others. They proudly led our march to the State Capital Building. What I couldn’t help but notice was that besides the McDonald family and a few others, our group was as white as new-fallen snow . . .
The politically active gun owners in Illinois certainly do not reflect the vast racial diversity of our state. Our legislators could look out their office windows and see us coming, and I have no doubt that the ones representing majority black or Hispanic districts (and there are many) would have said to themselves, “they don’t look like they’re from my district.”
IGOLD is an extremely well organized event and I’m very grateful for those who work hard to make it a success every year. But I am left with the feeling that we need to bring more people of color to the into our ranks if we want to sway the votes that have been going against us for the last half-century.
Curtis in IL