MGF Posted September 22, 2013 at 06:33 AM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 06:33 AM Folks:Following is actually a column, not an article. It runs on our opinion pages today, with my pic and column header, etc. I think I recapped the situation in a fairly succinct fashion and was measured in my opinion.Tough to call, though. Evaluating your own writing is always difficult.Your thoughts and comments certainly are welcome, thoughRegards,Mark http://thesouthern.com/news/opinion/concealed-carry-mired-in-bureaucracy/article_3f06077c-233e-11e3-a702-001a4bcf887a.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
45b Posted September 22, 2013 at 06:54 AM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 06:54 AM Seems to be very well written and thought out. Good job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cshipley92 Posted September 22, 2013 at 06:54 AM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 06:54 AM I like it. Level headed, lays out the facts without being accusatory. UHM...I caught one typo.... Applicants wasted no time. While state police have not said exactly how many instructor applications they received, reports from people familiar with the program rang from about 800 to 1,000. shouldn't that be "range"? Over all a fine bit of writing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGF Posted September 22, 2013 at 07:18 AM Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 07:18 AM Eh, sorry about that. Almost certain I saw that "missing e" on the hardcopy proof and marked it, but it might have been missed. On my way to the range tomorrow, I'll stop at office and at least correct the web version. The actual newspapers, well, those are already on the trucks.Also, please excuse the couple of extra (unnecessary) hyphens. The vendor's program that we use to post to the website has never quite been squared away in that regard. Our own people have done a bit to improve it from our end, but there's still a problem off-site. You do what you can and keep on truckin', ya know? No rest for the wicked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackinelgin Posted September 22, 2013 at 10:58 AM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 10:58 AM Nice job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WtJen Posted September 22, 2013 at 11:08 AM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 11:08 AM Excellent article that lays out where we are at and how far the ISP has to come to comply wih the law. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tvandermyde Posted September 22, 2013 at 12:23 PM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 12:23 PM Bingo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAS3987 Posted September 22, 2013 at 01:10 PM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 01:10 PM Well said. I did not know about the three hours of handgun cleaning. I shot mine yesterday for some practice. After about fifteen minutes it was gleaming. I appreciate all the work that was put into this law. I know it has not been an easy process. But it is sickening, to me, how things in Illinois never seem to make sense, have restrictions out the wazoo, and take ten times as long as they should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sctman800 Posted September 22, 2013 at 01:11 PM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 01:11 PM Excellent! Jim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonOglesby - Now in Texas Posted September 22, 2013 at 02:06 PM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 02:06 PM well written and not over the top at all. Well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGF Posted September 22, 2013 at 02:54 PM Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 02:54 PM Thank you, my IC friends.This may sound immodest, but if you've got local media that isn't rabidly anti-2A, you might want to forward the link to them and let them know, "Hey, you need to be watching this, too."Just my experience, but if you want to sway the media, talk to them: courteously and with facts. And take them to the range.OTH, if they're utterly anti-2A or just morons, skip 'em and move onto the next one.I'm from the LaSalle-Peru-Oglesby-Spring Valley area. I've lived and worked and schooled everywhere from Lansing in Cook County to Carbondale in Jackson County and heck of a lot of places in between. I've always found good folks to shoot with.We've got to keep them in the loop! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2atrainers Posted September 22, 2013 at 03:18 PM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 03:18 PM Good column. You were more generous than I might have been. Aside from the one typo, though, there was this: "at getting Firearm Owners Identification Owners cards" Did you mean to say "Firearm Owner IDentification cards"? In the singular and not possessive. Owner, not owners or owner's. Sorry, mom was a high school English teacher. She used more red ink on my papers than your newspaper probably does today! Good all around column. Let's hope that it gets some attention. More is needed. You're newspaper alone won't provide the critical mass to get action, I fear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGF Posted September 22, 2013 at 03:46 PM Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 03:46 PM No excuses, 2atrainers. Got an English degree myself. And one in journ.Only thing I can say is we're a little paper and we all wear a lot of hats and move through product at a sometimes-frightening speed. Staffing isn't what it once was.One of my favorite old prof's expressions (and he didn't mean it kindly; he was English department): "Journalism is history scribbled on the inside a matchbook cover."Lot of truth in it. I can't believe I get anything written these days with the desk phone, the smart phone, mutliple e-mail accounts, the social media, etc ... but I suppose we all evolve or look for other work!It's been a living; hope it lasts a few more years.Doing what I can to spread the word via some sites. And some of our sister papers owned by Lee Enterprises might pick up on the topic, although we are left to be editorially independent.Quinn's staff also wlll read it. On our actual editorials (this one's a signed column), recently have twice irked them enough to write full-length rebuttals. We ran 'em as they sent 'em. Didn't see the need to retract or modify our previous pieces, but gave the gov or his people their say.Our view, although I don't mean to speak for my boss, the editor: Discussion is a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plinkermostly Posted September 22, 2013 at 03:58 PM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 03:58 PM I likes it. (English was only a minor for me). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2atrainers Posted September 22, 2013 at 04:18 PM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 04:18 PM Mark, The print newspaper business being what it is these days it's quite understandable that a few typos and grammatical errors slip through from time to time. An editor that doesn't exist can't edit very well. Don't let my critical nature detract from the hard work that you've done (along with so many of the contributors here at IC,) I've followed some of your posts and read a few of the items at your paper and it's all first class work. With so many journalists busy scribbling anti-gun pablum on the backs of their matchbooks (I liked that - I'll have to remember it.) it's good to have a member of the fourth estate using their 1st Amendment skills on the side of the 2nd. We need more of that. Thanks! Keep up the good work! As for myself, though I've benefited from the 2nd Amendment for some 50 years, I can only apologize for being a "Johnny come lately" who hasn't yet contributed much to the cause of protecting it. Give me time. I'll do my best if only by bringing more of my enjoyment of the shooting sports to my students. Erich2ATrainers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGF Posted September 22, 2013 at 05:12 PM Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 05:12 PM ErichI took no offense at all. There are many a wry grin in newsrooms these days when we get the "Don't you have any proofreaders (alternatively: copy editors)?" missives.I'd like to answer, "Dang fewer than I had a year or two ago!" and "Way, way fewer than I had two decades ago!" But I do believe the company would frown on that. Additionally, with staff reductions, editors who used to be mainly organizers/editors/coaches are now doing a goodly share of the reporting and writing.But it is what it is, my friend, "So we beat on, boats against the current..." Like Gatsby, it would seem the dream actually is behind us.But, WTH, for as long as it lasts, it beats heck out of ditch digging. No job too small, my friend. I still role on the occasional homicide or fire, take an obit or do police blotter rewrites.I had opps to interview for big-city jobs and let 'em pass. A long time ago, I decided I like small- to medium-size newspapers. You're more connected to your community, the traffic doesn't suck nearly as much, and you can get out and shoot, hunt or fish with greater ease.BTW, I only write for the news or sports pages re guns, ammo or 2A events or issues upon orders from my boss or request from the sports editor that is approved by my boss. When I do, I include an end-tag citing my NRA membership/trainer status. I insist on transparency.The op-ed piece was a volunteer submission to my boss, the editor-in-chief. Had he spiked it, I could not have complained. The page belongs to him. I'm just a helper. Fortunately, he liked the column.Shoot well, be safe and smile at the antis and treat them with loving care ... it unnerves them.Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IL-Logical Posted September 22, 2013 at 07:06 PM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 07:06 PM You do realize once the ISP reads this, you will never get a permit in this state, much lessa foid renewal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borgranta Posted September 22, 2013 at 07:09 PM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 07:09 PM You do realize once the ISP reads this, you will never get a permit in this state, much lessa foid renewal?If they were foolish enough to do that it would be a civil rights violation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IL-Logical Posted September 22, 2013 at 07:19 PM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 07:19 PM Only if they give a reason that is invalid.. With the quagmire there they could easily claim it got lost or never arrived.I honestly have no faith in them, nor any faith that the legislature will ever take any form of positive action to remedy the situation. After all didn't they even quit talking to elected menders of the legislature about peasant complaints? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awan Posted September 22, 2013 at 07:23 PM Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 07:23 PM Your article was posted to the local Patch. http://bolingbrook.p...-in-bureaucracy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGF Posted September 22, 2013 at 09:04 PM Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 at 09:04 PM Cool, Awan. Thanks for the link.Re my app, FOID ... well, yeah. But F 'em. I've covered one heck of a lot court cases. If I have to initiate my own, so be it. No record, no funny farm, no rehab. Let's go see the judge -- or if need be, judges.And my case would get covered. Been doing this in Illinois for a few months shy of 30 years. Got a lot of friends among my peers, and a lot of good writers still in the game were coached by me.They want to knock me on my can, I'll get back up.GO BEARS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie139 Posted September 23, 2013 at 02:35 AM Share Posted September 23, 2013 at 02:35 AM Well done Mark! Just read the article a few mins ago online..a friend posted it on FB Just shared it with others Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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