When I was running for governor on the Libertarian Party ticket, both of my opponents were soft on the Second Amendment.

Rod Blagojevich was downright hostile, having introduced a bill while we both served in the Illinois General Assembly to greatly increase the Firearm Owner Identification Card fee. Jim Ryan also favored more gun control.

I was advocating a Personal Protection Act and had a radio ad that was to ear catching that WGN radio talk show hosts introduced it by saying that they didn’t want to run the ad, but Federal law required them to do so.

It was inspired by an NRA TV ad I saw in the Travis City, Michigan, American Legislative Exchange Council Convention in 1992, the year I started my second eight years in the Illinois House.

In our version, a woman is calling 911 saying a man was trying to break into her home. She runs up the stairs and locks herself in her bedroom, calling again. “He’s breaking in,” she shouts. Then, a gun shot is heard. Next an announcer gave a pitch for the Personal Protection Act, which would have allowed the woman to have a gun in Chicago, and my candidacy.

That same campaign season, a woman had been killed (on the South Side, I think) by a home invader. The story got a lot of play.

Rich Miller being interviewed on WTTW

Today, Capitol Fax Blog‘s Rich Miller, a journalist who has to be called a liberal,  not that he would mind, writes this revealing section:

Here’s the rest of the post with the beginning taken out and slightly edited so it makes sense…

* Mayor Daley said yesterday that more money to hire more cops would be nice to fight crime, but he has no extra money lying around and wants tougher gun laws…

“’This is all about guns — and that’s why the crusade is on. We hope to get their cooperation in Springfield.’

“The cops have a lot of tools to arrest people already. More gun laws might help, but the ones on the books haven’t stopped a whole lot of criminals from breaking the law so far. What’s needed, besides for the communities in question to get their acts together, is more cops on those streets – far more than Daley’s police superintendent wants – and a much more sophisticated use of city resources.”  (Emphasis added.)

John Lott's "More Guns, Less Crime" is into its third additiion. I read the paperback version, which had delightful rebuttals to critics of his original book.

Notice that Miller does not align himself with those who think gun control is the be all and end all answer to stemming the outrageous violence in Chicago.

I count that as progress in the campaign to convince people that they ought to have a right to defend themselves with a gun, regardless of where they live.

And, the U.S. Supreme Court may provide that right before the end of summer.

Now, if the Tribune’s Eric Zorn would return to his pro-Second Amendment stance of the early 1990’s…

Maybe after John Lott’s successor to “More Guns, Less Crime” is published.

It hits the book stores in May, but can be ordered from Amazon for shipment today.