DURBIN - AMY BARRETT SENATE HEARINGS 

I watched Sen. Durbin (D-IL) question Amy Coney Barrett during the Senate hearing for her approval on the U.S. Supreme Court. He mostly lectured her instead of asking pertinent judicial questions.  Part of his tirade he bemoaned the fact that felons are denied the right to vote. There’s a cure. If a person honors their civil right to vote, then don’t commit a felon. 

Durbin also bemoaned that all the killings in Chicago are attributed to gun shows in Indiana.  He said gang bangers from Chicago go to gun shows in Indiana because Indiana does not have background checks on gun show purchases.  He said they load up with guns and haul them to sell on the streets of Chicago. There’s two possible solutions.  First, lock up the gang bangers, and keep them there.  They’re well known.  There’s a second solution.  Work a co-operative deal with the gun show operators.  When gang bangers load up with guns the gun show operators notify the Illinois police who will be waiting at the state line. Stop the vehicle, arrest the gang bangers, confiscate the guns and return them back to the gun show operator free of any charges.  It’s a win-win except for the gang banger. The Illinois police get their man.  The gun show operator gets the guns back.

Long ago when I was a college student at Oklahoma A&M in Stillwater I had a personal experience with the above method.  It looked like a real easy way to get some extra dough.  Oklahoma was dry.  Kansas was wet.  Stillwater was only a 45-minute drive from Kansas.  A few guys, including yours truly, pooled our money for a guy with a car to make a run to Kansas, load it up with booze, haul it back to Stillwater, and peddle at bootlegger prices. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the liquor store operator had an agreement. I don’t need to explain what happened.  We learned a hard lesson.