Gun forum moves to Glenview

Updated: January 18, 2013 12:43PM

WILMETTE — The organizers of Sunday’s forum on guns and public safety have moved the event from the Wilmette Public Library to the Glenview Police Station auditorium, citing “an anticipated larger audience.”

The Friday rescheduling by New Trier Democrats doesn’t mention who organizers expect to make up the large audience, but the executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association confirmed Thursday night that members of his group plan to attend the 2 p.m. event.

“Guns and Public Safety: Where We Stand After Sandy Hook,” will now take place at 2500 East Lake Ave., according to an email from New Trier Democrats spokesman Richard Brill.

Presenters at the event will be Mark Walsh of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Lee Goodman of the Stop Concealed Carry Coalition, and Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins of the Million Moms March.

Topics will include school shootings, assault weapons, concealed carry, background checks, gun registration and licensing, the use of gun statistics, and news on gun safety issues in the courts and legislatures.

On Jan. 15, New Trier Democrats Membership Chairwoman Judy Mandel said she expected members of the ISRA would attend the meeting, and worried that the forum discussion following the presentations would become one-sided.

“We want everyone (to come) but what we don’t want is someone to come and drown out one side,” Mandel said. “We’re not talking about gun control. We’re talking gun safety.”

ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson questioned that on Thursday, saying, “Somebody who’s opposed to firearms is not the person to talk about gun safety. Safety is not an opinion, or a political point of view. It’s gun safety.”

Pearson also noted the speakers’ organizations, and said, “This meeting will probably be a whitewash job.”

Mandel said plans were already in the works for a gun safety presentation in early December, shortly after a federal court threw out Illinois’ concealed-carry ban.

After the shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, “we really wanted to put the presentation together,” she said.

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