Gun owners counter Million Mom March

Tribune Staff Writer

May 12, 2000

By the time Corinne was five, she was able to fire a gun with the help of an instructor. Today, at 15, she has been professionally trained in gun safety and is accompanied by her mother to go target shooting at a range.

I've always told my kids that a gun is a tool for self-defense, said Low, 46, a clinical psychologist and single mother in west suburban Glen Ellyn.

On Mother's Day, Low and her children will be joined by hundreds of other women, men and children in Chicago for the Armed Informed Mothers' March, or AIMM, an event to show support for gun-ownership rights.

The demonstration will begin at noon Sunday at Randolph Street and Lake Shore Drive ' precisely when and where gun-control activists plan to gather for a local counterpart to the Million Mom March taking place that day in Washington, D.C.

Just as advocates for tougher gun laws are planning simultaneous Million Mom Marches in Chicago and other cities, gun-rights advocates are planning counter-demonstrations around the country, including in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle and Urbana-Champaign.

The message of the counter-demonstrators is that measures such as gun registration and waiting periods are nonsensical and don't work, said Stephanie Sailor, an organizer of the local AIMM.

When people pass restrictive laws, I don't think they quite understand what the effect will be, Sailor said. I think the Million Mom March is well-intentioned, but just misinformed.

Allowing law-abiding citizens to provide for their own protection, Sailor said, is what makes communities safer.

We are not gun freaks, she said of the AIMM organizers. Carrying a firearm is the best way for women, elderly and the disabled to protect themselves.

The march in Chicago and other cities has been organized in conjunction with the Dallas-based Second Amendment Sisters, a gun-rights group.

A resident of Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, Sailor, 26, said her interest in gun rights began after she was physically assaulted near her home last spring. When you are in danger, the police are not always there to pick up the pieces, she said.

Sailor said she also felt the need to learn how to handle a gun after taking a self-defense class. I learned how to retrieve the gun from someone if I would have been attacked, but then I thought, 'What do I do with the gun? I may not be able to work the gun,' she said.

Low bought a gun after her life was threatened in several instances, she said. I had young children and I had had incidents where I needed the police and they weren't around. This (gun ownership) is a prime safety issue for me.

In addition to Corinne, Low's son, Brandon, 18, and oldest daughter, Gwen, 20, have also been taught how to operate a gun. We would all go to the range (when they were younger), but I never allowed them to shoot; I wanted them to see what a gun could do, Low said. I wanted to alleviate any curiosity.

Low said she has never used a gun lock, saying that trying to open the trigger lock in an emergency would further hinder her safety.

The right to self-protection is also an issue for Christopher Morley, 32, of Park Forest, who has cerebral palsy. Morley, who plans to be at the AIMM, describes himself as armed, willing and disabled.

Because I walk badly with a cane, I am a walking target, he said.

Morley said he started carrying a handgun five years ago after being mugged several times. Since then, he said, he's brandished his weapon twice to avoid confrontations.

I've never had to shoot anybody, but the fact that I had it with me saved my life, Morley said. The mere sight of a gun in the hands of an intended victim is enough to send a criminal running.

On the other side of the gun debate are people such as Steve Young, whose teenage son was killed in a gang-related shooting in 1996. Young became a gun-control activist after the tragedy; he's the Midwest coordinator of the Bell Campaign, an organization of gun violence victims, and an organizer of the Million Mom March in Chicago.

We need to put the safety of our children ahead of the policy of our gun industry, Young said. When you bring a gun into your home for protection, you are actually endangering your family.