Lawmaker Who Voted Against Concealed Carry Gets Carjacked

Illinois Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford

Let me first start by saying that I’m EXTREMELY HAPPY that Illinois state Sen. Kimberly Lightford and her husband Eric McKennie are safe and were physically unharmed after they were carjacked in Broadview, Illinois on Dec. 20th. Carjackings have skyrocketed across the nation and it is a brutal crime that sometimes has deadly results. For those who survive these brazen attacks, they are often mentally traumatized by the ordeal and I encourage victims to seek mental health treatment when needed. To hear Lightford describe how the carjackers made her husband lie on the ground at gunpoint as he told her to run for her life, sent chills down my spine. I’m elated he was a concealed carry permit holder, according to news reports and he was able to defend them both.

That said, Kim Lightford is full of shit. In July of 2013, when Illinois lawmakers were faced with the predicament of either passing a concealed carry law or having constitutional carry become the law in the “Land of Lincoln” after a federal appeals court ruling, Lightford promptly voted NO against HB 183. She wasn’t the only one in the state senate to do so, there were 12 total, but Lightford was one of them. And now we find out her husband has a valid concealed carry license in Illinois and used a gun to defend them both from violent carjackers, benefitting from the same law she voted against. This is the reason why people don’t like or trust politicians.

I’ve been a gun owner legal and illegal at times in my life since I was 21. I learned early in adulthood living in Chatham that sometimes you have to break the law in order to increase the chances of your survival. Illinois was the last state to pass a concealed carry law and unfortunately it was many of the lawmakers in my own community who voted against it, even though our community was seeing violent crime rates rise while me and my fellow citizens were left to fend for ourselves. I chose to protect myself and didn’t give a second thought to it just like thousands of others in Chicago and throughout Illinois.

Former Illinois legislator Donne E. Trotter was arrested at O’Hare Airport in Chicago with a loaded firearm in his carry-on luggage in 2012. Months later he voted against a concealed carry law that would have allowed citizens to legally own and carry firearms in the state. His critics defined his vote as the epitome of hypocrisy.

Photo courtesy of Chicago Police Department

Lightford isn’t the biggest hypocrite though. That award has to go to former state Sen. Donne E. Trotter. In December of 2012, Trotter got busted at the security checkpoint at O’Hare Airport for having a gun in his carry-on luggage. Trotter said the gun was legal for him to carry because he moonlighted at a security company and he simply forgot it was in his bag. He was charged with a felony and seven months later, he too along with Lightford promptly voted against HB 183. Trotter had no problem with carrying a weapon to defend himself, but apparently had a problem with his own constituents having the same right.

Now the incident with Lightford and her husband is still under investigation. Lightford herself is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier because she is giving press conferences talking in detail about the incident in which shots were exchanged. Any legit concealed carry permit holder knows YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT A CASE UNDER INVESTIGATION, especially to the media. While the law protects her from testifying against her husband if he is charged, her media interviews could be used as evidence in a case against him. This is how you win the gun fight and lose the legal battle.

And let’s keep it real here, she’s the senate majority leader in the State of Illinois, a coveted position that any political rival worth a damn will use this incident in an attempt to topple her. We don’t know all of the details of who fired first and if Mr. McKennie was still in grave danger when he fired. Perhaps it will come out during the course of the investigation. Lightford said at some point he was on the ground in a helpless position. I pray he didn’t fire at a fleeing vehicle but her statements don’t make it so clear.

“I think they were shooting at my husband and me, and lucky enough my husband is conceal and carry, and he was able to protect us,” said Lightford, during a Christmas toy giveaway event days after the incident. “He handled us, and he saved us. I call my husband my hero today.”

Yes, because that is what husbands do, when they have the skills, tools and are allowed to do so. Again, I emphasize, I’m glad nobody was injured and that she and her husband will be blessed enough to spend this Christmas together. Well maybe, because if she keeps doing press conferences giving all the details of what happened, one person in her family might not be there.

American hero and Chicago resident Otis McDonald was an avid supporter of gun rights.

As always whenever I write on the topic of gun rights, I’m grateful for the life of Chicago hero Otis McDonald, because without his courageous efforts, nobody in Chicago would be able to legally own a handgun and defend themselves in their home. His case was the genesis to Illinois being forced to create a law that gives citizens the right to protect themselves in public.

Kim Lightford needs to know his name too and be leading the charge for him to be honored posthumously by Illinois lawmakers as one of their outstanding citizens. She in part owes her life to him.