The local community responds

Shooting Industry, Nov, 2007 by Massad Ayoob

Riverdale, the suburb where Chuck's Gun Shop is located, is a small community. In its June 29-July 1 edition, the prominent African-American newspaper, the Chicago Defender, ran a story headlined "Riverdale Mayor defends gun shop, says 'people kill,' not guns."

Mayor Zenobia Evans sent a letter to all residents in the Village of Riverdale--and to Jesse Jackson--which included the statement, "I am not, by any measure, saying that I support gun violence or any violence, but I am amazed that two highly educated and respected men have chosen this form of protest in Riverdale."

Mayor Evans, an African-American, told the Chicago Defender, "I don't believe guns kill, people kill ... I think it's more positive to work on things that cause the social ills than to target an inanimate object. John Riggio follows the law. Why target someone that is following the law?"

Riggio later told Shooting Industry, "I know how much courage and integrity it took for her to say that. I will never forget that Mayor Evans stood up and said what had to be said."

The race card had been in play from the beginning, with constant pointed references to gun deaths in the inner city. What Jackson and Pfleger apparently had not realized was that Chuck's Gun Shop services a primarily working-class community that is largely African-American.

"I would guess that 80 percent of our clientele are minorities and about 30 percent of our customers are female. We get a lot of single moms in here, purchasing home-defense guns," Riggio said. "As the demonstrations kept happening and the numbers of protesters dwindled down to 40-some people, not enough to fill one bus, I think they were surprised that we had a similar number of counter-protesters here, all very well-behaved. And I suspect they were surprised at how many people who turned out for our side were African-American."

Many of the counter protesters were from the Illinois State Rifle Association, an organization that has long supported Riggio and other gun dealers, while battling the anti-gun efforts of many elected officials in the state.

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