The Evansville City Council was a packed house Monday night as citizens filled the chamber beyond its capacity. The Council enforced its fire code and had to ask people to step into the hallway as an overflow.
With approximately 150 people in attendance, only around 5 to 10 attendees were in support of the push for stronger legislation toward gun control in the name of school safety.
Councilman Dr. Dan Adams
Dr. Dan Adams had invited Sean O’Daniel to speak at the Council Meeting about a resolution that had been passed in South Bend, Indiana as Dr. Adams is preparing a resolution for Evansville along similar lines, but O’Daniel was met with great opposition.
Sean O’Daniel is an Evansville man, related to former Council Member Conor O’Daniel, who lost two family members to suicide in 2012 and has since been on a mission to urge local governments to enact gun-control laws. Mark O’Daniel suffered from depression before taking his life, and not long after, Nick O’Daniel who also suffered from depression was self-medicating with opioids and took his own life.
While the O’Daniel family’s story is horrific in nature, and our hearts go out to him and his family, suicides do indeed happen every year and the people who spoke at the Council Meeting last night stated that:
“Suicidal people will find a way. They will use guns, razor blades, knives, ropes, asphyxiation, drugs, alcohol, and anything else they can get their hands on to end their lives. Guns are not the problem in suicides. Depression is clearly the problem, while education and prevention are parts of the solution… not enacting new gun laws.”
Sean O’Daniel gave a brief presentation urging the Council to agree with the South Bend Resolution and to do something similar here locally, citing horrible incidents that hit close to home such as the 2 plane crashes in Evansville’s history involving the University of Evansville’s basketball team in 1977 and the 1992 C-130 plane crash into the Jo Jo’s restaurant and Drury Inn on highway 41. He referenced these incidents to tug on the hearts of the Council Members intending on comparing the casualties to what could be just as devastating if a school shooting took place here.
O’Daniel also cited school shootings and mass shootings in the nation, asking the Council to consider urging the State of Indiana Legislature to pass gun laws in opposition to the 2nd Amendment which might infringe upon the rights of Indiana’s citizens.
Incidentally, school shooting deaths haven’t been on the rise, they’ve actually decreased. It’s our perception due to inflated media that makes us believe it is on the rise. “Overall, firearm homicide rates have plummeted as much as the firearm murders at school since 1992 (a 52 percent drop by 2012), but a recent Pew poll shows 45 percent of Americans believe that firearm homicide rates have gone up, only 10 percent realized that the rate had actually gone down.” (source)
Vigilant Evansville citizens who stand for the Constitution and our 2nd Amendment rights showed up and packed the house, with around 20 who spoke at the podium, and with repeating applause from the audience. Each speaker referenced facts that refute the claims of the mainstream agenda about gun violence.
Stated several times was the fact that “criminals don’t obey laws, and that new laws would only leave law-abiding citizens defenseless”.
The concerned citizens also spoke about mental health issues, bullying in school, the high percentage of criminals coming from fatherless homes, and the degradation of morals in today’s society. Advocates for teaching gun safety to both children and adults volunteered their expensive services for free to make a positive difference in the community.
One member of the public stated that she felt that this or any resolution that addressed gun control in the name of school safety would be a “Trojan horse” that would set a legal precedent for laws to be enacted infringing upon our rights to protect ourselves and our loved ones from criminals in the future.
Among the things cited to the Council by citizens was the Indiana Code (IC-35-47-11.1-3) that prohibits any city, county, or mayor from changing gun laws… or be faced with lawsuits.
The vast majority of those in attendance stood up for their God-given, Constitutionally-protected rights to protect themselves and their families, and the Council seemed to hear the Voice of the People loud and clear… for now.
What is most disturbing about the whole thing is how the local mainstream news organizations are reporting the Council Meeting as if the March for Our Lives protestors showed up en mass, when in all actuality, it was those who oppose gun-control legislation who filled room 301 of the Civic Center.
It was the gun-rights activists who encouraged the City Council that their constituents would be watching their every move with anything involving gun rights. One speaker reminded the Council that the very dominant display of gun-rights supporters was the heart of the majority of the people they represent. The night was a clear, commanding, and resounding win for the majority of our community who refuses to allow their rights and their guns to be taken away.
Perhaps the mainstream fake news outlets have an agenda that prevents them from reporting what everyone else saw in that 3rd floor room of the Civic Center last night. Perhaps that is a good reason for the citizens of Evansville to find a reliable news source.
