Stiffer gun and drug laws are among hundreds of new Illinois laws that take effect today.
One law requires trigger-lock mechanisms to be included with the sale of any gun. Another bars people from buying stun guns or tasers unless they have a Firearm Owners I-D card...
Another new law says cold medicines that can be used to make methamphetamine must be kept behind the counter and sold only to people with a valid I-D.
Look for a rise in "gun deaths" and meth use.
News like this always makes me think of a passage from "One of the People," Philadelphia Federal Gazette, July 2, 1789:
"What should we think of a gentleman, who, upon hiring a waiting-man, should say to him—'my friend, please to take notice, before we come together, that I shall always claim the liberty of eating when and what I please, of fishing and hunting upon my own ground, of keeping as many horses and hounds as I can maintain, and of speaking and writing my sentiments upon all subjects.' A servant must be a fool, who would not suppose such a master to be a madman... Let these truths sink deep into our hearts: that the people are the masters of their rulers and that rulers are the servants of the people..."