Pro, Anti-Gun Advocates Rally Outside Riverdale Gun Shop
RIVERDALE, Ill. (CBS) -- A gun shop on the outskirts of Chicago that's been the target of anti-violence protestors for years, was targeted again today.
About 100 activists, including mothers who have lost children to violence and father Michael Pfleger and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, rallied and marched in front of Chuck's Gun Shop, in Riverdale, as about three dozen supporters of the business held a counter-demonstration.
About a dozen police officers lined the sidewalk, keeping the two sides apart.
Gun shop supporters heckled the speakers who set up a loud speaker system in an empty lot next door to the shop.
Pfleger said the shop has the blood of Chicago children on its hands. He noted that numerous weapons seized in Chicago were purchased at Chuck's.
Supporters of the shop, some with signs reading, "I love Chuck's," said the demonstrators should protest the people who bought the guns legally and then re-sold them illegally.
"See what I want is Chuck's to be responsible," Pfleger said. "Title guns like cars. You title a car, title a gun."
Gun shop supporters said Chuck's is frequently targeted by protestors because of its proximity to Chicago.
They said if the business were selling guns illegally, the owner would be prosecuted.
"If we were in a small town with two auto dealerships, it wouldn't be hard to prove that each of them is responsible for 50 percent of the DUIs in selling the cars that have DUIs in the town," said Chicago attorney Joe Obenberger. "It doesn't mean that the auto dealer has done anything wrong."