The Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA), thinks Chicago’s embattled police superintendent dug himself deeper into a pit of controversy today by claiming that lawful firearm owners are agents of political corruption. Appearing on a Chicago Sunday morning talk show, superintendent Garry McCarthy expressed his conviction that firearm owners who lobby their elected representatives or who donate money to political campaigns are engaged in corruption that endangers public safety.

McCarthy went on to express his belief that judges and legislators should rely on public opinion polls when interpreting our Constitution.

After totally dismissing the citizen’s right to redress grievances, McCarthy trained his constitutional wisdom on the 2nd Amendment. Despite recent court decisions to the contrary, McCarthy opined that the 2nd Amendment limits citizens to owning smooth-bore muskets. McCarthy went on to say that he believes that the 2nd Amendment supports mandatory liability insurance for firearm owners and the mandatory application of GPS tracking devices to civilian owned firearms.

“Garry McCarthy ‘s understanding of our Constitution barely qualifies him as a meter maid, never mind the chief of the nation’s third largest police department,” commented ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson.

The pervasion of illegal guns in America’s black and Latino communities is a result of “government-sponsored racism,” akin to “slavery, segregation, black codes [and] Jim Crow,” Rahm Emanuel’s new police chief, Garry McCarthy, told parishioners at St. Sabina’s Church earlier this month.

“This is sensitive. You know, because everybody’s afraid of race. Have you noticed that? Everybody’s afraid of race. I’m not afraid of race,” said McCarthy, who told of growing up in the Bronx with guns, gangs and drugs plentiful.

“Let’s see if we can make a connection here. Slavery. Segregation. Black codes. Jim Crow. What, what did they all have in common? Anybody getting scared? Government sponsored racism.”

“Now I want you to connect one more dot on that chain of the African American history in this country, and tell me if I’m crazy: Federal gun laws that facilitate the flow of illegal firearms, into our urban centers across this country, that are killing our black and brown children,” he said.

McCarthy blasted the NRA, telling parishioners that their communities have paid the price while the gun manufacturers are getting “rich and living in gated communities.”

And he told an anecdote of just one night with the New York Police Department. After returning home from investigating a pair of shootings, he said he flipped on the television to relax, only to find “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” being broadcast.

“She was caribou hunting, and talking about the right to bear arms,” he said. “Why wasn’t she at the crime scene with me?”

“[McCarthy] got it right on parts and got it wrong on others,” said Shawn Gowder, the Vice President of the Chicago Firearms Safety Association and the Sergeant of Arms for the African American Police League.

Gowder said McCarthy was right in remarking that government-sponsored racism began with slavery and Jim Crow, but said it was wrong to make the association with that and the availability of guns.