Our next show is May 4th and 5th  from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Exposition Gardens, Peoria, IL.  Call Bill Fritz if you want a table, or to cancel for this show.  Bill's phone number is (309) 274-2977 or write him at P.O. Box 527 Chillicothe, IL 61523.  Bill has a recording machine, which will accept your call if he is unavailable.

We will have police protection during show hours, but you are responsible for your merchandise.

Stop at the membership table at this show, or mail in your request for your 2002 membership and/or range pass.  The membership fee is $10.00 and a range pass is an additional $15.00.  Please make the check payable to the Midwest Gun Collectors Association.  Mail application and checks to Ed King, P.O. Box 1242 Bloomington, IL 61701.  If you know someone who may want to join, please contact Ed for applications.  We also require that members who skip a year's membership will have to pay for the previous year when renewing their membership.

Range Info
We have lots of information related to the range.  Only use paper targets on the range.  Also, Greg has cleanup days on Thursdays.  Your help is always appreciated.
Armalite Day at the range has been moved to June 22nd.  We had a great time last year and I encourage our members to stop out and test drive Armalite’s guns.
We expect to have DSA and Rock River sponsoring their merchandise at the range later this year.
Mike Barnett is running a .22 rimfire match at the range on the following dates: 4/21, 5/19, 6/16, 7/21, and 8/18.  Practice time will be from 11:00 am until noon with the match starting at noon.  There are two classes, Junior is younger than 14 and the Senior is 14 & up.  There are open sight and scoped classes for both age groups.  Kids are welcome to shoot, but their parents or guardians need to be present and need to be MGCA members.  Matches will be held at the 50-yd side of the big range.  Contact Mike Barnett at (309) 263-8991 or Greg Crank at (309) 248-7068 for more info.
The Illini Muzzleloaders shot a match on March 17th.  There will be more matches on the first Saturday of the following months: June, July, August, and October.  The matches will be at 1:30pm.  The Illini Muzzleloaders will have a table at the May Gun Show in Peoria so you can talk to them there if you have any questions.

Bloomington Gun Show
On Dec 7th and 8th we will have a Gun Show at the Interstate Center in Bloomington.  This should be a great show.  There will be more info in the next newsletters and on the website.

Quote of the Quarter
A Fox News Channel article about California state senator, Don Perata’s proposal to tax bullets made the quote of the quarter.  Perata said the following about the bullet tax.  “I know a lot of people who are gun owners who are not going to like this.”  Perata has a concealed carry permit, yet “has waged a lifelong battle against guns in California, including a recent law that classified Olympic target pistols as assault weapons.”