Above the law in Chicago
It’s no secret that Chicago, Illinois is not gun friendly.
Chicago has been on the cutting edge of gun control. They’ve given us an assault weapons ban, mandatory gun registration and the most anti-gun President of all time, Barack Obama.
It should come as no surprise that Chicago politicians think they’re above the law. While Chicago has some of the most anti-gun laws in America, politicians in Chicago have placed their own safety over the safety of the citizens who elected them.
While ordinary citizens are forbidden from owning guns for self defense, Chicago elected officials had themselves classified as law enforcement officers so that they could carry handguns for self defense.
From the Chicago Tribune’s Steve Chapman:
Armed pols: An unfortunate Chicago tradition
Last week, the body of Chicago school board president Michael Scott was found in the Chicago River with a single bullet wound in his head. The big story was that this powerful, well-connected public official had, according to the Cook County medical examiner, committed suicide. The less-noticed story was that he did it with an illegal weapon.
After all, handgun ownership is not allowed in Chicago, which has one of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and Scott killed himself with a .380-caliber sidearm.
Unlike most Chicagoans, Scott could have been a legal handgun owner. Because he had it before the ban was enacted, he was allowed to register and keep it. But the police department says he never did. By having it in the city, Scott was guilty of an offense that could have gotten him jail time.
Amazingly enough, he was not the first local public official to take the view that firearms restrictions are something for other, ordinary people to observe. Chicago politicians are zealously committed to gun control in law, but fairly relaxed about it in practice.
In 1994, state Sen. Rickey Hendon, D-Chicago, had an unregistered handgun stolen from his home in a burglary, and he didn’t feign contrition about his disregard of the ordinance.
“I have a right to protect myself,” he declared, noting that he had been burglarized before — and forgetting that the state legislature of which he is a member allows Illinois cities to deprive their citizens of that right. Asked if he would replace the lost piece, Hendon said, “No comment.” The police were kind enough not to charge him.
U.S. Sen. Roland Burris, another Chicagoan, has endorsed a nationwide ban on handguns and, in 1993, organized Chicago’s first Gun Turn-in Day. But the following year, while running unsuccessfully for governor, he admitted he owned a handgun — “for protection,” he explained — and hadn’t seen fit to turn it in along with those other firearms. Lesser mortals apparently can protect themselves with forks and spoons.
Scott was shot in the abdomen while chasing a burglar in 1988, so it’s understandable that he would appreciate the value of having the means to defend himself against criminals. But that understanding didn’t extend to the needs of ordinary Chicagoans. When the city gun ban was challenged in court, the board of education that he headed filed a brief defending Chicago’s right “to prohibit classes of arms in order to prevent crime and protect public safety.”
A law banning handguns, in Scott’s view, was necessary to protect public safety. But when it came to protecting his private safety, he somehow perceived the law to be a hindrance, not a help.
Does his attitude carry the distinct tang of hypocrisy? Yes, but that’s not out of the ordinary for Chicago politicians. Under a state law dating back to 1872, mayors and aldermen are designated peace officers. And, conveniently, peace officers are permitted to not only own but carry handguns.
That makes aldermen a special class in Illinois, one of only two states with an almost complete ban on the carrying of concealed handguns. In most places, an adult with no criminal record or history of psychiatric commitment can get a concealed-carry license after taking a training class.
But here, we have a unique system. You want to be able to pack a weapon in public for your safety? Fine. All you have to do is 1) run for the City Council and 2) win.
Why the state assumes that aldermen are fit for this prerogative is a mystery. “Law-abiding” is not the very first word that comes to mind when you think of the City Council. Since 1972, 27 of its members have been convicted on charges involving malfeasance, misfeasance, nonfeasance, disfeasance and anti-feasance with mopery aforethought.
It would be hard to come up with a group of people that has proven itself less deserving of blanket trust. The most recent convict, Arenda Troutman, got four years in prison for bribery after being caught on tape attesting that “most aldermen, most politicians are ho’s.” At a 1991 neighborhood meeting that got rowdy, Ald. Dorothy Tillman reportedly pulled out her handgun and waved it pugnaciously.
In Chicago, only criminals and aldermen are armed. Forgive me for being redundant.
I for one am not surprised at the Chi-hypocrisy, if you look up the definition it says Chicago! But to me, what doe’s it say about the people who keep electing and keeping these rascals in power?
I think it says you get what you pay for, but in there case i think it’s more than they bargained for.
I live in a state were we have the right to carry and defend ourselves and we support our police dept. When there is a police shooting here we don’t jump to conclusions about why they had to shoot, we assume they had too, end of story.
with what the people voited into office what in GOD”Sname did you expect. they want to take the people that only want to protect themself and get yheir guns. let the crooks keep theirs so thay can keep on robbing and killing people that are honest hard working AMERICAN”S(if you are lucky to have a job) and only want to protect what is theirs and loved ones . well i have to say this to hell with them. their little six shooter is not going to help them when they are over run by the enemy. and the enemy is within our country now. hell half of them are in the white house. we as a people must all get a safe srtagicey and defeat these people or we can take it lying down .as for myself GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH. MAY GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
It’s a sad situation when the elected officials feel that they deserve better than those who elect them. Maybe it’s what’s deserved by those putting them in office. Our country is paying for the ignorance and greed of those that elected the non-American to the highest office in the land. Why should decision making be any better in the land of Lincoln. Wake up America… if it’s not too late already.
My son an Iraqi war veteran at 22 was arrested illegaly in front of my house last Christmas eve. His crime in CA carrying a firearm in a holster on his leg exposed from his car to my house. He was protecting his family who live in a supposed good million dollar home area of San Mateo County. Our home had been invaded and I had to fight off two armed assailants in the middle of the night earlier that year, before he had come home from the Army. This due to the drug dealing at the neighbor’s house next door originally reported to police seven years prior and continues to this day. Who is on trial?, the good family, who gets police protection the drug dealers. I am fighting this on Constitutional Grounds we all have to fight these B.S. codes that have never been tested in Court. If we lose our Constitution it is because we did not fight! By the way while looking for an Attorney through my local Bar Assn. I was informed that in San Mateo County, CA there is no second or fourth or tenth Amendments to the Constitution by a member of the Bar’s Executive council. Guess these attorneys all want to appointed, get that appointed, Judges.
I voted for George and his dad and would do it again if I had the same choices. I only messed up when I voted for Ross because I wanted to send a message for George senior to straighten up. It didn’t work. We have become a society of whats in it for me? Or children or raised by their grandparents or a poor usually uneducated single mother. There is no real history taught so or children understand why we are in this situation. More than likely obama is really not legally a citizen. His mother just got pregnant while she was a rebelious teen and her parents did the best they could after he was started out on the muslim lifestyle. As long as there are more people that expect to have it handed to them instead of earning it we will be stuck in this downward spiral. The next step is the money lenders from abroad will see we have lost the ability to repay our debts. WE WILL NEED OUR GUNS TO PROTECT WHAT LITTLE WE HAVE. Because when the money dries up those that won’t work will try to take whats left from those that have a little left. I wonder if we quit paying federal taxes how long this could go on?
Seems to me there are some fundamental and self-evident truths that pretty much cover it all:
1. Human nature has not changed significantly since the beginning of civilization. The Constitution was written to protect us against our own human nature (the desire for power, etc.), therefore the Constitution should not change, nor should its APPLICATION- (NOT its “interpretation”. Interpretation is how the courts re-write the thing).
2. You cannot un-invent the gun. (Hey, Rebecca!!! Come back here!)
3. An armed society is a polite society. Guns equalize the bullies.
4. The only proven protection against government tyranny is the gun in civilian hands.
5. A disarmed populace merely serves, and is at the mercy of, the wealthy and powerful.
I’m sure I missed a few. These are truths that the gun phobists absolutely have no valid refutation for, as with most of their other anti-gun arguments. If they want your guns, they are either paranoid, badly misinformed, think they are better than you, or all of the above. Either way, they don’t and won’t get it. It would serve justice that these paranoiacs get to see their children in chains when they are discovered to be “unqualified” for membership in the elite. I surely hope our society doesn’t end up there.
Great comments, all! Too bad this blog doesn’t represent the thinking of every US citizen. It should!
God Bless the United States. We need to get back to that. Our Constitution is bleeding and the wounds are only going to gape wider unless we do more than just stand up and speak out. We need to unite together, some of us run for office, and the rest of us vote our fellow Patriots into victory. This is the only way. In 2014, I will do my part in North Carolina. Do your part in your states. North Carolinians, visit my rally website for more information at http://www.ResistHere.com. God Bless.
The gangsters figured out “don’t fight gov., be gov”. And so they now are Chicago, and thereby run Illinois. Chicago should be formed into an entity such as DC and stripped if voting power in congress. Down state Ill. exists to support Chicago with taxes. Daly has more pull in Springfield than he should have. Only some Ill. pols. have stopped his statewide bans. There will come a time when there will not be enough to stop him or the next King of Chi/Ill. No one would listen to what Ubama said during the campain. Nobody listened to Illinoisians about what was coming.
Retake America!!
I hear talk on here of a 2nd revolution. I hope it never comes to that. But I’m also a realist. But the real kicker is this: If we were to have a 2nd revolution the wrath they face from the citizens of this great country would be nothing more than a drop in the bucket compared to the wrath that God has waiting for them. The Bible teaches that to whom much is given, much is required. The “leaders” of the free world are destroying the free world. And they will answer to God for their self serving ways. That’s worse than looking down the barrel of any patriot. Because God can speak death to their spirit. He speaks and they are cast in banishment. Now talk about stomping a mud hole in someone and walking it dry. Sure am glad I’m just a common peasant and not a lord. Too much responsibility for me. I all ready have enough to answer to God for. Judgement day will be a horrific day for those few.
THANK YOU , FOR SHARING THESE THOUGHTS—-CONTINUED ENCOURGEMENT TO OTHER ,(CONCERNED CITIZENS), IS CRITICAL !!!! PLEASE , KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK—-CHARLIE
I sincerely hope that we all are in complete agreement about one thing… If/when they come to take away our legally owned weapons by force we will instead give them our bullets. Well, the weapons will give them our bullets, we simply initiate the transaction. But why should we wait to make a stand only then? The second amendment wasn’t initially instated so that we could hunt if we wanted to or maybe protect our family from a common thug, although these are well enough reasons. But instead it was put in place so that our government could not rise against its own citizens in any form of tyranny without serious repercussions. We are all free men and women… we earned that blessed right with blood sweat and tears. Now, the liberals, who obviously forgot where we were and what it took to get there, want us to be like the French. Maybe they have some fascination with weak fools and somehow they feel more loved by them. I couldn’t imagine the reasoning there, but the end of this line is are we free or are we not? I truly hope they do not try and take away any weapons I have because no one wants a death on their hands and a “law enforcement” death at that. Law enforcement… hah! thats a joke! those of us that live by the constitution should start proclaiming ourselves as “constitution enforcement”. Laws are only made to impede the actions of law abiding citizens because a criminal will not stop and say, “oh wait, there’s a NEW law out now… guess I better start walking the straight and narrow now”. What is the logic of implementing more laws on law abiding citizens when its the criminals who don’t abide the current laws and must be stopped? Why stop us? WTF did we ever do? We don’t stop making cars because people get in wrecks all the time do we? Nooooooooooooo we don’t. More people die from car wrecks each year than most of the past wars. Next thing you know there will be a law saying that bears cannot be left in the wild because they kill other animals. Bad bears! Bad! Bad bears!
I Live in Texas and I am keeping my gun’s they will have to pry them from my cold dead hand’s I’ve had enough of this muslim stuff!
Impeach Oblaaammma NOW! Our country is being given away.We will keep our guns.
Read in your Holy Bible this verse” 2nd Chronicles 7:14.
THIS IS INFORMATION THAT WE CAN UASE AT OUR 9/12 GROUP MEETINGS TO GET THE WORD OUT ABOUT THE CORRUPTION IN THIS COUNTRY !!! WHY IN THE HELL CAN’T PRINT IT DOWN
Since you’ve raised the question, Kisumu, Kenya is where Obama was born. Check it out.
I use to live in Joliet (35 miles south of Chicago). My kids and grandkids still live in the Chicago area. I now live in Alabama, have a ccw permit and have been buying ammunition for the guns I have. I always have a gun on me or near, depending on the siutation. I plan on buying more guns and ammo just in case. Even though I lived in Joliet I carried a weapon (loaded). I’d rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6. Hang in there and let’s change those in government who want this change they are performing! People who voted for these fools wanted change, they got it!
When are people going to see where the pretender and his goon squad are leading us? How many times must they ignore the Constitution ? This “man” has more than 3 years left in his term. There is at least 1 year until the House can be saved (and maybe some good progress in the Senate). We can talk about it or we can start doing something about it. We need to wake up, get up, and act up, or shut up.
I agree with all I have read. But actually..the people against guns, guess what, 2 people living next to each other and one wants the freedom to own his own gun while the other is against it. The one who has a gun then puts a sign up in his yard with an arrow pointing to his neighbor’s house. The sign says.. “This person has no guns.” The people, of course, are angry because they don’t want anyone to know they don’t have a gun because it shows others that they are fair pickins.
The reason honest people are not running for office is this: If they were to get into office of somekind and they are honest, the corruped people in the government will frame them..”Black Ball” them. Some of them end up in jail. I know of one man who was working his way up the ladder and they framed him for theft, saying he stole money out of a fund. He ended up in jail for two years. He can not get back into politics now..only because he was honest.
The only thing that can get the United States out of this mess of corruption is to pray. I mean really pray. It seems that the corruption we have allowed to creep into our governments in the United States because of lack of prayer, has caused God to take his hand of blessing off of us. In order to take back our country we need to pray hard everyday for our beautiful country before we become a third world country due to the selfishness of the people running it at this time.
You get what you elect! What do you expect?
vote yes to keep our guns. i doubt if we wil have another ellection.
Well, no matter how you look at it, a criminal will get a weapon to do harms way to someone some way or another. If they want to decrease crime then when a person commits murder, don’t put them in jail. After he has been proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt put them to death. The courts have given criminals freedom too many times and now there is no fear for the law. We now support murders, abusers, rapist, etc, with our tax money; fix their teeth, give them all the medical attention needed, feed them 3 good nutricious meals a day, give the TV and internet, central air and heat, a good clean bed, college degree’s and much more. Now they want them to be the only one’s that will carry or own weapons. Get real. I believe it is therefore our legal right to be able to protect ourselves and families for harms way since the govn’r doesn’t want to do it for us. I believe that God has given us the freedom we have in this country and we will have to fight to keep it. We must do what we must to keep America FREE. As for as I see it, no govr’n official has any more right than any citizen in this USA.
My first political blog or any blog, just cannot hold back any more!!!!!
The bottom line is that we the people need to take our country back, the government has had it for much tooooo long. A revolution is necessary, to start; we need to limit the terms of all politicians; no special deals, they get what we get; they pay for their health care just like we do; no pork accepted; all bills published and reviewed 60 days prior to action; and we develop a process to impeach any in congress that are not executing the will of the people.
What the government is doing to us citizens in this country right now is exactly why the second amendment exists and must forever remain.
First of all, Obama may be president of some country but it is not America. The media and foreign money put him in the White House but that does not make it lawful and since he has NO proof that he was eligible to be in this office, he cannot be impeached. Only those legally elected can be impeached. However, he can be arrested for much fraud and any sheriff, in any county, in which Obama is, at any poit in time, has the power to arrest him and his corrupt bodyguards and friends. Every person, elected, to any office, including all military personal and departments of law enforcement, take the same oath, “to defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic” and when they disregard that Oath they are aiding and abetting the enemy and guilty of treason and the penalty for those found guilty of treason is death. The IRS, FBI, CIA, BATF and any other group harassing the residents of that state, can be denied access to a resident. There is no higher Law in the US than the sheriff and it is up to us to hold them to their Oath or remove them from office. Learn about an organization called OathKeepers.org and become one of them. The ONLY way the central government can operate at all, is because each state funds the Fed instead of taking care of their own state and NO MORE. A sovereign state can choose to thumb their nose at the Central Gov. and the tenth amendment plainly states that Health, Education, Welfare, and Family Matters are STATES RIGHTS and cannot be overridden at any time, by the Fed. or otherwise, therefore, it seems to me that the new Health Bill is actually null and void. Every US representative and US senator can be arrested, when they return to their home state, tried and convicted for not holding to the Oath they took
tried for their crimes. State Sovereignty and honest sheriffs could set our Constitution back where it belongs immediately and all the corruption in states, like Illinois, could immediately be removed from office, if you will hold your sheriffs to the job they were inteded to do. If we allow this usurper to sign the treaty, this month, that will turn America over to the One World Government, it will cost us the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and there will NEVER be a way to bring it back. Sovereignty and honest sheriffs are your last hope for freedon. Those of you who refuse to take back this responsibility and duty, need to pick a country you would prefer to live in and be deported with all the un-Americans who have crossed and are crossing the borders. If they keep coming, keep a firing squard along the US border and, if necessary use it. They can clean up their own country and we need to clean up ours. Proper admittance to the US needs to be as it has always been and a limit on how many every year.
I believe most of the folks comments herein are from good people. The problem is that much of what is said in some of these comments is disjointed and angered with underlying paranoid statements that, if viewed by the “anti’s”, will show us in a rather bad light. My friends, take some time and proof read your hasty statements, then walk away, come back later and if satisfied; submit. Don’t add fuel to the anti’s uninformed, emotionally irrational thinking process. Be better than that. Yes I believe in CCW and do carry. Until we become more than an angry motley rabble ourselves, do you expect the other side will think of us as reasonable? Join the NRA if you feel like becoming better informed and more sensible. I’ve been a member since Bill Clinton turned me into a conservative republican forever. Become a firearms safety instructor, I have. Take a kid hunting, I have. Teach and practice firearm safety as best you know how (#1. ALWAYS point the muzzle in a safe direction). Talk reason to your friends and families, not “they’ll pry it from my cold dead hands” or “I’ll give em my bullets first”, because this mentality hurts our cause. Don’t let your emotions bring you down to their level. I know that my children in the military will never come to your house to take away your firearms, because like the majority of our soldiers, they believe in the 2nd Amendment too. Have a nice day yu’all. Ron Boeddeker
Rosie,
The government cannot enslave an armed populace. They have to take our means of defending ourselves (under the guise of protection) before they can truly take over all our other freedoms. Politicians are notorious for believing that they are smarter than the average hard working, tax paying, law-abiding, GOD fearing American citizen. They have brain washed the younger generations into thinking the government wants what’s best for us all and that they are just trying to make life easier for us and the young ones have never been taught that is exactly how Hitler took over Germany. Every country that has unarmed its citizens has taken their freedoms shortly thereafter. If we continue to let our children live in ignorance of our past we will be enslaved by this government of socialcommucrats or we will have to fight another revolution. I will not go down without a fight. That is not said as an un-thought out, hot-headed remark. My Daddy fought overseas to keep this country free from all enemies. Today the enemies are not over yonder somewhere, they’re in our capital making laws that are unconstitutional and therefore treason. If they don’t abide by them they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Oh, pardon me. This whole situation was brought about because the elected law makers don’t have to abide by the law.
Politicians are NOT law enforcement officers–this is typical Chicago corruption! And perhaps even more important–politicians and police ARE ordinary citizens!
sad to think if u register ur gun it may be a way for the goverment to come and take it away ……….written by an american who is ashamed to be one because of the shape we …u and i have allowed our country to become
I read so much of this sort of thing from all over the country. I actually vote, I actually call my senator to “voice” my concerns, I actually attend rally’s, I am actually a real American….most are not! Most sit in front of the TV and allow themselves to be brainwashed by CNN & FOX instead of reading the real truth. Not what someone else says but actually read the legislation. The sad thing is that is is all available on the web but hardly anyone reads it. So many people just take what others have to say and those of us who are actually in the know well we are just conspiracy theorists. Instead of blogging on here and complaining get off your rear end and get in the game. If you actually voted for any of the monsters in office that are passing these hideous laws you should be the first one to go straight to their office with a “lawful” crowd of “concerned” citizens and “demand” you be heard and “obeyed”. I know that my senators offices are tired of hearing from me because I am regularly treated with contempt. At least I make sure I am heard….what have you done lately?
THINK ABOUT IT!
Greetings! The articles NAGR Gun Rights Blog » Above the law in Chicago here are great. Thanks for having this site. I found it on Monday searching for look up criminal record
This situation is a classic example of hypocritical politicians (redundant phrase?). Chicago politicians want to protect themselves, but they deny the same right to the people voted for them. Vote the bums out! Mayor Daly should be recalled. Chicago, clean house!
NOTE: If Chicago would issue concealed carry permits to responsible citizens, there would be far less street crime.