Friend of family arrested

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GoRon

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A friend of my stepmother and dad is a lawyer. He has a former client whom he fears. He chose to break Illinios law by keeping a loaded firearm in his briefcase.

We do not have concealed carry in IL, guns and ammo must be carried seperately from each other.

In Illinios you must have a firearm owner ID card (FOID). He is a FOID card holder.

Apparently he is not a shining example of responsible gun ownership.

He forgot to remove his firearm from the briefcase before going into court.

He is in a world of trouble, I don't even know if he has been bailed out yet bail was set so high.

My family knowing my interest in firearms asked if I knew any organizations that might be able to help him defend himself. Not with money but with knowledge of the landscape on this issue.

I explained to them that what he did was wrong on many levels and that he will be lucky to escape going to jail.

Does any one know of any organizations that I could pass along to them?
 
The wrong is Illinois law, which infringes the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

If I were in such a situation, I believe I'd contact the N.R.A. to start looking for a lawyer with experience in Second Amendment cases.
 
An example

Illinois is a good example of a State that cares more for the gun carrying thugs then thay do about their residents being able to defend themselves.:banghead: Just another worthless State among many others I never intend living in or visiting.:rolleyes:
 
Old age and treachery...

I will bet that the only hope the guy has is a cooperative DA and pretrial diversion. Given the location and his status as an attorney, presumably of standing in that courthouse, a cooperative DA may be difficult. Don’t know what Illinois law may provide in the way of pretrial diversion. Regardless, the spanking will hurt.
 
Can he plead the "Doctrine Of Competing Harms?"

As I remember it you can claim that breaking the law is excusable if the consequences of not breaking the law are worse. Death at the hand of a former client is fairly serious, no?

(I'm not a lawyer, but did read an article on this by Massad Ayoob.)
 
I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY AND I AM NOT OFFERING LEGAL ADVICE!!
There is so much wrong with what this guy did that there is going to be a severe spanking. #1 A courthouse is a resticted place and there is almost no affirmative defense. I think it is only a misdemenor and might be a good thing to plead to if the other charges are dropped. His standing in the community is going to have a lot to do with the dispostion of this case, I think. #2 In Illinois a resident can transport a firearm if (a) he has a FOID card (b) the firearm is unloaded and (c) if the firearm is enclosed in a case or other container. The location of the ammunition or the firearm or their relationship to each other is not an issue if the above three criteria have been met. If the clip was not in the gun but both were enclosed in the brief case he may have an out. The problem is that he at some point he opened the briefcase causing the firearm to be no longer be enclosed, evidently. Non-residents have tougher rules to follow because a non-resident can not get a FOID card. Failure to follow these rules is a felony. This guy is an attorney? I don't think that there is any way he will be able to skate on this one but if he wants to talk with someone who has experience and wins in Illinois courts contact information follows:

Concealed Carry, Inc.
PO BOX 4597
OAK BROOK IL 60522-4597
Tel: 630 660-3935
Email: [email protected]

Contact: John Birch, President
 
I take it from the description of the case the attorney is a defense counsel. The situation could have been much worse if he had negligently taken his weapon into the holding cells where the in custody defendants are held. He then would have been guilty of introducing a firearm into a jail.

Pilgrim
 
Had he been part of the mob, he would have been released with apologies from the police and DA, who would have been a lot more scared of his bosses than of any legal penalties.

Jim
 
Contact the NRA-they might be able to keep him out of jail. I'd be surprised, though, if he isn't disbarred over this, even if it stays out of court or he is acquitted. He might only be able to avoid jail by agreeing to disbarment. It will all depend on his relationship with the DA's office. Contrary to popular belief and television shows, many lawyers representing opposing sides get along very well outside the courtroom, "it's just business" being the line of thinking-unless one or the other is a jerk.
 
:rolleyes: Hmmm! Sounds like an Illinois problem to me. Here in Pennsylvania, CHL holders simply get to check their carry pieces at the courthouse door. This seems so perfectly logical and works well in PA everyday of the week! All courthouses have metal detectors and sheriff’s deputies at the door. You smile at the deputies; they smile back at you. You say something like; ‘I’m carrying.’ They say something like; ‘Please show me your firearms ID; and, then, place the gun on the table.’ After that your gun is placed inside a security locker until you’re ready to permanently leave the building. Like I said; ‘Works very well!’ (But, maybe, that's just because this is Pennsylvania!) ;)
 
There is so much wrong with what this guy did that there is going to be a severe spanking. #1 A courthouse is a resticted place and there is almost no affirmative defense. I think it is only a misdemenor and might be a good thing to plead to if the other charges are dropped. His standing in the community is going to have a lot to do with the dispostion of this case, I think. #2 In Illinois a resident can transport a firearm if (a) he has a FOID card (b) the firearm is unloaded and (c) if the firearm is enclosed in a case or other container.
Click to expand...

There is nothing wrong with this guy did. There is a whole lot wrong with the law in Illinois. There should be no places where honest citizens should be denied the ability to defend themselves. Such places are rightfully refered to as "criminal empowerment zones". The government gets to determine what is legal and what is illegal, not what is right and wrong.
 
Thanks guys, looks like the NRA, Concealed Carry and GOA are the groups to contact.

I'll be visiting with the folks later and should get more details.

I forget that most of the country doesn't have such draconian gun laws on the books.
 
A friend of my stepmother and dad is a lawyer. He has a former client whom he fears. He chose to break Illinios law by keeping a loaded firearm in his briefcase....

Apparently he is not a shining example of responsible gun ownership....

I explained to them that what he did was wrong on many levels and that he will be lucky to escape going to jail.
Click to expand...

Just a couple beefs with what you say here.

First, I don't see how this is an example of irresponsible gun ownership. What is irresponsible about carrying a gun when you are under threat? Sounds very responsible to me (hmm, I think the vast majority of people on this board carry a gun at least occasionally, and many do everyday, and most here do not deal with the dregs of society and are not under threat).

As for being "wrong on many levels", the only thing wrong on many levels is a law that doesn't allow a person to do the responsible thing and safely carry a gun for his/her own protection. The only thing this guy did "wrong" was make a mistake and carry the gun someplace where he'd be discovered when in a state with immoral laws that disarm him.

I do feel for the guy, he is in much trouble. I can relate living in MD as well, since CCW is nearly impossible to get here (though I do think lawyers as "officers of the court" are one of the classes of people allowed to get CCW permits if they fear for their safety). Those of us who live in states like yours and mine need to get on the ball and work for more rational gun laws that don't victimize us twice (you may get victimized by the criminals if you do obey the law "criminal safety zones", you get victimized by the state if you ignore the law and carry a tool to defend yourself "illegal carry").
 
As for being "wrong on many levels", the only thing wrong on many levels is a law that doesn't allow a person to do the responsible thing and safely carry a gun for his/her own protection.
Click to expand...

Agreed on that point. I should have said illegal on many levels.
 
If this happened in a Chicago court room, they're going to nail him hard and try to make an example out of him. The anti-gun culture in Chicago is just so damn high. No one but the police, politically connected and criminals have guns. Of those 3 groups, only the police are legit and that's questionable.:rolleyes:

The DA really going to go after this guy hard. Especially if he's a defense attorney that the DA faced before.

You wouldn't figure that defending your own life would be a crime but it is here in Illinois.:scrutiny:
 
The worst thing about all of this is that in most countries in the world (e.g. Pakistan, India, China, Iceland, etc) not only is the right to carry a gun never disputed, but also it is insisted upon that one protects one's self, family and community by any means possible.

I think the lawyer should be commended for inadvertently raising the fact that guns laws are arbitrary, inconsistent and alomst impossible to live with.
 
1. Was the gun loaded or not? If it was unloaded, he's in a lot less trouble, as it's only the inadvertent carry into the courthouse that's actually against the law then. That's a relatively minor thing that has gone away for officers of the court before, though more for judges than anyone else.

2. Was this in Chicago or elsewhere?

3. I second the thought of Concealed Carry, Inc., but understand that John has often said that he won't throw CCI's weight behind anyone that can't at least credibly claim that they followed the law and were discriminated against because of a gun. So far they've never accepted the case of someone who simply violated Illinois law, regardless of what we all think of Illinois law.

I would also contact the Champaign County Rifle Association just for grins and see what they say. They're not local to you, which is a problem, but they're aggressive and tenacious.
 
The worst thing about all of this is that in most countries in the world (e.g. Pakistan, India, China, Iceland, etc) not only is the right to carry a gun never disputed, but also it is insisted upon that one protects one's self, family and community by any means possible.
Click to expand...

China? I was told by a Chinese citizen, still living in China BTW, that gun ownership in China is illegal. As a matter of fact, he asked if I would take him hunting when came to the US.:)
 
Moparmike is right.
This post has been edited to delete offensive material.

I still can't get it that a Mid-West state is so weird.

Hey even D.C. has voted to allow handguns.
 
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