(IL) If you know ANYTHING about Chicago aldermen toting guns, you are needed!

[Don Gwinn]

I want to give the author of the article quoted below something to chew on. This is the first time I can remember a major news service or paper mentioning the little-known fact that Chicago aldermen (and indeed, every small town Mayor and alderman across the state) can carry pistols while their constituents can't even own one legally!

I emailed him about the two cases of aldermanic carry of which I am aware--"Wild Bill" Henry and Dorothy "The Hat" Tillman.

1. Bill Henry is on record, in Judge Posner's decision in Nelson vs. Streeter, as having carried and brandished a pistol. The case was heard in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and centered around a controversial painting a student made of Harold Washington (Chicago's first black mayor) and the efforts of five black Chicago aldermen to confiscate and destroy the painting. It's a clear-cut and disgusting case of censorship by force, but more germane to our purposes here, it contains Judge Posner's statement that William Henry brandished a gun while an accomplice (Alderman Jones) removed the painting from the wall of a private museum. It could very well be, however, that Wild Bill was carrying illegally rather than exploiting the statute. I have no idea whether he could even pass the background check to get a FOID card. He died in 1992, and a 1991 blurb about the Chicago aldermanic races notes that he was running even though he stood accused of racketeering, extortion, fraud and tax evasion.

2. The one I really want help with is Dorothy Tillman. I've seen numerous references to the day she waved a pistol around in a Chicago City Council meeting, but no hard references to when it happened. Even the year would be a help from those of you who remember this incident--or even a lead on where I could find that information. I would like to give this reporter a date or a specific meeting he could ask his sources about, since I'm sure he can find it easier than I can. What I do NOT want to do is feed him a story that he finds out is untrue with a phone call or two.

3. I also intend to remind him of Arenda Troutman, the alderman who told reporters they were "damn right" she deserves to have 24-hour police protection in front of her building even though she's known to be intimately involved with gangbangers in Chicago, and even though her constituents aren't allowed to have so much as grandpa's police .38 in the sock drawer, much less two police officers and a cruiser stationed outside their front doors.

Daley speaks in defense of gun-control measures

By MIKE RAMSEY
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

CHICAGO - Chicago Mayor Richard Daley urged state lawmakers Tuesday not to pass a "concealed-carry" law for average Illinoisans, even though his city's aldermen can carry guns under a little-known statute. Daley held a news conference with victims of violence to highlight the gun-control measures his lobbyists are again pushing in Springfield. He also took shots at the latest concealed-carry bills that would allow qualified residents to pack firearms in public.

Phil Cline, Daley's superintendent of police, weighed in against one version that passed the House Agriculture and Conservation Committee earlier this month. It would supersede the Chicago ordinance that prohibits residents from keeping handguns that were not registered with police before 1983. "When there are fewer guns on the streets, our residents and our officers are safer," Cline said. "From a police officer's perspective, the lines between criminals and law-abiding citizens are blurred immensely when you allow everyone to carry a weapon."

Chicagoans may not be able to carry guns, but their elected leaders technically can under the Illinois Municipal Code. Aldermen can become "conservators of the peace" with police powers if they get special training, and peace officers are exempted from state restrictions on concealed weapons.

Some proponents of concealed carry say it's unfair to give the aldermen the opportunity to arm themselves while denying regular citizens the chance. Daley, however, said the only aldermen who have used the gun allowance are a few current or former police officers.

Comment: Daley was adamantly against CCW for police officers and especially for retired officers when he was fighting HR 218 tooth and nail. Now it's legitimate?

One ex-cop on the Chicago City Council, Ald. William Beavers, said he stopped wearing a gun because the ankle holster he used cut off the circulation in his leg. He said he doesn't know of any colleagues who carry weapons. Ald. Walter Burnett Jr., who attended the Daley news conference Tuesday, said he's never had a gun and doesn't want one.

"I've got God to protect me," he said. "I will say this: Just like the judges were threatened (in recent incidents), aldermen get threatened, too. We deal with putting gang-bangers (in jail), getting them arrested and a whole bunch of other terrible situations. We don't have bodyguards; we're not like the mayor."

Chicago aldermen do not get a special niche in the state code to carry guns. The law applies to a variety of municipal elected officials, including mayors and board presidents and trustees across Illinois. Gun lobbyist Richard Pearson of the Illinois State Rifle Association said he recently used the statute twice as mayor of downstate Chatsworth when local alarms went off and no police officers were available. Pearson said he cannot carry his gun beyond his own jurisdiction, according to his reading of the law.

"I'm not trying to replace a police officer. My only job is to protect" local residents, Pearson said.

Illinoisans must have a Firearm Owner's Identification card to have a gun. Most cities allow residents to keep firearms at home or at their personal businesses. Under a new federal law, retired police officers can carry weapons in public.

Also Tuesday, in response to scathing comments made by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a fellow Chicago Democrat, Daley said his lobbyists do a good job pushing his gun-control measures in Springfield. Blagojevich on Monday said he supports Daley's proposed restrictions but claimed the mayor's liaisons haven't asked his administration for lobbying help in legislative committees, where the measures have fared poorly. Daley said his representatives communicate with the governor's office.

"Everybody knows where these bills (are)," the mayor said. "These are the hottest bills down there. You know that, that's the talk of Springfield."

Daley said the media pouncing on the governor's comments is a "diversion" and a "sideshow" from the real issue of gun control. The mayor's agenda includes a proposed state ban on assault weapons, a requirement that gun-show sales include background checks and the state licensing of gun dealers.

Mike Ramsey can be reached at (312) 857-2323 or [email protected].

 

[Standing Wolf]

From a police officer's perspective, the lines between criminals and law-abiding citizens are blurred immensely when you allow everyone to carry a weapon.

Well, yeah, sure, but we're not a police state.

 

[fedlaw]

Ald. Ed Burke. He carries in an ankle holster. Says he is entitled to because he's a former CPD.

 

[Jeff White]

"From a police officer's perspective, the lines between criminals and law-abiding citizens are blurred immensely when you allow everyone to carry a weapon."

You'd have to look pretty hard around here to find a police officer who would say that.


There is a bill in the Senate right now to slap Chicago right in the face:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/bil...8&GA=94&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=20626&SessionID=50

94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006
SB2113


Introduced 2/25/2005, by Sen. Edward Petka


SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

65 ILCS 5/3.1-15-25 from Ch. 24, par. 3.1-15-25
720 ILCS 5/24-1.6

Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that the provision that states that certain municipal officials are conservators of the peace after completion of a training course administered by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board does not apply to any alderman, councilman, or trustee of a municipality that restricts or prohibits the private ownership or possession of any firearms by residents of that municipality by ordinance or resolution. Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Provides that a violation of the offense of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon by any alderman, councilman, or trustee of a municipality not entitled to carry or possess a firearm in accordance with that provision of the Illinois Municipal Code is a Class 3 felony. Effective immediately.


CORRECTIONAL BUDGET AND IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY




A BILL FOR

1 AN ACT concerning firearms.

2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:

4 Section 5. The Illinois Municipal Code is amended by
5 changing Section 3.1-15-25 as follows:

6 (65 ILCS 5/3.1-15-25) (from Ch. 24, par. 3.1-15-25)
7 Sec. 3.1-15-25. Conservators of the peace; service of
8 warrants.
9 (a) After receiving a certificate attesting to the
10 successful completion of a training course administered by the
11 Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board, the mayor,
12 aldermen, president, trustees, marshal, deputy marshals, and
13 policemen in municipalities shall be conservators of the peace.
14 Those persons and others authorized by ordinance shall have
15 power (i) to arrest or cause to be arrested, with or without
16 process, all persons who break the peace or are found violating
17 any municipal ordinance or any criminal law of the State, (ii)
18 to commit arrested persons for examination, (iii) if necessary,
19 to detain arrested persons in custody over night or Sunday in
20 any safe place or until they can be brought before the proper
21 court, and (iv) to exercise all other powers as conservators of
22 the peace prescribed by the corporate authorities.
23 (b) All warrants for the violation of municipal ordinances
24 or the State criminal law, directed to any person, may be
25 served and executed within the limits of a municipality by any
26 policeman or marshal of the municipality. For that purpose,
27 policemen and marshals have all the common law and statutory
28 powers of sheriffs.
29 (c) This Section does not apply to any alderman,
30 councilman, or trustee of a municipality that restricts or
31 prohibits the private ownership or possession of any firearms
32 by residents of that municipality by ordinance or resolution.

1 (Source: P.A. 90-540, eff. 12-1-97.)

2 Section 10. The Criminal Code of 1961 is amended by
3 changing Section 24-1.6 as follows:

4 (720 ILCS 5/24-1.6)
5 Sec. 24-1.6. Aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
6 (a) A person commits the offense of aggravated unlawful use
7 of a weapon when he or she knowingly:
8 (1) Carries on or about his or her person or in any
9 vehicle or concealed on or about his or her person except
10 when on his or her land or in his or her abode or fixed
11 place of business any pistol, revolver, stun gun or taser
12 or other firearm; or
13 (2) Carries or possesses on or about his or her person,
14 upon any public street, alley, or other public lands within
15 the corporate limits of a city, village or incorporated
16 town, except when an invitee thereon or therein, for the
17 purpose of the display of such weapon or the lawful
18 commerce in weapons, or except when on his or her own land
19 or in his or her own abode or fixed place of business, any
20 pistol, revolver, stun gun or taser or other firearm; and
21 (3) One of the following factors is present:
22 (A) the firearm possessed was uncased, loaded and
23 immediately accessible at the time of the offense; or
24 (B) the firearm possessed was uncased, unloaded
25 and the ammunition for the weapon was immediately
26 accessible at the time of the offense; or
27 (C) the person possessing the firearm has not been
28 issued a currently valid Firearm Owner's
29 Identification Card; or
30 (D) the person possessing the weapon was
31 previously adjudicated a delinquent minor under the
32 Juvenile Court Act of 1987 for an act that if committed
33 by an adult would be a felony; or
34 (E) the person possessing the weapon was engaged in
1 a misdemeanor violation of the Cannabis Control Act or
2 in a misdemeanor violation of the Illinois Controlled
3 Substances Act; or
4 (F) the person possessing the weapon is a member of
5 a street gang or is engaged in street gang related
6 activity, as defined in Section 10 of the Illinois
7 Streetgang Terrorism Omnibus Prevention Act; or
8 (G) the person possessing the weapon had a order of
9 protection issued against him or her within the
10 previous 2 years; or
11 (H) the person possessing the weapon was engaged in
12 the commission or attempted commission of a
13 misdemeanor involving the use or threat of violence
14 against the person or property of another; or
15 (I) the person possessing the weapon was under 21
16 years of age and in possession of a handgun as defined
17 in Section 24-3, unless the person under 21 is engaged
18 in lawful activities under the Wildlife Code or
19 described in subsection 24-2(b)(1), (b)(3), or
20 24-2(f).
21 (b) "Stun gun or taser" as used in this Section has the
22 same definition given to it in Section 24-1 of this Code.
23 (c) This Section does not apply to or affect the
24 transportation or possession of weapons that:
25 (i) are broken down in a non-functioning state; or
26 (ii) are not immediately accessible; or
27 (iii) are unloaded and enclosed in a case, firearm
28 carrying box, shipping box, or other container by a
29 person who has been issued a currently valid Firearm
30 Owner's Identification Card.
31 (d) Sentence. Aggravated unlawful use of a weapon is a
32 Class 4 felony; aggravated unlawful use of a weapon by any
33 alderman, councilman, or trustee of a municipality not entitled
34 to carry or possess a firearm in accordance with Section
35 3.1-15-25 of the Illinois Municipal Code is a Class 3 felony; a
36 second or subsequent offense is a Class 2 felony. Aggravated




SB2113 - 4 - LRB094 05551 RLC 35600 b

1 unlawful use of a weapon by a person who has been previously
2 convicted of a felony in this State or another jurisdiction is
3 a Class 2 felony. Aggravated unlawful use of a weapon while
4 wearing or in possession of body armor as defined in Section
5 33F-1 by a person who has not been issued a valid Firearms
6 Owner's Identification Card in accordance with Section 5 of the
7 Firearm Owners Identification Card Act is a Class X felony.
8 (Source: P.A. 93-906, eff. 8-11-04.)

9 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
10 becoming law.