DoubleNaughtSpy, what on earth . . . . are you referring to Vana Haggerty? You've been misled.
Vana had an unlicensed gun? That wouldn't be a very impressive trick in Illinois, where guns are not licensed. Essentially, if you don't live in Chicago, your guns are unregistered by default, because there's nobody keeping a registry.
What she had was a perfectly legal pistol, which she was carrying in a perfectly legal manner. She was ACCUSED by police and prosecutors of carrying it illegally, but that wasn't true. She had a valid FOID card, the gun was unloaded, and it was inside a closed case (a fanny pack)--ALL of which was noted in the official reports of the arresting officers!
Illinois law specifically exempts people transporting a gun in that manner from prosecution. That's why they offered her a "deal" over and over and then dropped the case literally minutes before the trial began--they knew she hadn't broken the law.
Yes, I agree that the "paperweight" justification of the brass knuckles is a little weak, but then again, the ones she was selling WERE pretty far out of spec for the average actual brass knucks. More importantly, a law against fist weights of any type at all is incredibly stupid.
The final charge she faced was one of carrying a firearm on publicly-funded property (it was a county fair) without the written permission of the state. The catch on that one is that no one, including state officials, knew it was on the books. We held a small campaign of writing to state officials asking for permission to transport our guns on public roads, public lakes, public hunting grounds, etc. NOT ONE of the law-enforcement officers we asked for permission knew what we were talking about; we were called nuts and worse. But they were ready to throw Vana Haggerty in prison for not doing that--or so they wanted her to think. In reality, when it came down to it, they dropped that charge too because they knew no one would convict her of such a ridiculous thing as not writing a letter to ask permission.
Where did you get your information on that case, anyway? I'm genuinely curious who reported that Vana Haggerty had an "unregistered gun."
In case anyone wants to know, I've got 9 unregistered guns, along with about 200 unregistered knives and two unregistered electric drills. There are also several unregistered rocks and many, many unregistered sticks in my backyard. I am posting this from an unregistered computer.
