Use a Gun in Chicago in Self Defense with No FOID, Go to Jail

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- On Monday, 22 March, in Chicago, 15 people were recorded as being shot. Three of them were killed. One of those shot is recorded as acting in self-defense, on the South Side of Chicago. From the Chicago Sun Times:

An hour prior, a man was shot in South Deering on the South Side. They were sitting in a parked vehicle about 10 p.m. in the 2500 block of East 109th Street when two people walked up to them and fired shots, police said. A 25-year-old man was struck in the face and grazed in the neck area. He pulled out his own gun and returned fire but did not strike anyone.

He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition. Police said a handgun was recovered at the scene, and the man does not have a valid FOID card or concealed carry license. He was taken into custody and charges are pending.

The case is of interest because it appears to be self-defense; the police do not mention the injured man as having any prior convictions, and the 25-year-old who was shot did not have a Firearms Owner Identification Card (FOID) or a Concealed Carry License (CCW).

The backup to obtain a FOID in Illinois was about four months in 2020. It is supposed to be done in 30 days. The backup was another four months, on average, for a CCW permit. A FOID is required before a CCW can be applied for.  Several lawsuits have been filed. In March of 2021, the same numbers were cited. The times to obtain a FOID or CCW in Chicago have been reported as significantly longer.

Part of the back-up is caused by significant demand for both the FOID cards and CCW permits.  In Chicago, there are other significant barriers. The CCW permit requires to have time spent at a range. No public ranges have been approved by the City Zoning Commission.  Carrying a gun on public transportation is forbidden. There is an exception for carrying a gun, unloaded, in a case, but it may not be well known.

If someone depends on public transportation, this places a significant obstacle to obtaining a CCW in Chicago.

If this correspondent were the young man who shot at attackers, after being wounded, I would want my attorney to point out how difficult it was to legally carry a gun in Chicago.

The police report “a handgun was recovered at the scene”.  It is difficult to know exactly what that means. It might mean the person arrested is keeping his mouth shut.

The case seems a good example of why Constitutional Carry is needed. The person who, it appears, the police believe was defending their and another person’s life, has been arrested after being wounded, for lack of paperwork which is very difficult to complete, in Chicago.

A famous English politician, William E. Gladstone once said, in 1868:

Justice delayed is justice denied.

Martin Luther King slightly misquoted him in the letter from Birmingham Jail.

Justice too long delayed is justice denied.

The sentiment goes back to at least 1646.

At what point does the refusal or inability of the state to issue permits in a reasonable amount of time, become a violation of fundamental Constitutional rights?

The numerous lawsuits filed in Illinois may provide an answer. Eventually.

John Lott, the famous researcher on the effects of legal concealed carry, has often written that minorities in crime-ridden urban areas, show the most benefit from an increase in the legal carry of firearms.

My research has demonstrated that the two groups that benefit the most from carrying guns are the likeliest victims of crime (poor blacks in high-crime urban areas) and people who are physically weaker (women and the elderly). Dozens of published peer-reviewed studies find similar results. —Texas & U.S. Law Shield Contributor Dr. John Lott, Jr.

There is a long-standing soft racism belief that minorities cannot be trusted with guns. That racism is strong in Chicago.

The song “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” reflected the stereotype of life on the South Side of Chicago.

On 2 February 2013, State Representative Dunkin stated black people have been kept unarmed in Chicago because their communities are where the concentration of poverty and crime exists. From representative Dunkin:

  ..in every state, the crime, the concentration of crime, and again, the abject poverty exists, exists exclusively and criminally in our community.

This correspondent reported on the Town Hall, 3rd Legislative District on 3 February 2013.  The report included a link to the video of the town hall.

Unfortunately, the video no longer seems to be available on the Internet. Reference to the town hall is still noted at this link. An audio clip that cuts out Dunkin’s statement listed above, is available at this link.  It shows the context is correct. In a show of hands at the town hall, 30 of 80 participants said they would seek a concealed carry permit.

A partial Youtube video is still online. It only shows the NRA representative Todd Vanermyde.

Dunkin’s straight talk was not appreciated by the powers that be in Chicago.

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About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.