Above the law, Armed pols: An unfortunate Chicago tradition...

[spin]

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.

***snip***

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.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped1122chapmannov22,0,6848269.column

[Taverner]

1. I dunno - this leaves me with more questions than answers...

Was it in fact, his gun?

[eqfan592]

2. I don't think it makes a difference in the eyes of the law.

Possession of a handgun within the city of Chicago is illegal, no matter who claims ownership to it, if I understand correctly.

[Taverner]

4. Yes, but I'm asking whether this was really suicide...

It probably was, but now I have questions

[eqfan592]

5. Ahhh, ok.

Sorry about that, I missed what you were getting at. I think the article actually states that it was his firearm, though. From the article:

"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."

The implication here is that the handgun was his, and that he specifically failed to register it correctly with the police.

Edited to add quotation marks to quote.

[spin]

8. Maybe he was suicided

suicided

when someone is murdered and then arranged in such a way to make the death seem like a suicide. the victim may also be forced to take his own life so that the real culprit leaves little to no evidence of wrongdoing. authorities rule the cause of death to be a plain old suicide which often means that no investigation is preformed.
the key witnesses were all suicided before they could testify.

i guess they all were depressed or something. oh well. case dismissed!
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=suicided

[PavePusher]

15. "32 gunshots in the back...

worst case of suicide I ever saw..."

Famous Organized Crime quote.

[DonP]

9. The coroner says yes, the cops say maybe

The man involved was a long term, high profile political figure here who had been recently involved in some real estate dealing relative to the Chicago Olympics bid.

A number of local politicians bought property on the South and West Side, speculating on an astronomical rise in its value "when" Chicago got the olympics nod. Then the city would buy the property from them.

There are some folks that think he might have gotten involved in the deal with some money borrowed from a less than savory source and when the bid fell flat, he might have been on the hook for a big $$$ debt. So the cops are suspicious.

But ... the coroner is basing her finding on the fact that it was a contact gunshot wound, the man was left handed and the wound reflects that and there were no signs (footprints etc.) near his body on the river bank.

In either event his owning an unregistered .380 handgun (perfectly understandable after he was shot during a robbery a few years back) was illegal either way.

[-..__...]

3. Richard Mell.

Another fine upstanding 'do as I say, not as I do' protector of Chicagoans rights...

Chicago Alderman Richard Mell owns a variety of shotguns, rifles, and pistols, but forgot to re-register them, which makes the handguns permanently illegal and unregisterable under Chicago law. Since he wants to keep his handguns, he is proposing a 1 month registration amnesty period. The catch? It would only apply to people who happened to have failed to re-register in the same time frame as him. Chicago’s Mayor Daley endorses this plan, which is designed to benefit an influential alderman, while the vast majority of Chicago’s law abiding citizens will be left without the ability to keep a handgun to defend themselves.

For more than 20 years, Chicago has required that all firearms be registered, and if the yearly registration lapses for a handgun, that gun become illegal and can never be re-registered. Chicago also banned new handgun registration for over 20 years, which means that unless a citizen had a handgun before the ban, and has re-registered it every year, an ordinary Chicago citizen cannot have a handgun. Long guns can still be registered. That is how Chicago’s handgun ban, and draconian restrictions on long gun ownership, work.

Chicago Alderman Richard Mell owns a variety of guns, including handguns, rifles, and shotguns. He forgot to re-register them on time, and was thus prohibited by law from possessing them in Chicago. Alderman Mell admitted that he knew about the re-registration requirement, and should have complied with the law. Mell stated that he delegated the responsibility to a staff member of his, who apparently failed to complete the registration. Unlike ordinary citizens of Chicago, who would have to accept that fact that they could never again lawfully own their handguns, Alderman Richard Mell decided to use his political power for personal gain. Alderman Mell is proposing an amnesty that would allow him, and citizens who happen to have failed to re-register between May 1, 2007 and April 1, 2008, to re-register their guns within a 1 month period.

This is an unprecedented, narrowly tailored, amnesty, crafted by a politician who wants to legally keep his guns, while denying the right to the overwhelming majority of Chicago’s law abiding citizens. It would not allow people whose registration just lapsed to re-register and keep their guns. It would not allow people whose registration lapsed 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, or 20 years ago. Instead, this amnesty would allow Chicago Alderman Richard Mell to keep his guns.

http://www.learnaboutguns.com/2008/05/21/influential-chicago-alderman-to-craft-gun-amnesty-for-himself/

[spin]

7. Gun control always allows the rich, the famous and the influential

to own firearms. They are better people than the average citizen.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

12. Gun Controll has racist and classist roots that run true even today

[PavePusher]

14. Some pigs be more equal than other pigs... n/t

[taurus145]

10. We maybe expected something different?

Since when do most pols go out of their way to be other than self-serving?

[Euromutt]

13. "Do as I say, not as I do" sums it up perfectly

It's blatantly unconstitutional to craft a law to apply specifically to one person, like this "registration amnesty." Damn it, one of the specific checks against legislative abuse of power is that legislators are subject to the laws they pass. But not in Chicago, evidently.

[one-eyed fat man]

6. Chicago is....... well, Chicago

Generations of Daleys have proven you don't have to live in Chicago to vote in Chicago. Hell, you don't even have to be alive to vote in Chicago. The only thing that has changed about Chicago and its politics since the day Alphonse threw the mayor down the steps of City Hall was in Capone's day you knew who owned the politicians.

Alderman Mell is Blago's father-in-law. Sen Roland Burris was just chastised for lying about his dealings for Obama's old Senate seat.

The Cubs will win the World Series during a night game at Wrigley Field before a honest politician comes out of Chicago!

[armueller2001]

11. Apparently Chicago politicians

and their families must be more important than myself and my family.

[cowcommander]

16. Political power comes from the barrel of a gun

Musn't let the proles have that power. Nuh-uh, they aren't responsible enough!