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Chicago Cops Could be Subject to Gun SweepFOLLOWUp
Josey1
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Chicago Cops Could be Subject to Gun Sweeps, Group Says
By Jim Burns
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
May 01, 2002
(CNSNews.com) - The Illinois State Rifle Association says officers and other employees of the Chicago Police Department may soon find themselves targeted by the department's own anti-gun initiative.
The Chicago Anti-Gun Enforcement (CAGE) unit would have the right to raid the homes of police department employees, the rifle association maintains, because of a recent directive advising "CPD (Chicago Police Department) employees to dispose of many of their personally owned firearms by May 1, 2002 or face the consequences."
According to the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA), "firearms subject to the disposal order include a previously published list of so-called 'assault weapons' as well as many of the rifles typically used to hunt deer and other game in the state."
The May 1 gun disposal deadline is "especially ominous," according to ISRA, "in the light of questionable tactics being employed by the CAGE unit.
"The unit was formed specifically to support Mayor (Richard) Daley's efforts to run suburban gun shops out of business and to create an illegal registration database of law-abiding Illinois gun owners," ISRA said in a statement.
The group cited the case of a Cook County (Illinois) Sheriff's officer who was questioned by the CAGE unit about a used gun he legally transferred to a gun shop more than ten years ago.
"Although the officer made every attempt to comply with the CAGE unit's inquiry, the investigations team threatened the officer with the loss of his job and pension. Despite having complied fully with the CAGE team, he found himself on suspension," according to an ISRA statement.
ISRA also believes Chicago police officers should hire attorneys in case they're affected by a gun sweep.
"My advice to any CPD officer who has ever owned a gun on the disposal list is to get a lawyer, a good one," said ISRA president Richard Pearson. "You may show up for roll call later this week just to find yourself on indefinite suspension. Or, you may get a frantic phone call from your wife or kids telling you that there are a half dozen big burly guys wanting to come in and look at your gun collection.
"In any case, Mayor Daley plans to make you pay for not sharing his views on gun control. I wish you luck, you are going to need it," Pearson concluded.
Daley's office Tuesday had no comment. A Chicago police department spokesman who did not want to be identified said he had never heard of such a directive and said, "We're allowed to have off-duty weapons and we're allowed to have registered weapons."
Earlier this year, the Illinois legislature defeated Daley's gun control package. He wanted state licensing of firearms dealers, a state police database of every gun sold, limitations on handgun sales to one a month and required background checks on buyers at gun shows.
"We will continue coming back until we get common-sense legislation. You never give up on something you firmly believe in," Daley told the Chicago Tribune. http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200205\NAT20020501a.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By Jim Burns
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
May 01, 2002
(CNSNews.com) - The Illinois State Rifle Association says officers and other employees of the Chicago Police Department may soon find themselves targeted by the department's own anti-gun initiative.
The Chicago Anti-Gun Enforcement (CAGE) unit would have the right to raid the homes of police department employees, the rifle association maintains, because of a recent directive advising "CPD (Chicago Police Department) employees to dispose of many of their personally owned firearms by May 1, 2002 or face the consequences."
According to the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA), "firearms subject to the disposal order include a previously published list of so-called 'assault weapons' as well as many of the rifles typically used to hunt deer and other game in the state."
The May 1 gun disposal deadline is "especially ominous," according to ISRA, "in the light of questionable tactics being employed by the CAGE unit.
"The unit was formed specifically to support Mayor (Richard) Daley's efforts to run suburban gun shops out of business and to create an illegal registration database of law-abiding Illinois gun owners," ISRA said in a statement.
The group cited the case of a Cook County (Illinois) Sheriff's officer who was questioned by the CAGE unit about a used gun he legally transferred to a gun shop more than ten years ago.
"Although the officer made every attempt to comply with the CAGE unit's inquiry, the investigations team threatened the officer with the loss of his job and pension. Despite having complied fully with the CAGE team, he found himself on suspension," according to an ISRA statement.
ISRA also believes Chicago police officers should hire attorneys in case they're affected by a gun sweep.
"My advice to any CPD officer who has ever owned a gun on the disposal list is to get a lawyer, a good one," said ISRA president Richard Pearson. "You may show up for roll call later this week just to find yourself on indefinite suspension. Or, you may get a frantic phone call from your wife or kids telling you that there are a half dozen big burly guys wanting to come in and look at your gun collection.
"In any case, Mayor Daley plans to make you pay for not sharing his views on gun control. I wish you luck, you are going to need it," Pearson concluded.
Daley's office Tuesday had no comment. A Chicago police department spokesman who did not want to be identified said he had never heard of such a directive and said, "We're allowed to have off-duty weapons and we're allowed to have registered weapons."
Earlier this year, the Illinois legislature defeated Daley's gun control package. He wanted state licensing of firearms dealers, a state police database of every gun sold, limitations on handgun sales to one a month and required background checks on buyers at gun shows.
"We will continue coming back until we get common-sense legislation. You never give up on something you firmly believe in," Daley told the Chicago Tribune. http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200205\NAT20020501a.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
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