Gun owner: I, not cops, got bad guy

Chicago Sun -Times ^ | 1/22/04

[kattracks]

January 22, 2004

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Three days after Christmas, someone broke into the DeMar family home in Wilmette through a dog door, stealing a television, an SUV and the keys to the home.

The next night, Hale DeMar was prepared for a return visit. With his children upstairs, DeMar, 54, shot burglar Morio Billings, 31, in the shoulder and calf, police said.

Billings was caught at a nearby hospital and charged with felony residential burglary and possession of a stolen car, authorities said.

And, in a move that has drawn criticism, DeMar was cited with breaking Wilmette's ban on handguns and with failing to update his firearm owner's identification card.

The misdemeanors are unlikely to bring jail time. Wilmette Police Chief George Carpenter did not criticize DeMar for protecting his family but said homes are safer without handguns.

DeMar, in a letter sent to the Chicago Sun-Times, is now speaking out:

Village Trustees ... Stick to Parade Schedules & Planting our Parks

Many of us have experienced a sense of violation upon returning to our homes, only to find that someone else has been there. Someone else has trespassed in our bedrooms, looting and stealing that which is readily replaced. Many of us, still haunted by that violation, will never again have a sense of security in our own homes. Few, however, have awakened to realize that they had been violated as they slept in their beds, doors locked, as family dogs patrolled their homes. For me, the seconds until I found my children still safely tucked in their beds were horrifying. The thought that a young child may have been hurt or abducted was incomprehensible.

The police were called and in routine fashion they came, took the report and with little concern left, promising to increase surveillance. Little comfort, since the invader now had keys to our home and our automobiles. The police informed me that this was not an uncommon event in east Wilmette and offered their condolences.

What is one to do when a criminal proceeds, undeterred by a 90-pound German shepherd, an alarm system and a property ... lit up like an outdoor stadium? And now, he had my house keys and an inventory of things he'd like to call his own. Would the police patrol my dead-end street as effectively the second time as they had the first? Would my small children be unharmed the next time? Would the career criminal be satisfied with another automobile, another television or would he feel the need, once again, to climb the staircase up to the bedrooms, perhaps for a watch or a ring or a wallet, again risking little?

Would my children wake to find a masked figure, clad in black, in their bedroom doorway, a vision that might haunt them for years? Would the police come again and fill out yet another report, and at what point should I feel comfortable that the 'bad guy' got everything he wanted and wouldn't return again, a third time?

I went to the safe where my licensed and registered gun was kept, loaded it for the very first time and tucked it under the mattress of my bed. I assured my frightened children ''that daddy would deal with the bad guy ... if he ever returned.'' Little did I imagine that this brazen animal was waiting in the backyard bushes as I tucked my children into bed.

Fifteen minutes after bedtime, the alarm went off. Three minutes after the alarm was triggered, the alarm company alerted the police to the situation and 10 minutes later the first police car pulled up to my home, but only after another call was made to 911, by a trembling, half-naked father. I suppose some would have grabbed their children and cowered in their bedroom for 13 minutes, praying that the police would get there in time to stop the criminal from climbing the stairs and confronting the family in their bedroom, dreading the sound of a bedroom door being kicked in. That's not the fear I wanted my children to experience, nor is it the cowardly act that I want my children to remember me by.

Until you are shocked by a piercing alarm in the middle of the night and met in your kitchen by a masked invader as your children shudder in their beds, until you confront that very real nightmare, please don't suggest that some village trustee knows better and he/she can effectively task the police to protect your family from the miscreants that this society has produced.

This career criminal had been arrested thirty times. He was wanted in Georgia and for parole violations in Minnesota. How many family homes had he violated, how many innocent lives were affected, how many police reports went into some back office file cabinet, only to become some abstract statistic? How is it that rabid animals like this are free to roam the streets, violating our homes and threatening the safety of our children?

If my actions have spared only one family from the distress and trauma that this habitual criminal has caused hundreds of others, then I have served my civic duty and taken one evil creature off of our streets, something that our impotent criminal justice system had failed to do, despite some thirty odd arrests, plea bargains and suspended sentences.

Hale DeMar, Wilmette

[xsrdx]

Better late than never...BANG!

[MileHi]

where is that found?

[Kevin Curry]

The arrogant police chief of Wilmette was in the news all week defending his political stooge decision, to enforce the village hand gun ban against DeMar. Carpenter claims that DeMar could have chose a better way to have handled this situation . . . .

E.g., a shotgun.

[Gritty]

Hale DeMar deserves a medal, not a trial.

Police are nice to have around but they are usually only around after the fact, as Mr. DeMar so eloquently states, to comiserate with the luckless victim (if he is still alive) and take the report.

He was perfectly justified in protecting his family and himself. But, he does need to spend a bit more time polishing his technique at the range. My bet is, he will.

[SCR1]

That may be difficult, The State will probably DENY him the ability to get a NEW FOID card meaning he will be forever isarmed in IL.

[New Perspective]

This guy, if he is not already employed as such, should be working for a major newspaper.

Are you kidding? They don't want first hand experience of a citizen actually protecting his family with a GUN.

He wouldn't last a week telling the truth.

This guy deserves a medal. On the contrary, having his family unharmed is probably reward enough.

[Kevin Curry]

Wilmette Police Chief George Carpenter . . . said homes are safer without handguns.

Commenting from his hospital bed, home invader Morio Billings replied, "Man, the chief's got that right."

[BMCDA]

Mr. De Mar is a surprisingly good writer, as well as being a stand-up guy. I'd like to live next door to him. He's a model American citizen.

Ditto here. There most definitely should be more like him.

I read about this incident on Kim du Toit's blogg two weeks ago and I must say his rant is absolutely justified.

[BMCDA]

Indeed ;)

Too bad this goblin ended up in a hospital bed and not in a morgue drawer.

[greenwolf]

This George Carpenter (the police chief) should be hearing it from the whole nation. Anybody have an office phone number?

[Condor51]

True, a revolver has no 'clip' or 'magazine'. But I was just addressing term 'clip' being used - that was all.

BTW, did Mr. DeMar use a S&W .38 (I haven't seen that reported or I missed it). Not that there's anything wrong with a S&W .38 special. I have a Colt Detective Special among my little 'collection' - or as a gun-grabbing leftist would say, 'Weapons Cache'!

Rugers are good too. Years ago a friend of mine had a Blackhawk in .30 cal Carbine. And I'm pondering getting a Vaquero in .45 Colt.

[Middle Man]

"Wilmette Police Chief George Carpenter did not criticize DeMar for protecting his family but said homes are safer without handguns."(????)

This speaks volumes about "law enforcement".

[11Bush]

Commenting from his hospital bed, home invader Morio Billings replied, "Man, the chief's got that right."

Bet laugh of the day, thanks.

[spunkets]

"on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens"

This means Sec 242 is limited to racial motivation.

[CHICAGOFARMER]

This letter was published in the Chicago Sun Times by yours truely.




xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Homeowner defenseless

You probably read this Letter to the editor in the Chicago Sun Times, in case you did not read it, enjoy.

Wilmette citizens should question the current city ordinance making it illegal for city residences to defend themselves? Headlining the fact the city will not charge Hale DeMar for shooting a felon inside his home is grandstanding and trying to put a good face on an ordinance that violates a human right. The city will only take away his gun, how crazy.

People who fear firearms have a phobia disease known as Hoplophobia. People who have this disease should not be in charge of determining methods of self-defense of fellow citizens. In the Cain Abel murder Jesus did not disarm or ban the stone or sword from the victim, he focused on the bad behavior.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) agrees, having just completed an intense study of 51 scientific studies of the 20,000 gun laws and cannot find any evidence that gun-control laws reduce violent crime. The Washington Times stated, “these 20,000 laws are laws that endanger, humiliate, criminalize, or otherwise burden good citizens”.

It is a MYTH to believe police can protect you. Washington, DC; New York; and Chicago have banned honest citizens from owning firearms. Chicago, New York, and Washington have the highest murder rates in the nation. U.S. Senator Hatch (2003) stated, "The prohibition of firearms in Washington DC is as ineffective and deplorable as it is unconstitutional; it is high-time we rectify this wrong." 24,000 firearm laws have not solved the criminal’s propensity to commit crime and, in the process, have disarmed honest, law-abiding citizens.

Here are the facts for the state of Illinois for 2002. 508,680 felon acts of Murder, Criminal Sexual Assault, Robbery, Assault, Burglary, theft, Vehicle theft, and arson. Arrest rates for 2002 were 108,720 for these crimes, or 21.3 %, or only 1 in 5 criminals prosecuted. We know by logical deduction police were not present to prevent these felon criminal acts when they occurred, thus dialing 911 and prayer is the policy of Wilmette.

The real issue of Wilmette citizens should be to give back the rights of self-defense to honest citizens so they can protect their families. Prisons do not rehabilitate, they only incarcerate for a period of time and release back into our neighborhood. A large percentage of the 7million adult Illinois citizens would agree that self-defense is the responsibility of the citizen not the police who are incapable of stopping crime. 60 million citizens understand this concept in other states, Why not the citizens of Wilmette?

[Ancesthntr]

Thanks much for posting the link to du Toit's website. He's definitely my kind of guy, and I wish that we had 50 like him in Congress (minus the language, but definitely with the attitude). Here's the relevant (to this thread) part of what I wrote him about his article:

Kim,

I only have one point of contention regarding your article. You stated:

"Just so we're all clear on this, having an expired FOID card and possessing a firearm is a felony in Illinois -- which means he'll never again be "allowed" to have a gun while he lives there."

The fact is that Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a felony ANYWHERE from not only legally purchasing guns, but from legally owning any ("legally," as such term is defined by our unconsitutional system of justice, that is - and They have the ability to enforce those laws, no matter how patently illegal). As such, our hero will be forever debarred the ownership and use of arms if convicted, even if he moves to a different state - and THAT is a true crime. The only thing that Hale DeMar will be able to do "legally" is to buy an antique gun (i.e. manufactured prior to 1899) because they are not defined as "firearms" under the 1968 Gun Control Act (which is followed by most states). Of course, he can always get one via a private purchase, but if he's caught with a gun after a felony conviction, he'll be serving some heavy time in prison.

[7.62 x 51mm]

Bravo, Mr DeMars! Next time, double-tap to the head or center mass. Death ends recividism, permanently. But good going, anyway.

[TheRightGuy]

I went to the safe where my licensed and registered gun was kept,

First off, I'm totally in favor of what this guy did. But I am totally mystifyed by this statement. How could he have a licensed and registered gun a city where ownership/possession of such weapons is banned? Where was it licensed and registered: Colorado? ... South Africa? ... certainly not Wilmette? ... how is it germain to the story?

[freeper0743]

Note post #4, about two thirds down for Smith & Wesson 38 reference, also post #13, 6 rounds.
Understand your point about clip or magazine.

[spunkets]

The chief and the prosecutor may be giving the perp a break in order to screw DeMar as much as they can. They are charging this guy with "felony residential burglary". Residential burglar is a felony anyway. The perp in this case pulled a home invasion that is when the homeowners are present. I don't have time to look up the relevant IL law, but the charge of home invasion would give more credence to self defense than burglary. This situation would allow the perp to sue DeMar and make coviction for violating the Willmette ord and FOID laws easy.