Posted on 12/16/2005 10:47:37 AM PST by neverdem
Letters to the Editor
Everybody gets guns but us
Let me get this right: I was a Chicago Police officer who retired as a detective after 32 years of service to the city. Congress passed a law in 2004 that gives retired officers throughout the United States the right to carry concealed weapons. Gov. Blagojevich signs legislation in July 2005 saying retired police officers in Illinois can carry concealed weapons. But Mayor Daley, who has a security detail of 30 active Chicago Police officers protecting him and his family 24 hours a day, refuses to let me carry a weapon.
The gang-bangers who prowl my neighborhood can carry a weapon, an alderman can carry a concealed weapon, a retired police officer from any place other than Chicago who visits or lives here can carry a weapon, but I am not qualified to carry a weapon?
Al Barski, Lower West Side
No reason to disarm retirees
Richard M. Daley has taken away ''concealed carry'' gun permits from retired Chicago Police officers [''City won't let retired cops carry concealed guns,'' news story, Dec. 12]. The alleged reason is to eliminate unknown lawsuit liability. The mayor contends that if Chicago is successfully sued when an ex-cop uses his gun illegally, the feds should pay! That hasn't happened and is unlikely to happen. Why does Daley impugn the integrity of an entire class of honorable, sworn officers?
At last count, 46 states have ''concealed carry'' gun regulations for all residents, including ex-cops; Wisconsin may become No. 47. Daley's ethereal risk factor has never been raised in any of these states. When a properly licensed car driver uses a vehicle to commit a crime, neither state nor city can be sued because a car was used. The car may be impounded as evidence, and that's all. Well-settled law prevents suing innocent third parties.
Thaddeus J. Kochanny, Ingleside
You're not one of the pretty people...those that matter.
What do you call a retired cop? A civilian.
Retired cops should have no higher right to carry a concealed weapon than anyone else.
It's just Hell, being in the second rank of the American Nobility.
Yup--if something happened to Daley, Chicago would crumble. He must be protected. You, however, are free to travel about unarmed at night. You are encouraged to hang around dark alleys with $20 bills hanging out of your pockets. Go ahead and run with scissors if you want.
I think he is pointing out that civilians can carry concealed(if they manage to actually get a permit) but he can't. I would say that is discrimination, wouldn't you?
You are nothing more than a revenue-providing serf to Daley.
Much the same way I am to the slugs in Trenton, NJ. Sucks, doesn't it?
Not in Illinois. It's one of the 4 remaining US States with NO provision whatsoever for legal carry of a concealed weapon by a civilian.
This is rich. Cry me a river pal. Now you know how the rest of us peasants feel.
Yep. Wonder how many times he personally enforced Chicago's gun laws against said peasants.
I cannot agree with this one. My sister was dating a cop, and we took my 90 y/o grandmother out to dinner. This woman he had arrested and sent up for 3 years came over and started yelling at him for sending her to prison. Now, he managed to get her to back down and leave, but if he hadn't it could have gotten even uglier.
The point is, a civilian doesn't spend every day confronting the evil side of human nature, a cop does. Those people a cop has sentup sometimes coming looking for that cop, and they don't care if that cop has retired or not.
I believe we should go back to the days where everyone carried, but I do feel that even in the places where lefties have limited the rights of the rest of us should let those who have spent their lives confronting the dark side continue to carry.
My two cents. Merry Christmas!
Also gotta wonder whether, how often, and how loudly his police union lobbied against concealed-carry for the "rest of us."
How's it feel to be an 'us'? Where were you when you were a 'them'?
Apparently this is true in Chicago.
Al Barski and Thaddeus J. Kochanny I'll bet you didn't stand up and squeal when your police chief endorsed disarming law abiding citizens in your city when you were cops. Deal with it. I don't feel sorry for you guys. Welcome to the ranks of the peasants.
I have little sympathy for citizens who think themselves better than the peasantry and that they have special rights reserved to them.
This is what gets me. It is against the law (without a permit) to carry a concealed weapon. And if you don't conceal it and carry it in the open, then you are breaking the law by 'brandishing a firearm'. You can't win.
Cry me a river, officer. Now you're in the same boat with the rest of the peons, er, citizens of Chicago.
Crooks like Hizzoner Daly can't stand the thought of armed victims.
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