Chicago Police Officers Warned About Possible Gun Sweeps

U.S. Newswire | April 29, 2002

[tarawa]

Copyright 2002 U.S. Newswire, Inc.
U.S. Newswire

April 29, 2002 Monday 9:33 AM

SECTION: State Desk

LENGTH: 1218 words

HEADLINE: Chicago Police Officers Warned About Possible Gun Sweeps

DATELINE: CHICAGO, April 29

BODY:
The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):

The ISRA is warning employees of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) that the department's Chicago Anti-Gun Enforcement (CAGE) unit may soon swoop down on their homes.

The warning comes after the release of CPD Notice 02-18, which directs CPD employees to dispose of many of their personally owned firearms by May 1, 2002 or face the consequences.

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.

Issuance of CPD Notice 02-18 comes in the midst of a stepped-up effort by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to impose his personal gun control plan on a statewide basis. Earlier this year, Daley blasted the Illinois General Assembly for twice rejecting his extremist gun control package - pledging to sidestep the legislature by using his local political muscle to institute the package in one village at a time. Daley's first attempt at doing so failed miserably on April 15th when the Des Plaines (IL) City Council rejected a gun control ordinance introduced by Daley ally Alderman Don Smith by a 7-1 margin. The approaching May 1 gun disposal deadline is especially ominous in light of questionable tactics being employed by the CAGE unit. The unit was formed specifically to support Mayor Daley's efforts to run suburban gun shops out of business and to create an illegal registration database of law-abiding Illinois gun owners.

After several months of keeping tabs on the CAGE unit, the ISRA has come into information on tactics that should send a shiver down the spine of any freedom-loving American. Among such tactics are attempts to entrap gun shop clerks into making illegal gun sales; inspecting and copying gun shop sales records for households where more than one person holds an Illinois FOID card and; visiting the homes of law-abiding gun owners and demanding to inventory their firearm collections without benefit of a court order.

In light of the disposal order, Chicago police officers should be especially concerned about the CAGE unit's tactics. The ISRA is aware of the case of a Cook County 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.

The ISRA suspects strongly that the CAGE unit has been gathering information on the gun buying habits of fellow CPD officers and that, after May 1, officers who may have owned any of the firearms on the disposal list should expect to undergo questioning by the CAGE unit.

"My advice to any CPD officer who has ever owned a gun on the disposal list is to get a lawyer - a good one," commented 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're going to need it."
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The ISRA is the state's leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. For nearly a century, the ISRA has represented the interests of over 1.5 million law-abiding Illinois gun owners.
http://www.usnewswire.com

CONTACT: Richard Pearson of the Illinois State Rifle Association, 815-635-3198; Web Site: http://www.isra.org

[Redbob]

What list would be complete without the exploits of the infamous Lon Whoreiuchi?
"Using high-powered scoped sniper rifle to murder innocent unarmed woman holding infant."
Punishment - NADA!

And how about the jack-booted thugs who decended on the Branch Davidians, and in so doing precipitated the OK City bombing?
What did they get - promotions?

[Shooter 2.5]

Those two incidences are a given on this web site but thanks for posting. we shouldn't forget.

I think the agent in charge at Ruby Ridge was punished in the same manner as when he lost a cell phone. I think Horiushi is teaching at Quantico. I don't know what happened to the people in charge at Waco. I never followed Waco very much. I just learned the information that was told to me without any inquiry by me. Maybe because I think it's painful. I used to go to matches at Waco so one time we decided since we were in the neighborhood so to speak, we might as well go there. It was a couple of years after it happened. It was an odd experience. It was like when I toured Civil War Battlefields.