Free Republic

One of Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy’s most valued commanders was charged Wednesday with official misconduct and aggravated battery for allegedly putting his gun in a suspect’s mouth last year, officials said. Cmdr. Glenn Evans, who has been in charge of the Harrison District on the West Side, was stripped of his badge and gun earlier Wednesday. Evans is scheduled to appear in bond court on Thursday on the charges, which are both felonies.

Apparently, carrying a concealed weapon for some PEOPLE is so second nature they don't realize when they've left their gun behind in a restroom. A 76-year-old Oconomowoc man — whose wife left a loaded handgun in a Brookfield church restroom this year — left his own weapon in the restroom of a DOOR COUNTY fun park this month, according to sheriff's department reports. The loaded Ruger .380-caliber was found, in a holster, on the floor of a men's room at the Egg Harbor Fun Park on Aug. 9. A patron of the park — which features miniature golf, go-carts, arcade...

It's the way of politics these days, but pardon us if we yearn for simpler times...like when hundreds of thousands of dollars wasn't spent by outside groups on a sheriff's race in Milwaukee County. A sheriff's race. We've had our differences with Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., who is up for re-election on Tuesday. As we noted in an editorial back in June, "Whether it's irresponsibly calling on citizens to arm themselves, bombastic talk-radio appearances or his intensely personal feud with County Executive Chris Abele (all the while never acknowledging his own flaws), the sheriff has repeatedly diminished himself before...

As Illinois became the last state to allow concealed guns in public, state officials wrote a host of rules designed to prevent irresponsible uses of force that could take innocent lives. But multiple instructors authorized to teach people how to tote guns under the new state program are police officers with documented histories of making questionable decisions about when to use force, a Tribune review has found. One instructor is an officer whom two suburbs sought to fire because of substantiated excessive force allegations, municipal records show. Another was accused by two ex-wives of physical abuse — and by one...

Gun control advocates are learning the downside of getting their way. Recently, a federal judge struck down the District of Columbia's ban on the carrying of concealed handguns. Anti-gun forces have been losing in legislatures for a long time. Now they are finding that even where they win, they lose. Washington used to have the strictest gun laws in America. Besides the prohibition of concealed guns, all firearms had to be registered and handgun ownership was forbidden. Graphic: Legal restrictions of Illinois' concealed carry law Graphic: Legal restrictions of Illinois' concealed carry law READ THE STORY The restrictions had no...

A proposed gun shop/shooting range that has generated controversy because of its location near several neighborhood schools will be coming to Niles. The Niles Village Board of Trustees voted 4-1 on Tuesday to approve a special use permit to allow firearms sales, firearms safety training and an indoor firing range at the proposed location, at 6143 Howard St. About 200 supporters and critics of the plan packed the Village of Niles Municipal Building to make their voices heard on the gun shop, to be called Sportsman’s Club and Firearms Training Academy. Dozens wore green shirts and ribbons to honor victims...

This is a personal snapshot of inner city gun violence from a man who knows what it feels like: Claude Motley dropped off a friend late at night on W. Capitol Drive and paused to check his cellphone for emails. Motley, 43, was in Milwaukee for the class reunion of Milwaukee Tech High School from his current hometown of Charlotte, N.C., where he and his wife moved five years ago from Milwaukee to pursue business opportunities. They wanted to live somewhere else for various reasons, including their concern about rising violence in the city. Born and raised on the north...

Two weeks after Chicago's rampant gun violence shot back into the national spotlight with a bloody Fourth of July weekend, federal authorities are scheduled to announce Thursday that seven new ATF agents are being deployed to the city to try to help stem the violence. By year end, the move will boost to 52 the number of agents in the Chicago office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which traditionally has worked closely with Chicago police on tracing the flow of guns into the city and tracking guns used in crimes. In a separate action, the...

A federal magistrate has recommended dismissal of felony drug trafficking charges against a former officer of the Vagos motorcycle gang because of outrageous government conduct by the lead undercover agent in the case. In a rare decision late Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cam Ferenbach criticized Agostino Brancato, a deputized agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, for manufacturing the cocaine case against Jeremy Halgat, though Halgat had no criminal record and repeatedly told the agent in secretly recorded conversations that he did not want to traffic in drugs. “The problem is that the government’s investigation deployed...

We could throw up our hands after a brazen gunman killed a photographer and then kept shooting at other people on a Saturday afternoon on a busy street in a neighborhood where shootings aren’t common. The shooting added to a ceaseless toll of horror that seems to flow like a river of blood. Three others died and 29 were hurt by gunfire over the weekend. The Independence Day weekend before: 16 dead, more than 60 wounded. Tragedy compounding tragedy. Families burying their loved ones, children gunned down, all after a concerted effort by Chicago police to reduce the bloodshed. The...

Sierra Guyton put up a long fight, but on Sunday her young body finally succumbed to her injuries. It was two months ago that a dispute between two men ended in gunfire and 10-year-old Sierra was shot in the head as she played at the Clarke Street Elementary School playground. Sierra died about 1:35 a.m. Sunday at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. She was taken off life support June 25, but survived another 2 1/2 weeks. If an effort ever was needed to get young black men to put down their guns and settle their disputes in a sensible manner, this...

A proposal to eliminate the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is drawing opposition from groups that typically sit on opposite sides of the gun debate. The idea, advanced last week by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and a left-leaning think tank, also is drawing support from powerful Republicans, and some Democrats are indicating a willingness to at least discuss the idea. A longtime former top ATF supervisor said his former employer is hobbled by a lack of supervision and leadership and folding it into the FBI and other agencies has merit. "I am not surprised by the proposed...

Days after Chicago marked a violent Fourth of July weekend, Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly reiterated their support for tighter gun laws. “I’ve seen firsthand the devastation caused by this violence,” Quinn said at a news conference Sunday, a block from where Tonya Gunn, 44, was shot to death last week in the Morgan Park neighborhood. The latest push comes on the heels of an especially bloody weekend, in which 13 people were killed and at least 58 wounded in shootings across the city. Quinn and Kelly urged the passage of a bill in the Illinois General...

When a major American city such as Chicago reports 82 people shot and 14 killed over a violent holiday weekend, it's time to take notice. Describing some parts of the inner city as "the Wild, Wild West" or "an urban war zone" to make a point about lawlessness just doesn't cut it anymore. It's time to call it what it is: an epidemic of gun violence as deadly as any infectious disease or plague that any health professional can imagine. When Mallory O'Brien, executive director of the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission, looks at the levels of gun violence in cities...

The creation and implementation of Illinois' law permitting licensed owners to carry concealed firearms has not been a graceful process. It was forced on the state, the last to forbid conceal carry, by a federal appeals court in 2012. The General Assembly dawdled before finally reaching a compromise that left no one particularly pleased. Now comes the next tricky part: making the system work in such a way as to protect the constitutional rights of gun owners without creating new dangers to public safety. Most states have "shall-issue" laws, which spell out the conditions for getting a concealed carry permit...

It's time to dissolve the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In fact, it should have been dissolved years ago. It has disparate missions that overlap with other agencies' responsibilities. It has been micromanaged by Congress and mismanaged by its leaders. It serves no useful purpose that can't be met by other government bodies. It needs to go. U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) is working on a bill that would do just that, and we hope this effort is successful. "By absorbing the ATF into existing law enforcement entities, we can preserve the areas where the ATF adds...

In 1929, when rivals killed seven members of Bugs Moran's gang, the world was shocked. Chicago's image as a corrupt, violent city was emblazoned in memory around the world. More than eight decades later, if you stroll around Europe and tell people you are from Chicago, some still pretend to shoot with a submachine gun. They have never visited the Art Institute or strolled the Magnificent Mile. They don't know the modern, vibrant city or the miles of greensward along the lakefront. No, when they think of Chicago, they think of Al Capone, organized crime and violence. Sadly what's old...

"The solution does not just include policing — although we'll continue to look for ways to put more police where they're needed. We also have to give our young people alternatives to the street, and as a community we need to demand more of ourselves and our neighbors." — Mayor Rahm Emanuel, on Chicago's blood-soaked Fourth of July weekend As Sunday night crept (no doubt cautiously) to Monday morning, residents of the South Chicago neighborhood endured a firefight. They witnessed a tide of mayhem worthy of urban war zones worldwide. This is not how Chicago wants to build its reputation...

A Gresham man is charged with attempted murder after he fired on a group of people leaving a party Friday night, only to be shot himself by one of the victims, a military service member with a concealed carry permit, authorities said Sunday. The military member and three others were leaving a party Friday night in the 11700 block of South Union Avenue in West Pullman, Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Hain said in Cook County Bond Court. One of the victims noticed a cup of liquor on top of her vehicle and asked attendees of a party next door who...

---behind a firewall but article is about 800 denials of concealed carry permits without explanation--pictured is recent Air Force veteran ,clean record, honorable discharge--denied --lawsuits are being filed--