Next Friday, the Illinois Attorney General and Cook County State's Attorney are expected to file their response to the cert petition in Schoenthal v. Raoul, a challenge to the "gun free" status of public transportation in Illinois and the buses and trains run by the Chicago Transit Authority. The plaintiffs will have the opportunity to reply to that brief, but SCOTUS is likely going to consider granting cert early this spring.
Ahead of that decision, the city of Chicago is adding additional police officers to CTA property to combat a wave of violence taking place across the transit system. The fact that additional officers are patrolling CTA train stations is itself a sign that the "gun-free" status of CTA property isn't stopping criminals from illegally carrying, and as CWB Chicago reports, police recently busted two transit riders for having guns in their possession.
At around 4:40 p.m. on December 28, officers patrolling the Roosevelt CTA station noticed 24-year-old Adrian Morris riding an electric bicycle on the Red Line platform, a violation of CTA rules, prosecutors said. When police asked Morris to get off the bike, he refused.
During the encounter, officers allegedly saw a knife on Morris, prompting them to begin detaining him for the weapon. At that point, Morris told officers that he was also carrying a firearm, according to a Chicago police report.
Prosecutors said officers recovered a loaded Glock .40-caliber pistol from a Guess side bag Morris was wearing. Morris allegedly told officers that the gun belonged to his wife.
Morris is apparently not allowed to possess a firearm even when he's not on CTA property, because he's been charged with (among other offenses) carrying a firearm after a prior gun conviction.
The other arrest happened five days earlier, when police allegedly spotted 47-year-old Deandre Moody holding what looked like a joint while sitting in a train car.
Police said they saw a pocket knife clipped to Moody’s right pant leg and, when asked whether he had any other weapons, Moody allegedly said no and handed the knife to an officer.
A subsequent pat-down search allegedly revealed a loaded Springfield Armory .45-caliber handgun in Moody’s left chest pocket, equipped with a laser attachment, prosecutors said.
Like Morris, Moody isn't a lawful gun owner. In fact, he's a repeat felon with four prior firearm-related convictions, including a 2021 case where he was accused of being an armed habitual criminal.
These two geniuses made it pretty easy for police to investigate them, but my guess is that there are plenty of other criminals who are riding the rails while illegally armed who aren't drawing nearly as much attention to themselves.
CTA property has had its share of unarmed, yet violent, criminals as well. 22-year-old Devon Jones, for instance, is accused of attacking and robbing a pregnant woman in a CTA station last October, despite the fact that he was on electronic monitoring and wasn't supposed to be anywhere near that location.
Chicago's public transportation system can be a dangerous place, and lawful gun owners should have the right to protect themselves on CTA property. Just as importantly, by depriving riders of the ability to legally carry while they're on CTA property, the policy also forces them to be disarmed before and after they board a bus or train. That unfairly (and illegally, in my opinion) restricts a fundamental civil right for those reliant on public transportation. The Supreme Court may want to wait and see if a circuit court split develops on this issue, but doing so only jeopardizes the safety of millions of Americans who depend on public transit on a daily basis.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
Help us continue to report on and expose the Democrats’ gun control policies and schemes. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member