It's been almost two months since the U.S. Supreme Court turned away a challenge to the ban on concealed carry on public transportation in Illinois, and in the weeks since there's been a steady string of reports of violent crimes on Chicago Transit Authority property, including multiple instances where individuals are accused of using guns to commit robberies inside the "gun-free zone."
Most of these incidents aren't even covered by local news outlets like the Chicago Sun-Times or Chicago Tribune, but the website CWBChicago does a pretty good job of reporting crime on CTA buses and trains, including shots fired on a Green Line train last week.
The victim, a 26-year-old man from Ohio, was riding the train southbound near 47th Street when 19-year-old Marquise Smith approached him around 1:15 a.m. on May 28, prosecutors said.
“Do you want to die?” Smith allegedly asked the victim, who immediately moved to the other end of the train car. But officials said Smith pulled out a handgun and pushed him from one end of the car to the other while trying to take his camera at gunpoint.
The victim actually fled the train car and entered another while the train was moving, and then desperately tried to keep Smith from entering the car by using his weight to keep the door closed.
Smith, though, drew his gun once again and allegedly fired a shot into the air. The victim was able alert the conductor, and when the train pulled into the next station Chicago officers were on hand and were able to take Smith into custody.
At 19, Smith isn't old enough to get an Illinois carry license, so it would be illegal for him to carry anywhere, not just on a CTA train. And to be fair, since Illinois doesn't recognize any out-of-state carry licenses, the visitor from Ohio wouldn't have been able to legally carry on the train either, even if the CTA and the state of Illinois didn't prohibit concealed carry.
Still, our constitutional rights exist outside of the state where we live, and Illinois' bizarre rules for non-resident carry are ripe for litigation. The state does have a process for non-residents to apply for a carry permit, but only those who live in states where the gun laws are deemed "substantially similar" to those in Illinois. From the Illinois State Police website:
In accordance with 430 ILCS 66/40 (b), out of state residents may be eligible for an Illinois Concealed Carry License if your statemeets the definition of substantially similar as established by rule. See 20 Il. Admin. Code 1231.10. Currently, Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas, Virginia have been determined to have laws related to firearm ownership, possession, and carrying that are substantially similar to the requirements to obtain a license under Illinois’ law; and, therefore, may apply for an Concealed Carry License.This list will be updated as additional states are identified as substantially similar.
No other state has a statute that's substantially similar to this bizarre law. I'm not even sure how Illinois determined that permitless carry states like Texas, Idaho, and Mississippi have similar gun laws, while restrictive states like New York and California do not. Either way, it doesn't really matter. The non-resident carry policy in Illinois is grossly unconstitutional and ripe for a legal challenge.
Even if this Ohioan were eligible for an Illinois permit and had jumped through all the hoops necessary to obtain one, he still would have been breaking the law if he had carried a pistol onto that Green Line train.
He would have had plenty of company. In the past month at least three individuals besides Smith have been taken into custody for bringing guns onto CTA trains, and who knows how many others have done so without drawing attention from police.
On May 11, Maurice Timberlake was busted with a gun that had been reported stolen in Miississippi a decade ago after police noticed him vaping in a train car. Timberlake reportedly has a Firearms Owner ID card, but that isn't a carry permit.
That same day, 47-year-old Jerry Blackful was arrested after using the emergency doors on a CTA train to enter another car. During the search police discovered suspected powder cocaine, crack, and ectascy, along with a handgun that had previously been reported stolen. Blackful isn't allowed to legally possess firearms because of a previous felony conviction.
The following day, on May 12, 48-year-old Joseph Wright was busted smoking a blunt on a CTA train. Officers found a loaded gun in his waistband, but like Blackful, Wright isn't able to legally possess a firearm anywhere because of his criminal history.
The next morning, Wright was charged with possession of a firearm by a repeat felony offender, felon in possession of a weapon and possession of a firearm on public transportation.
Wright was also charged with misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, possession of ammunition without a valid FOID and possession of cannabis.
SCOTUS made a huge mistake in not granting cert to Schoenthal v. Raoul back in April. The CTA continues to have a lot of guns for a "gun-free zone," and some of them may even belong to licensed concealed carry holders who aren't doing anything to appear on the radar of law enforcement patrolling CTA property. At the very least, though, criminals appear to be carrying with impunity despite the "no guns allowed" policy of the CTA and the Illinois statute barring concealed carry on public transportation. And thanks to the Supreme Court's inaction, this is going to be the reality in Chicago for several more years, at a minimum. Real crimes are being committed, real people are being hurt, and folks have no option but to disarm themselves and place themselves at a disadvantage if they want to stay on the right side of the law.
