Covering gun busts on the property of the Chicago Transit Authority has become a running theme here at Bearing Arms, not just because guns in this supposedly "gun-free zone" are so common, but because I'm still salty that the Supreme Court has let that ban remain in place by denying cert earlier this year to a lawsuit challenging the prohibition on lawful carry.
Chicago's trains and buses are hardly free of violent crime, so there's good reason for someone to want to protect themselves with a gun while using the city's public transportation. And the ban ends up preventing concealed carry holders from legally bearing arms before and after they use the CTA as well, depriving them of their Second Amendment rights throughout much of their day.
Meanwhile, criminals don't seem to care much about violating the "no guns allowed" law on the books in Illinois.
Three people were arrested on the same day for bringing a loaded gun onto CTA property last week.
On November 2, around 4:20 p.m., Cook County Sheriff's Police took Joseph Tillman, 42, into custody at the 69th Street Red Line platform.
Police said Tillman was arrested for disorderly conduct after playing a portable speaker. Officers then recovered suspected crack cocaine and a loaded gun while searching him.
Tillman was charged with possession of a firearm by a repeat felony offender, aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a controlled substance.
About a half-hour later, police busted 25-year-old Brandon Brown for smoking a cigarette on a Red Line platform. That was not a wise move, because police say when Brown was searched, officers found a loaded handgun, a set of brass knuckles, and ecstasy.
What Brown did not have, however, was a valid carry permit or a FOID card. Not that either one should be necessary to exercise our right to keep and bear arms, but it's just another example where Illinois law is being routinely ignored by individuals who apparently think they can get away with it.
Around 5:20 that same afternoon, police stopped 32-year-old George Salas as he was smoking a cigarette on another Red Line platform. Salas allegedly had a loaded gun on him, but no concealed carry permit. In fact, his FOID card had been revoked, though the Chicago PD didn't indicate why.
Salas is facing a charge of aggravated unlawful possession of a firearm as well as a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
Three arrests, three loaded guns, all within the span of an hour. That's quite the feat for a transit system where firearms are supposedly forbidden.
Of course, there's no telling how many other people were illegally carrying guns on the CTA that afternoon and managed to avoid attracting the attention of police. After all, none of these three men was arrested simply because an officer spotted a gun. Police encountered them for other reasons that drew attention to them, and only discovered the firearms after those encounters led to searches. The "gun-free" edict itself apparently did little to deter them from carrying.
The concealed carry holder who follows the law, though, is expected to board those same trains and buses defenseless and surrounded by strangers who may or may not be similarly disarmed.
I don't expect Chicago politicians to acknowledge the lunacy of this arrangement anytime soon. They're far more likely to point to these arrests as proof that the system is working, while ignoring the fact that the people most likely to obey the prohibition are the very ones who pose the least threat to their fellow passengers.
Until the courts finally recognize that the Second Amendment doesn't disappear when someone boards a city bus or train, plenty of law-abiding Chicagoans will continue to be denied the means to defend themselves... and I'm sure we'll have plenty more CTA gun busts to write about.