If the Supreme Court was as zealous in overturning gun control laws as the anti-2A crowd claims it is, the justices would have granted cert to Schoenthal v. Raoul earlier this month so they could strike down the state of Illinois’ and the Chicago Transit Authority’s ban on concealed carry on public transportation.
Instead, the Court denied cert and left the “gun-free zones” in place. Though plenty of violent offenders have disregarded those rules, it’s not often we see someone with a valid carry permit busted for having a gun on CTA property. My guess is that at least some individuals are choosing to carry regardless of the law, but they’re not doing anything to give police a reason to stop them… unlike this guy busted on a Red Line train last week.
Officers said they saw 25-year-old Angel Williams smoking, which is not allowed under CTA rules. He was taken into custody on a disorderly conduct charge and escorted off the train at the 69th Street stop.
During the encounter, officers said they discovered Williams had a loaded handgun and a valid concealed carry license.
I understand why someone who depends on public transportation to get around might choose to violate the law and carry their concealed firearm with them, though I’m not encouraging it. Even with a recent increase in patrols on CTA property aimed at combating a rise in violent crime, riders are at risk of robberies and assaults like the one that happened on another Red Line train just two days before Williams was arrested.
Chicago police are looking for nine people, including seven women, who attacked a passenger aboard a Red Line train in the Loop last week.
CPD offered few details about what happened, saying only that the people being sought “committed an aggravated battery to a transit passenger while on a CTA train” in the 600 block of South State Street around 9:36 p.m. on April 14.
Police have also released little information about an attempted sexual assault on board a Blue Line train last Saturday afternoon.
Clearly, the “gun-free” CTA isn’t crime-free, and if someone makes the decision that it’s better to be judged by twelve people than carried by six, I can’t say that I blame them.
They’re an idiot, though, if they do anything to draw attention to themselves while doing so. That would definitely include smoking inside a CTA train, as Williams is accused of.
According to CWB Chicago, Williams is at least the third CTA rider in the past month to be arrested for illegal possession of a firearm, though he appears to be the first who has a valid carry permit. A convicted felon with a lengthy criminal history was busted on a Red Line train on March 31, and another man was found with a gun in a Red Line train on April 7 after officers confronted him about playing loud music through a portable speaker.
It will likely be several years before another case dealing with “gun-free” public transit reaches the Supreme Court, and who knows if the justices will be more inclined to take up the issue than they were this term. In the meantime, riders beware… especially those dependent on the Chicago Transit Authority to get where they need to be.
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.
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