Owning and carrying a gun in Illinois isn't the easiest thing in the world. The state might have to allow concealed carry, but if it can think of a way to complicate things, it'll do so. However, charging black gun owners with felonies, even though they didn't break the law, is going too far.
Yet, that's precisely what's alleged to be going on with the Chicago Police Department.
Before we get into it, it's worth remembering that most early gun control laws in this country weren't really about public safety. They were about keeping disfavored groups disarmed, including people like freed slaves, American Indians, and even Catholics.
In the wake of the Civil War, many gun control laws were passed in the Reconstruction-era South by Democrats who looked to apply to anyone, but were passed knowing that a white sheriff would never apply them to white men and women.
And Democrats are still apparently taking issue with black people having guns:
"This has been very traumatic for me," McWilliams said. "I feel like my rights were violated."
When Chicago police stopped him on West 79th Street, they told him he had a missing front license plate, according to the arrest report. Police body camera video shows that after the police stopped him, the first thing he did was tell the officers he had a gun in the car.
According to Illinois state law, in order to legally carry a gun in your car, you need a Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) card and a concealed carry license (CCL). CBS News Chicago reviewed McWilliams' firearm license and confirmed it was valid.
The arrest report also acknowledged he was in possession of his card at the time of the stop. McWilliams can even be seen handing it to the officer in the video, and he said he was expecting that to be enough.
But it wasn't.
When an officer pulls over a driver, it's standard practice to check a database operated by the Illinois State Police, called LEADS. If the driver has a gun on them, or in the car, it's also common for officers to check LEADS to verify the FOID and CCL are valid. In McWilliams' case, the officer told him the CCL didn't appear on the database.
Police cited that as a justification for his arrest, and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office approved two felony charges: aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon, and unlawful use of a weapon.
"This shows that no matter how much you follow a system of which they create, they can still deem you wrong," McWilliams said. "I feel like that's unfair."
"I think they made a quick, hasty, improper decision on this case," said Irv Miller, CBS News Chicago's legal analyst. A former prosecutor once in charge of reviewing police cases, Miller also believes McWilliams never should have been charged.
"He showed [police] a valid CCL card," Miller said. "Not only did they see it, they actually took possession of it and inventoried it, gave it a Chicago Police Department inventory number, and sent it off to headquarters."
A state police spokesperson made it pretty clear that if someone isn't in LEADS, no law enforcement action should be taken against them. Further, a physical concealed carry license is supposed to be sufficient proof.
The officer, however, decided that it didn't matter and made the arrest.
While charges were dropped, it's still a problem. No one likes the idea of being handcuffed and charged with a felony, especially when they're following the law.
And McWilliams is far from the only example. Others have been charged with felonies, only to have them later dismissed. This report highlights the black gun owners who endured this, though I wouldn't be surprised to see there are others across all demographics. Then again, it wouldn't surprise me to see Chicago police persecute black gun owners out of some kind of racial animosity.
I mean, it's a Democratic city. It would be really on-brand for them.
As annoying as this looks, we need to understand that this could be because of officers just being crap at their jobs, but it's also possible that this is a concerted effort to discourage people, particularly black Chicagoans, from exercising their Second Amendment rights while in public, if at all.
