CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — There has been an uptick in assaults, muggings, and violence on Chicago’s train system. During a recent violent mugging, a legally armed citizen stopped the mugger and held him at gunpoint. Police arrived and arrested the mugger, but are now also investigating the good Samaritan.
A 29-year-old man told police the offender lunged at him as he sat on a Blue Line train minutes earlier. The offender began punching the victim in the head and face, then took unspecified property from the man before exiting the train car as it stopped at LaSalle, police said.
Via CWBChicago
A private citizen intercepted the offender on the platform and held him at gunpoint until police arrived, a source confirmed.
The source also said the private citizen holds a valid Firearm Owner’s ID card.
That should be the end of a happy story. Bad guys hurts someone, tries to get away, gets stopped, goes to jail. Unfortunately, this story comes out of Chicago so we’re playing with a different set of rules.
Even though the man holds all the legal licensing required to carry his gun, and even though he used his firearm within its legal framework, he still may face charges. Why you ask? Because he carried his firearm while on Chicago Transit Authority property; which is against the law.
Technically the man did commit a crime by having his weapon while on the CTA train platform. However, you would hope that the brave act of stopping a violent criminal would come with a “Thank you good citizen, carry on.”
The fact that prosecutors are even considering pressing charges just goes to show how adamant Chicago is about disarming legal gun owners. Further it sets a bad precedent. Next time a firearm could save a life while on CTA property, maybe the concealed carrier thinks twice about helping because he doesn’t want to go to jail.
We aren’t advocating breaking the law, but let’s face it; there are people who carry in gun free zones. Whether they know they are breaking the law or not, it’s going to happen.