Wait...What? The Name?

We think the entire intent of this article is to change the name of a law? While claiming police are bad of course

• In the midst of a partly cloudy October afternoon in 2022, Jesse Green dashed out the door of his home. Dragging luggage in one hand and clutching onto a sandwich, jacket and firearm in the other, Green hurriedly made his way to the back of his parked vehicle.

  As executive director of the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council, Green was running late for his trip to the Illinois Main Street Conference in downstate Bloomington — looking forward to furthering his knowledge in community and economic development.

  He loaded his luggage into the trunk, where he usually stores his firearm whenever he travels. But in his rush, he forgot to place his gun in its case. Instead, after closing the trunk, he quickly got into the driver’s seat and dropped some of the items in his hands, including his jacket and his firearm, into the passenger seat.

Notice who the offender is about to be. We underlined it so you don't miss it. Note, by his own admission, he is currently in violation of the law. Period. Full stop.

• Before he had made it out of the North Lawndale community, Green found himself stuck in traffic. He turned down a one-way street — in the wrong direction — to avoid the congestion and passed by a Chicago Police car, which made a quick U-turn, flashing its red and blue lights, and pulled him over.

  During the traffic stop, while reaching for his license and proof of insurance, Green noticed the butt of his gun underneath his jacket in the passenger seat and informed the officer. “Hey, I have my weapon, and it’s in the seat,” he told the officer, who then instructed Green to step out of the vehicle.

Leaving aside the fact that CPD squads don't have red lights, while in violation of Weapons statute, he commits a traffic violation in full view of the police. Then he admits to the cops (who haven't even requested a search at this point), that his gun is on the seat, immediately accessible, loaded and uncased. The article says so, but twists it into a critique of....cops doing their job AND the name of the law:

• Since his gun was not stored properly and Green did not have a concealed carry license, he was arrested for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a felony charge that could lead to one to three years in prison.

  Green is among a growing number of people in Cook County who have been arrested for unlawful use of a weapon resulting from a traffic stop. The increase has emboldened civil rights advocates who have long criticized how Chicago Police use traffic stops and has renewed efforts to rename unlawful use of a weapon charges.

Um....how did cops "use [a] traffic stop"? He drove the wrong way down the street in front of them and they did exactly what cops are authorized to do. Then the "executive director" volunteered that he had a weapon close at hand. He was detained, transported, processed and will get his day in court.

UUW is one of those charges that cops DO NOT have discretion on. You find a gun and someone in possession of said weapon, they better appear on an arrest report, there better be a case report, an inventory number, a call to the gun desk, sergeant and lieutenant signatures on the arrest report, and a call to Crimesha's office for approval (or disapproval) of charges.

Any one of those missing, and a cop is looking at suspension time. A number of years back, we know of a bunch of cops who were suspended, fired and faced charges of their own for making deals on the street regarding weapons. We also know of someone who made commander of 025 after being caught with a number of weapons in his locker on the west side, and you can search through our archives and comment sections for the history of Escamerit.

But all of this seems mainly to criticize CPD and the name of the law - Unlawful Use of a Weapon - along with the felony charge that goes with it. 

NEWSFLASH for WBEZ - CPD didn't pass the law, name the law or sign the law. And enforcing the law is kind of the job of cops everywhere, regardless of every leftist effort to have cops not enforce any laws, especially in the ghettos where crime is rampant.