News Release
Richard A. DevineCook County State's Attorney
500 Richard J. Daley Center
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 603-3423
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 6, 2000
Cook County State's Attorney Richard A. Devine Joins DuPage and Lake County State's Attorneys in Warning Gun Owners Against UUW Misinterpretation
Cook County State's Attorney Richard A. Devine warned gun owners Wednesday against misinterpreting the unlawful use of a weapon laws.
"Don't take your guns to town," warned Devine, "or the mall, or to pick up some dog food at the store, or to go to your child's soccer game."
Recent misinterpretation of the law, passed last spring by the state legislature as part of the Safe Neighborhoods Act, have led some gun enthusiasts to believe that putting their gun in a fanny pack is a legal interpretation of the law.
Devine joined with Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller and Du Page County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett to set the record straight at a press conference in Devine's Daley Center offices.
"Some gun owners have tried to distort the law and the intent of the legislature in an interpretation that they can put their semi-automatic pistol in one section of a fanny pack and the clip in another, thereby circumventing the law against concealed carry," Devine said, "The fanny pack is little more than a 21at Century version of the Dodge City holster. This is not the Wild West."
Joining Devine, Waller and Birkett was Thomas Mannard, executive director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. Some 30,000 people die each year from handguns.
"Make no mistake: Anyone arrested for toting a gun around Cook County in a fanny pack will be prosecuted," Devine said.
Felony UUW carries a penalty of up to three years in prison.
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