| What people have to say about the Fellowship |
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It''s about time someone created a support network for gun owners. The Gun Owners Fellowship is a fantastic idea for today''s world where a gun owner may find him or herself in financial need simply for owning, carrying, or using a firearm responsibly. I feel secure knowing that gun owners across the country are there to support me if I need it.
--Fred Wescott, Winnebago County Illinois Board District 9
I joined the Gun Owners Fellowship today. I read about it in the Conceal Carry Magazine forum when they were discussing how to help someone who had been falsely arrested and needed help with expenses. This could happen to any of us and I wanted to help him plus (heaven forbid) I might need help one day.
--Robert G., Missouri |
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| Gun Owners Fellowship Assists Chris Morley from Chicago, IL |
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 The fellowship is currently donating $10 per membership to Chris Morley's defense fund. $10 out of the $29.99 limited time (ends 12/31/08) rate for lifetime membership will be given to Chris for the duration of this offer. This is an out of the ordinary thing we're doing, but Chris has been a longtime supporter of concealed carry in Illinois. Please consider joining today to help out Chris, yourself, and gun owners across the country.
A handicapped man from Chicago was arrested and charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Chris Morley, a long-time and well-liked supporter of gun rights in Illinois, has been carrying his unloaded pistol for nearly a decade – ever since a law was passed to allow this form of carry.
Suffering from cerebral palsy and depending on a cane to walk, Chris Morley has been the would-be target of muggers numerous times. On these three or four occasions, merely reaching for his unloaded firearm was enough to scare the attackers away and possibly save his life.
Morley was not feeling well at work on a Monday, however, and had a coworker help him to an empty room to rest and feel better. As a matter of policy, paramedics were called. But not only did the paramedics arrive, but police in full tactical gear arrived too!
Morley’s personal belongings had been searched without warrant or probable cause and his unloaded pistol in his Maxpedition case had been exposed. Instead of going home as he planned after falling ill, Morley was on his way to county lockup! He was handcuffed to a wall for a few hours, processed, photographed, fingerprinted, stripped of clothes and belongings including his cane and glasses. Morley could not walk or see.
During his arrest, the police even had the nerve to accuse him of being drunk – at approx 10:00 AM in the morning. Morley has a speech impediment due to his condition, but as often happens the police assumed the wrong thing. Meanwhile, locked up in his rubber cell for over twelve hours, Morley listened as the prison guards watched movie clips on YouTube, feature film Walk the Line, news, late-night replays of Oprah and Doctor Phil, and finally the morning news came on. Morley’s wife, parents, and other loved-ones had no idea where he was. Luckily his sister got in contact with someone from the police department and told them Morley suffered from major medical problems. Chris was not fed for nearly two days, given only 6 ounces of water as he was locked in the rubber room, and his hand was swollen from pounding on the door and asking for his medication and something to eat and drink. In the morning the guards put him in leg irons and manhandled him in order to get him to walk without his cane. He was taken to Mercy Hospital and chained to a bed for another 4 hours. After all that time he received one dose of his medication. Then it was back to the rubber room.
During lockup, guards asked him questions like, “What you carryin’ a gun fo” [sic]. “Don’t you know that’s not allowed in Chicago.” – Someone please tell this to the hundreds of gangbangers on the streets who have made Chicago #1 in murders nationwide this year, despite Chicago’s strictest-in-nation gun laws. Morley even saw gangbangers with “tattoos from their neck to their crotch” coming in and going out just about as fast the whole time he was there.
Eventually the arresting officers in tactical gear came and after Chris posted bond, took him to Northwestern Hospital and left him with the security department there for a compulsory psychological evaluation – no court order, not even a reason behind it. Being crippled, having been through all the criminal and mental health background checks necessary to own a carry a gun in Illinois, and deciding to exercise that right after having a valid FOID card is reason for a mental health screening? Come on!!! What about all of the actual sociopathic and truly sick individuals who actually commit crimes? Are they all taken for screenings? You guessed it – NOPE. But having cerebral palsy, being a law-abiding citizen with no criminal background, and carrying an unloaded pistol exactly as the law prescribes for your protection against such aforementioned violent and dangerous thugs – thwarting off multiple attacks without even pointing the gun let alone firing – this is reason to be checked out by a shrink?
The paramedics originally cleared Morley for his physical condition. They saw he didn’t need to go to the hospital (well, at least until he was locked up for nearly 48 hours without food, water, or medication). Morley was also cleared after the psych evaluation. After being released Morley had to walk a few miles with his cane to get to a bus stop and trek his way back home to his family.
Chris Morley has joined a growing number of Illinois Citizens who followed the law precisely to the letter, but were still persecuted for exercising their rights. Ask John Horstman, Roderick Pritchett, Shaun Kranish, or countless others. Although the defendants in such cases always win, the legal battle costs them incalculable damages.
One week following his arrest, the state revoked his FOID card and plainclothes officers from the Illinois State Police and Chicago PD (presumably Chicago’s “CAGE” unit) came to his house and confiscated all of his lawfully-owned firearms.
Morley has since had trouble finding a new job because of the arrest. Would-be employers do a background check and see the arrest – even though he has not been convicted yet – and deny him for that reason. This is Morley’s first and only arrest in his life. Now it has cost him his job, made him unable to find a new job, his reputation, and Morley is looking at lengthy and expensive legal proceedings.
Chris Morley is charged and is being vigorously prosecuted for a felony – Aggravated Unlawful Use of Weapons – when he never even used a weapon. Furthermore, the UUW and AUUW statutes specifically state:
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(c) This Section does not apply to or affect the transportation or possession of weapons that:
(i) are broken down in a non functioning state; or
(ii) are not immediately accessible; or
(iii) are unloaded and enclosed in a case, firearm carrying box, shipping box, or other container by a person who has been issued a currently valid Firearm Owner's Identification Card. |
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Posted on Monday, November 17, 2008 @ 14:50:39 EST by ShaunKranish |
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| Gun Owners Fellowship Assists Chris Morley from Chicago, IL | Login/Create an Account | 0 comments | | The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. |
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Average Score: 4.57
Votes: 7
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