A Tale of Two Crimes

A Tale of Two Crimes

First Crime:

Date: December 28, 2003

Place: Wilmette, Illinois.

Perpetrator: Unknown

Crime: Home Burglary

Hale DeMar was a 54 year old restaurateur living in Wilmette, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois.  While he was home, late at night, a burglar crawled through a pet door and stole a Sony PlayStation 2, a TV set, and with his keys, his BMWX5 sport utility vehicle.  Hale called the police via 911 and remained upstairs with his children.  The police arrived long after the burglar and his possessions were gone.  The police told Hale that he had done the right thing by calling them and not confronting the intruder.  However, they would probably never catch the thief.  Hale would probably never see his car again.  “Sorry, but we cannot patrol this street any more than usual just because he got away with your keys.  Better get your locks changed.  By the way, those bright lights that you have shining on all sides of the house are good.”

Open questions:  Who did the crime and when and where will there be another victim?

Second Crime:

Date: December 29, 2003

Place: Wilmette, Illinois.

Perpetrator: Morio L. Billings

Crime: Home Burglary

Morio L. Billings needed crack.  AWOL from the army and in violation of probation he had only one way to get it.  He coolly picked out a house in a quiet neighborhood and walked in.  He later told the police that he didn’t care if someone was home or not.   The homeowner did care, he cared a lot.  He came down stairs shooting.  Morio had a sudden and severe change of heart.  He wanted out of that house as badly as the homeowner wanted him out.  He was wounded in the upper left arm.  As he scrambled around trying to find a door, a window, any way out, he was shot in the left leg.  He finally dove through a living room window.  He was long gone by the time the police arrived.  The police were very put out with the homeowner.  He did everything wrong!  He never should have come down stairs.  Certainly, he never should have used a gun!  It was a man named Morio L. Billings who invaded your home.  We know this because he just checked himself into the hospital.  No, he won’t be back.

Answers to those questions:

Morio committed the first as well as the second crime.  Indeed, it was even the same house.  It was the BMWX5 sport utility vehicle that he used to drive himself to the hospital.  The folks in the house were so harmless on the first night why not go back?  Hale learned a lesson as well.  The police were virtually powerless and apathetic to his problems.  On the second night he assured his frightened children that the bad man wouldn’t come back; but if he did daddy would handle it.  He told the reporters that it was him who caught the burglar, not the police.  This time there are no questions.  Tonight they sleep in peace.

A Tale of Two Crimes – The Sequel

The City of Wilmette did not thank Hale DeMar for ending and solving the one man crime spree perpetrated by Morio L. Billings at no cost to the tax payers.  They did not name him citizen of the year.  Though the Cook County grand jury ruled his use of a firearm against Morio to be justified self-defense, they charged him on January 8, 2004 to be in violation of the Illinois firearm owners’ identification law.  Violation of that law was punishable by a fine up to $2,500.00 and/or one year in jail.  The public outcry was so resounding that a month later they dropped the charge saying that they did not want to “revictimize” DeMar for a “lapse”.  The City of Wilmette did charge him to be in violation of their permit system and fined him $750.00.  They too later dropped their charge in the face of heated public support for DeMar.

The Illinois state legislature by a wide margin wrote a new law that basically says that any Illinois citizen may ignore a local ordinance that demands a permit to own a firearm, for self-defense purposes, if actually used in self defense, otherwise they must comply with such ordinances.  Huh? The Democrat governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich vetoed the law but nevertheless it was passed over his veto.

There was a challenge to the Wilmette handgun permit law filed in Cook County Circuit Court which failed to overturn the law.

The battle for “common sense” gun laws continues unabated.  10/31/2006

Source: Reason Magazine 06/2005 Vol.37, No. 2

A Tale of Two Crimes – Continues

In 2010 the United States Supreme Court ruled in McDonald vs. City of Chicago that the right to keep and bear arms is a civil right possessed by all citizens and declared the gun bans of Chicago to be unconstitutional.  The mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, threw a fit and called on the city council to write more gun control laws with such severe compliance requirements that they effectively, once again, ban firearm ownership by the citizens of his city.  There has been another federal lawsuit filed against the city of Chicago.  By July of 2010 three Chicago police officers have been ambushed and shot to death in this war zone mayor Daley has created.

The battle for “common sense” gun laws continues unabated. 

07/30/2010

Wait, there is more...

In 2013 the City of Chicago will be forced to accept the new concealed carry laws passed by the Illinois state legislature.  The state legislature was forced to write these concealed carry statutes after Illinois lost another federal case on the matter.  For the first time in decades honest, peaceful citizens will be able to carry firearms legally in Illinois.  Now we will see how the legendary crime rates of Chicago will be effected.

07/26/2013