Governor Quinn: Local Communities Should Have Control in Conceal Carry Law

Gov. Quinn is looking for ways to tighten Illinois' impending conceal carry law, the Chicago Tribune reported this week.

  Gov. Pat Quinn said earlier this week he thinks Illinois communities should be able to exert some local control when it comes to a state conceal carry gun law, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune. The state is working to create a concealed carry law by the June 9 deadline. A federal court ruled late last year that Illinois’ ban on conceal carry was unconstitutional. "I am not excited about this at all," the Tribune reported Quinn as saying. "If this has to happen, it has to have the proper restrictions and limitations... I think we should make sure it's very tight and I think local communities, wherever they are, should have the option to make it as tight as possible in their community." Quinn also has stated his opposition to …

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One of 23 Guns Stolen During Burglary Found in Burr Ridge Home: Police

Burr Ridge resident Daniel Swayka was also found to be in possession of a shotgun and 900 rounds of ammunition without a valid gun-owner's license, police said.

A Burr Ridge man was charged with possession of stolen property after police found him to be in possession of one of more than 20 guns stolen during a burglary last September, according to a release from the Burr Ridge Police Department. Daniel R. Swayka, 20, of the 16W200 block of 94th Street, Burr Ridge, surrendered to police Thursday afternoon. A warranted search of his home by police on Feb. 8 turned up a pistol that was among the items stolen from a Burr Ridge home during a Sept. 27 burglary in the 120 block of Circle Ridge. Sgt. Marc Loftus of the Burr Ridge Police Department said 23 firearms, a combination of handguns and rifles, were taken during the burglary, along with several electronics items. "That’s still under investigation…

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Guns in Public Places: Where Do You Stand?

On Feb. 19 and Feb. 22, the state will stage public hearings to discuss a new concealed carry handgun law for Illinois.

Madigan Seeks Full Appellate Court Review of Concealed Carry Ruling

No determination of when the 10-judge panel will decide whether to look at last year's decision.

Illinois' attorney general Lisa Madigan has asked the entire 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to review a December ruling that overturned the state's ban on the concealed carry of handguns in public. The Chicago Tribune reports that the move is aimed at challenging the decision by a three-judge panel of the court, which ruled 2-1 that the state's longtime ban violated the Second Amendment. If the court accepts the petition, the case would be reviewed by all 10 appellate judges. If the court rejects the petition, Madigan would have to decide whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. "In ruling that Illinois must allow individuals to carry ready-to-use firearms in public, the 7th Circuit Court’s decision goes beyond what the U.S. Supreme …

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Real or Fake? Answers to Patch Gun Contest

Can you tell which of these guns in the Burr Ridge Police Department evidence room is real and which are fakes? The answers might surprise you.

Last week, Burr Ridge Patch ran a contest to see if readers could tell the difference between real and fake guns in the evidence room at the Burr Ridge Police Department. The person to guess all seven correctly would win a bag of Patch prizes. No one was able to guess all seven correctly, but don't lose heart, this was a tough one. Here are the answers to last week's contest: Gun #1: FAKE Gun #2: REAL Gun #3: FAKE Gun #4: FAKE Gun #5: FAKE Gun #6: FAKE Gun #7: FAKE

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Photos: Inside the Evidence Rooms at the Burr Ridge Police Department

There are seven guns that are a part of this photo gallery. Identify correctly which ones are fake and which are real, and win a Patch bag of prizes.

When I hear the words "toy gun" or "fake gun," the first thing that pops into my mind is an image of the plastic water pistols my cousins and I used to squirt each other with when we were little. As an adult, when I hear that a police officer has shot someone holding a fake gun, that's still the first image that pops into my head. After a tour of the evidence rooms at the Burr Ridge Police Department during last Tuesday's citizen's police academy, that will never be the case again. I wonder how many people could tell the difference nowadays. To get an idea of the answer, I'm going to run a contest this week. Take a look at the photos I shot during the tour. If you can correctly guess which guns are real and which are fake in each of the …

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Sabrina Wu

3:28 pm on Friday, September 23, 2011

Yeah, as a reporter who has held and fired several real guns for stories, I was surprised at which ones were fake and which ones were real.   more ›

In Court This Week: Woman Accused of Drugging Son, Officer Accused of Stealing Guns

Here's a look at some of the cases we're keeping an eye on this week.

Less than a week after an independent review ordered by the Village of Clarendon Hills determined Daniel Ryan's acts were an isolated incident not indicative of the entire Clarendon Hills Police Department, the former cop will be back in Dupage County Court this week. Clarendon Hills—Daniel Ryan, the former Clarendon Hills police officer accused of stealing five guns from the Clarendon Hills Police Department's evidence room, returns to court for a status hearing on July 20. He pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance in June. Darien—Jacob Nodarse returns to court July 21 for another status hearing in the Darien triple murder. His last appearance stagnated on records and evaluations, but eventually the idea of splitting his …

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Daily PatchCast

Daily PatchCast: Gun And Ammunition Seized, Rally Over Planned Parenthood Funding, Loyola Health Center Open

A roundup of the region's news for March 8.

Here's a look at the news happening around you: — Planned Parenthood and Pro-Life Groups Face Off at Rally Over Federal Funding — Loyola Medical Center Opens in Burr Ridge — Glock Handgun, 500 Rounds of Ammunition Seized in La Grange — Customers Line Up for Paczkis at the Busy Bee   *Please note: The police car pictured in the third story is of a La Grange police car, but it was La Grange Park police that made the arrest. Patch regrets the mistake.

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Sabrina Wu

2:02 pm on Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Hi everyone, I'm the producer of the PatchCast that's generating this discussion. It certainly was never my intention to produce a one-sided story for the PatchCast roundup. After reading your comments and reviewing the show, I see why you felt that way. I used the only video available to me, but in hindsight, I should not have used it at all. You're right. Either both sides get video, or neither…   more ›