THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All...Highland Park shooter...Why did he have a FOID?...Bailey inserts foot in mouth...Abortion special session delay
July 7, 2022
Good morning, Illinois.
I’m still being beaten over the head by the little COVID bugs, so this will be short this morning. Thanks for your patience and for all of the subscribers who reached out yesterday with kind words. As a vaccinated fella, I know this will only last a couple of days. The real concern was when the baby tested positive last week. But, never fear, he was smiling so hard yesterday butternut squash was squeezing out of his mouth.
GOP Gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey holds his first post-election news conference this morning in Springfield to address “crime and mental health issues.” Obviously Chicago media grabbed on to a comment about “moving on” in the hours after the Highland Park massacre. There’s probably a reason he’s doing this in Springfield and not in Chicago. Here is my Shaw Media column about if Bailey can make himself a serious general election candidate.
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Let’s get to it.
YOUR THURSDAY FREE FOR ALL
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State police defend decision to give Highland Park shooting suspect a firearm permit (Daily Herald)
Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly defended his agency's decision to award a Firearm Owner's Identification card to the 21-year-old Highwood man accused of killing seven people and wounding more than two dozen others in a mass shooting during the Highland Park Fourth of July parade.
Kelly said information available to state police at the time Robert Crimo III applied for the FOID card in December 2019 "was clear there was no probable cause, the lowest burden of proof you can have" to deny the card, despite two recent interactions with Highland Park police where the suspect threatened violence against himself and others.
Because police couldn't "corroborate" the threats made by the shooting suspect at the time, Kelly said the officer deciding the fate of the suspect's FOID card application followed state law by approving it.
Police had two prior contacts with the suspect in 2019.
In April, police were called by a family member who said the suspect had threatened suicide about a week earlier.
Then in September, a family member reported the suspect had threatened to "kill everyone," officials said. Police confiscated 16 knives, a sword and a dagger.
However, Kelly said Wednesday that both the suspect and his mother denied he had made those threats.
Police at the time determined that without a complaint, there was no probable cause for an arrest, but they did notify state police of the incident.
The system failed. It failed incredibly and it cost people their lives.
Related: Purchase of rifle allegedly used in Highland Park massacre highlights limits of Illinois gun laws (Chicago Tribune)
Republican Bailey apologizes for telling public shortly after Highland Park massacre to ‘move on’ and ‘celebrate’ the Fourth (Chicago Sun-Times)
Republican nominee for governor Darren Bailey has apologized for telling residents to “move on” from the Highland Park mass shooting 90 minutes after the horrific attack unfolded on the Fourth of July — and more than six hours before a suspect was arrested.
Bailey, a state senator from downstate Xenia, started live-streaming video at 11:44 a.m. Monday to his 111,000-plus Facebook followers from Skokie, where Independence Day festivities were canceled due to the tragedy in the nearby North Shore suburb. The shooting started at 10:14 a.m., authorities said.
Standing in a parking lot and surrounded by about 20 supporters while details on the attack were still scarce, Bailey offered prayers for the families of victims and law enforcement responding to the scene about 15 miles away from where Skokie’s own parade was supposed to take place.
“There’s a lot of confusion and frustration that the [Skokie] parade is being canceled, but they did the right thing, because people’s safety has to come first,” Bailey says in the video. “The shooter is still at large, so let’s pray for justice to prevail, and then let’s move on and let’s celebrate — celebrate the independence of this nation.”
“This is what happens with MAGA type candidates,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., referring to Bailey’s endorsement from former President Donald Trump. “They have been so trained with ‘own the libs’ and anger that they lost the ability to have compassion.”
Bailey told the Daily Beast: “I apologize if in any way we diminished the pain being felt across our state today. I hope we can all come together in prayer and action to address rampant crime and mental health issues to make sure these horrific tragedies don’t happen again.”
Welcome to the big leagues, Senator, where you can’t just livestream and say whatever you want to the people who already agree with you. A far wider audience sees you now.
Related: In a very Washington way, the Post took the tragedy and made it about Pritzker in 2024. DC, man. (Washington Post)
Timeline unclear for special session on abortion rights (Capitol News Illinois)
Gov. JB Pritzker and top Democratic leaders in the Illinois General Assembly said Tuesday that while they still plan to call a special session this year to strengthen abortion rights, they expect to take the “remainder of the summer” to craft policies before lawmakers return to the Capitol.
Pritzker first announced his plan for a special session on June 24, the same day the U.S. Supreme Court released a decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that legalized abortion nationwide.
While the governor said at the time he would call the special session with support from Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, and House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, he did not set a specific date for lawmakers to return. He said only he would call the session “in the coming weeks.”
In a joint statement Tuesday, the three leaders indicated the return to Springfield could come as late as the fall.
“In the coming weeks, as the ripples of the decision to overturn Roe are felt throughout the nation, we expect to get an acute sense of our needs and how Illinois can play an even more vital role in standing up for reproductive freedom,” the statement read. “We plan to work closely together for the remainder of the summer to assess every possibility of what we can do and convene a special session in the coming months.”
Illinois already has among the most permissive laws in the country regarding abortion.
I’m honestly not sure you could make Illinois’ abortion laws any less restrictive.
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