Black Gun Owners in Chicago Say Their Second Amendment Rights Are Being Violated

CBS Chicago investigative reporter Dorothy Tucker sat down with Black gun owners who say they did everything by the book – only to be arrested anyway.

Her reporting follows people stopped for minor traffic issues, who proactively disclosed a firearm, produced valid paperwork, and still wound up charged with felonies.

That’s not a one-off, Tucker found. It’s a pattern of database errors, confusing rules, and human judgment calls colliding with constitutional rights – and daily life.

And it’s leaving a mark.

A License In Hand, A Felony On Paper

Tucker profiles 46-year-old Louis McWilliams, a South Suburban entrepreneur who runs Ann’s Flavored Cheesecakes. He was pulled over on Chicago’s South Side for a missing front plate.

First thing he did? Tell officers he had a gun and hand over his card. “He showed them a valid CCL card,” said Irv Miller, CBS Chicago’s legal analyst and a former prosecutor. “Not only did they see it, they actually took possession of it and inventoried it.”

Despite the physical card and the inventory receipt, the officers said his concealed carry license “didn’t pop up” in LEADS, the Illinois State Police database.

They arrested him anyway.

Prosecutors approved two felony counts. McWilliams spent a night in a cell he described as “deplorable,” then months fighting to clear his name and retrieve his impounded car. 

I’ll be blunt: a license in hand should not transform into a felony on paper because a screen didn’t refresh.

When Databases Fail, People Pay

Tucker’s FOIA-backed reporting puts a critical detail on the record: Illinois State Police told CBS Chicago that if officers cannot verify FOID/CCL status in LEADS, they “should not take any law enforcement action” related to a FOID/CCL violation. 

That guidance matters. It acknowledges what every tech worker knows – systems hiccup, syncs lag, records fail to populate. When that happens, the default should be rights-protective, not cuffs-first.

According to Tucker, Illinois law also recognizes physical or digital proof. If you present a valid FOID and CCL, you’re not in violation for possessing a lawfully carried firearm in your vehicle.

Yet on the street, the database seems to be treated as gospel.

That’s upside-down. The paper (or digital) credential is the bright-line proof. The database is a convenience.

Until agencies align policy, training, and supervision with that reality, we’re going to keep seeing “computer says no” escalate into life-altering arrests.

Dismissed Charges, Lasting Damage

Tucker doesn’t sugarcoat the aftermath.

McWilliams’ case was dismissed three months later. But he missed a major business meeting the day of his arrest and believes he lost a franchise deal because of it. He’s now paying to expunge the case so it doesn’t haunt background checks. 

Another Chicagoan, Lucy Washington, a single mother and real-estate professional, was stopped for a turn signal. She immediately disclosed she was a CCL holder – and that she had renewed after a short lapse. She tried showing officers an email from the state acknowledging her renewal submission.

They arrested her anyway for a felony.

Her charge, too, was dismissed. She then spent time and money expunging the record. But online traces linger. “If you search a property that is in my name, my mugshot shows up next to it,” she told Tucker. “It’s embarrassing.” 

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: dismissed doesn’t undo everything an arrest breaks. Clients, lenders, employers, neighbors – most don’t parse charging memos. They see a mugshot or a headline and move on.

That collateral damage is its own civil-rights issue.

A Pattern Without Data

Tucker also points out a structural problem: neither CPD nor the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office tracks how often lawful owners are charged and later dismissed.

So the pattern lives in lawsuits, anecdotes, and investigative journalism.

That’s unacceptable in 2025. If an agency can report which blocks saw more catalytic-converter thefts last quarter, it can certainly track and publicly report FOID/CCL-related arrests, dismissals, and expungements – broken down by precipitating cause (database mismatch, renewal timing, paperwork dispute), time-to-dismissal, and whether the firearm was returned.

Transparency is not a luxury; it’s the foundation for trust and reform.

And right now, Black gun owners tell Tucker their trust is shattered.

History, Race, And The Second Amendment

Phil Smith, president and founder of the National African American Gun Association, didn’t mince words with Tucker: “Outrage, anger, frustration. Not again.”

He ties these cases to a wider American history of how Black people with guns are treated – anxious policing, tragic encounters, and the “double standard” of what’s treated as normal in other communities.

Membership in his organization has surged as more Black Americans choose to legally arm for self-defense. These aren’t people trying to skirt the law; they’re signing up for classes, fees, fingerprints, renewals – the whole apparatus – to stay compliant.

Then they’re told, in practice, that their card isn’t enough unless a database says so.

My take: it’s hard to overstate how corrosive that feels. It turns a lawful choice – embracing the responsibilities that come with firearm ownership – into a gauntlet where the rules seem to shift the minute you need them most.

Smith’s bottom line to Tucker’s audience was defiant: don’t be intimidated out of exercising a right. If your rights are trampled, seek counsel and fight it.

What Needs To Change

Tucker’s investigation surfaces action items officials could implement tomorrow:

Re-center the credential. Train officers that a valid physical or digital FOID/CCL presented by the holder controls, particularly when LEADS is unresponsive or out-of-sync. That’s the state police’s own guidance as reported by Tucker.

Fix renewal messaging. Tucker’s reporting shows confusion around post-expiration renewals and whether applicants “pending” renewal are covered. That nuance must be explicit – in statute, in emails, in officer training.

Deploy redundancy, not reflex. When LEADS doesn’t populate, the default should be warn, document, and release – then verify later – rather than arrest and “let the court sort it out.” That’s not just fair; it prevents needless jail time, lost jobs, and litigation.

Publish the numbers. Track FOID/CCL arrests, charge approvals, dismissals, expungements, firearm-return timelines, and causes. Disaggregate by neighborhood and precipitating factors. Sunlight will reveal where policy is failing.

Strengthen felony review. As Miller told Tucker, prosecutors should weed out cases at the charging desk when a valid credential is in evidence or when ISP guidance counsels against action based on database uncertainty. The phrase “additional information became available” after arraignment is doing too much work.

Return property promptly. Both McWilliams and Washington told Tucker they’re still waiting for their lawfully owned firearms to be returned – even after dismissals and a judge’s order in one case. That’s unacceptable. Set strict, enforceable timelines for property return post-dismissal.

Repair trust. CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling, the State’s Attorney, and ISP all declined interviews, Tucker reported. I get the legal caution. But communities deserve explanations, not silence. Meet with stakeholders – especially Black gun-owner groups. Own the gaps. Fix the process.

Dorothy Tucker’s reporting isn’t about abstract philosophy. It’s about people who complied, disclosed, presented their cards, and still got caged, charged, and scarred.

McWilliams put it starkly for Tucker: “No matter how much you follow a system of which they create, they can still deem you wrong.”

If that’s the lived reality for law-abiding Black gun owners in Chicago, then “constitutional carry” is a promise on paper – not a protection in practice.

And until the city aligns its databases, training, and prosecutorial standards with the rights it says it recognizes, that gap will keep swallowing people who did everything right.

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