Legal Gun Owners Are Being Charged With Felonies in Chicago

CBS News Chicago’s Dorothy Tucker found something that shouldn’t be happening in a city with strict gun rules and a growing number of licensed carriers.

Black gun owners were pulled over for minor traffic violations, volunteered that they had legally owned firearms, showed valid licenses – and still ended up in handcuffs, charged with felonies.

Gun-rights commentator Liberty Doll reviewed Tucker’s investigation and highlighted multiple recent cases.

Her takeaway is blunt: lawful people are getting treated like criminals first, and only cleared months later after money, time, and reputations are drained.

Both sources point to the same core problem.

Database glitches, rushed decisions, and policy gaps are swallowing up people who did everything by the book – then forcing them to dig themselves out.

The McWilliams Stop: Licenses in Hand, Felonies Anyway

Tucker spotlights Louis McWilliams, a 46-year-old entrepreneur from Tinley Park who runs Ann’s Flavored Cheesecakes.

In April, Chicago police stopped him on West 79th Street, saying his front plate was missing.

Body-cam video shows McWilliams doing exactly what safety classes recommend.

He calmly told officers he had a firearm and handed over his FOID and CCL.

Tucker reports that CBS News Chicago independently confirmed his licenses were valid.

The arrest report itself acknowledges he had the cards, and video shows him handing them to officers.

Still, police said his CCL didn’t appear in LEADS, the Illinois State Police database.

That became the basis to arrest him and, with approval from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, charge him with two felonies: aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon and unlawful use of a weapon.

Legal analyst Irv Miller, a former prosecutor who reviewed the case for CBS, didn’t mince words.

He said McWilliams shouldn’t have been charged at all, especially when officers had his valid card in hand and even inventoried it into evidence.

An Illinois State Police spokesperson, as cited by Tucker, underscored a critical point.

If officers cannot check FOID/CCL status in LEADS, they should not take law-enforcement action related to a FOID/CCL violation.

Illinois law also recognizes physical or digital proof at a stop.

There’s no requirement in the statute that the database must show the license for it to be valid.

Yet McWilliams spent a day in a filthy lockup and then months in court.

Tucker reports the charges were dropped three months later, but the damage – missed business meetings, a lost franchise deal, and expungement costs – was done.

Liberty Doll notes that, months after dismissal, those charges can still surface on background checks.

He also hasn’t gotten his firearm returned, according to Tucker’s reporting.

My take: when the system openly says “don’t act if the database can’t confirm,” and then acts anyway, that’s not a gray area.

That’s a policy failure with real human fallout.

The Washington Stop: Renewal, An Email, and a Felony Charge

Tucker also details Lucy Washington’s story, a Chicago real-estate agent and single mother.

In December 2023, she was stopped for failing to signal.

She immediately told officers she had a gun and a CCL.

She had renewed it two days after it expired and had an email from state police confirming her pending renewal – and that the email could be used as proof.

Body-cam shows her trying to show that email.

Officers wouldn’t accept it or let her retrieve her phone, Tucker reports.

She was arrested and charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a felony.

A spokesperson later claimed that because she renewed two days after expiration, she wasn’t covered – though Tucker notes that carve-out isn’t clearly spelled out in statute or communicated well to the public.

Her case was ultimately dismissed.

But as Brandon Brown, Washington’s attorney, told Tucker, the damage to trust – and to a professional’s livelihood – lingers long after charges vanish.

Liberty Doll emphasizes the same post-dismissal trap.

A Google search now surfaces Washington’s mugshot with a property in her name; she finds herself explaining an arrest that never should have happened.

Both sources say Washington still hasn’t had her firearms returned, despite a court order.

She filed a lawsuit in December 2024 alleging false arrest, illegal search and seizure, and emotional distress. Chicago police declined comment, citing litigation, Tucker reports.

My view: if pending renewals are recognized in practice, police should honor written proof on the spot.

If late renewals erase coverage, that needs to be conspicuously stated – on the application, in emails, and in the statute’s user-facing guidance – so lawful people don’t get sandbagged at a traffic stop.

“Not Again”: A Community Reacts

Tucker interviewed Phil Smith, founder and president of the National African American Gun Association (NAAGA).

He said Black gun ownership is rising – his group now has more than 50,000 members and trained 15,000 shooters in three years – because people want to protect themselves and feel welcome in firearm culture.

Smith says the Chicago stories leave him “outraged” but not surprised.

“Not again,” he told Tucker, describing the pattern of Black gun owners doing everything right and still being arrested.

He also invokes the broader memory of tragedies like Philando Castile, Daunte Wright, and Tamir Rice – high-profile cases that shape how Black communities view interactions with police, even when laws are followed.

His message is to keep carrying lawfully and to sue if rights are violated.

That perspective matters.

These are not just legal events; they’re trust events that compound over time in specific neighborhoods.

Felony Review: Why Didn’t This Get Stopped?

Tucker reports that Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke declined an on-camera interview.

A spokesperson said “initial evidence” supported the felony approvals and that charges were later dropped when “additional information” emerged – without stating what that evidence was or why it wasn’t verified at intake.

Miller’s critique is sharp. Felony review exists to weed out cases like these on day one, not months later after lives get turned upside down.

Liberty Doll echoes that point and adds a practical observation from the videos she reviewed.

In both cases, the moment the drivers said “I have a gun,” the traffic stop dynamic changed. She suspects neither arrest happens without that disclosure – even though disclosure is what responsible carriers are taught to do.

In my view, you can’t tell citizens to be transparent, then punish transparency.

If the database is patchy and the law allows physical or digital proof, the default should be verify, document, and release, not cuff and charge.

The Numbers We Don’t Track

Tucker notes that neither CPD nor the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office tracks how many licensed owners are arrested and later cleared. So, we don’t know the scope – only the harm.

Her team found at least three other cases, including two lawsuits, mirroring McWilliams and Washington.

Liberty Doll says she’s seen five recent victims in Chicago alone and that CBS is encouraging more to come forward as part of a broader investigation.

That absence of data is telling. When agencies don’t measure a problem, it tends to repeat.

What Needs to Change – Now

First, the LEADS issue. If Illinois State Police says don’t take enforcement action when the database can’t verify, then don’t. Put that in bold type in roll-call briefings and refreshers.

Second, make the renewal rules idiot-proof. If late renewals are treated as no coverage, that needs to be explicitly told to licensees – on emails, renewal pages, and the card itself – so there’s no ambiguity at a stop.

Third, tighten felony review protocols. If the arrest report contains a copy of a valid card, or the officer physically inventoried a valid card, prosecutors should demand immediate confirmation before filing a felony.

Finally, fix property return. When charges are dropped, or a court orders it, firearms should be returned promptly. Sitting on someone’s lawfully owned property after dismissal is punishment without a conviction.

Tucker’s reporting pulls this out of the abstract.

McWilliams lost a major business opportunity and spent months in court. Washington’s mugshot now haunts her real-estate listings, and she’s still fighting to get her gun back.

Liberty Doll underlines the emotional toll.

People who tried to be model citizens now say they feel “defeated,” “embarrassed,” and unsafe in the very system they followed.

That’s the tragedy here.

When lawful behavior is criminalized by process errors, you don’t just punish one driver—you send a message to every would-be compliant owner that following the rules might not protect them.

Chicago can fix this. It starts with honoring the law as written, respecting valid proof in hand, and using felony review the way it was meant to be used – as a guardrail, not a rubber stamp.

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