Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. conspicuously dropped out of the public eye a couple of months ago. Some figured it had something to do with the pending House Ethics Committee investigation into his money-raising efforts on behalf of yet another jailed Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich. There were whispers that he was being treated for a drug or alcohol problem. A few even speculated he might have attempted suicide. But last week, his wife broke the silence . . .
She told the Chicago Sun Times that the Congressman suffered an emotional “collapse” in June and is undergoing treatment after being “completely debilitated by depression.” And while we all hope he makes a full recovery, Warner Todd Huston of chicagonow.com points out that the Congressman holds an Illinois firearms owner identification (FOID) card.
Jackson, a Chicago resident, is also one of the most dedicated gun controllers in Congress. And his malady raises an inevitable question.
It is also public knowledge in Illinois that he is a holder of an Illinois Firearms Owner ID (a FOID card). This state-issued ID that allows Illinois residents to legally purchase firearms and ammunition is supposed to be revoked for people that have been admitted to a mental health facility. So, will the state revoke Jackson’s FOID card?
Huston goes so far as to cite Illinois law on the subject:
Sec. 8. The Department of State Police has authority to deny an application for or to revoke and seize a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card previously issued under this Act only if the Department finds that the applicant or the person to whom such card was issued is or was at the time of issuance:
(e) A person who has been a patient of a mental institution within the past 5 years or has been adjudicated as a mental defective;
And it’s not an unreasonable assumption that, since the Congressman has an Illinois FOID, he probably also owns an actual firearm or two.
So, the big question is, will there be calls from the left to have Jackson’s rights to his firearms removed in accordance both with the law in his state and city but in accordance to his left-wing ideals?
When a Loughner or a Holmes snaps, there’s no shortage of gun grabbers demanding that anyone who’s so much as felt depressed when their pet goldfish dies should lose their right to armed self defense. In their world view, it’s just a small step from drowning your sorrows over a bad breakup to lighting up a theater full of moviegoers.
But Jackson’s been hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic and diagnosed as a bipolar 2. That’s a condition that’s usually manageable with medication. Not that that would be nearly good enough for the anti-2A crowd. At least it wouldn’t if we were talking about someone other than a reliable gun-controlling Congressman.
So will Rahm and Chief McCarthy – who take a back seat to no one in their anti-gun zeal – have the stones to follow Illinois law and send a couple of CPD officers to demand that Jesse Jr. turn over his FOID and heaters?