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In Chicago, Locked-and-Loaded Issue Over Gun Rights and Legal Wrongs

Aired June 25, 2002 - 10:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In Chicago, a locked-and-loaded issue over gun rights and legal wrongs. A man there is taking aim at the city's ban on firearms by sponsoring a contest: He's giving away pistols, but he's gaining a whole lot of attention in the process.

Our Chicago bureau chief Jeff Flock explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What kind of firearm is that?

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a Kiltech P- 32. John Birch likes guns.

JOHN BIRCH, GUN GIVEAWAY SPONSOR: I've got an arsenal. You know how many guns I've got? I mean, I don't want to tell you on the air.

FLOCK: The 20-year Army vet and president of the pro-gun Concealed Carry Inc. feels so strongly about Americans Second Amendment rights, he's giving away a gun a month on his Web site. Only catch: you have to live in Chicago, one of four U.S. communities where it is illegal to have a handgun.

(on camera): What you did here is just start the process toward violating the law.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's correct.

FLOCK: Twenty-eight-year-old flight attendant Sheree Stevens doesn't care, and is the first to go public to say she got a gun.

SHEREE STEVENS, GUN GIVEAWAY WINNER: I live in the murder capital of the country, despite the fact that cook county has some of the most oppressive gun laws.

BIRCH: Sheree, I think you're a very brave person, I want you to know that. It's a shame that he doesn't have the courage to and come do this himself.

FLOCK: Tom Mannard heads an anti-handgun group, and thinks John Birch is a menace.

TOM MANNARD, ANTI-HANDGUN ACTIVIST: The authorities should pursue action against him as an accessory to a crime.

FLOCK: But authorities tell us it's the person with the gun who's in trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are facing jail time, and they are going to go to jail.

BIRCH: If you answer any of these falsely, it's a felony.

FLOCK: Birch, no relation to the namesake ultraconservative group, ironically goes by the book in giving the gun to Stevens.

BIRCH: I'm calling the Illinois state police.

FLOCK: Complete with a Brady check, 72-hour cooling-off period.

BIRCH: That call started her clock.

FLOCK: And, a lesson on how not to get arrested.

BIRCH: Because we get this radical blue color and we also get red, people will mistake it for a toy, and they won't call the cops.

FLOCK: The first gun winner, this Hasidic Jew, more concerned with defending himself than setting an example.

(on camera): You're standing with your back to the camera right there, because you don't want the police coming knocking at your door at this point?

BIRCH: I'm not stupid, so I'm not looking to invite trouble.

FLOCK (voice-over): Sheree Stevens is, and let us come along when she picked up her electric blue P-32.

BIRCH: Congratulations on being the recipient of one of our free guns.

FLOCK: A libertarian who's trying to run for state legislature, she believes it's time somebody made a public stand.

STEVENS: I'm defenseless without my gun, but now I'm not. I'm ready for them.

FLOCK: She better be. The next people at her door may have guns themselves, and badges to go with them.

I'm Jeff Flock, CNN, in Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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