Chicagoans Keep Their Illegal Handguns

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jun 11, 2009 6:40PM

With a U.S. Court of Appeals recently upholding the city's handgun ban, another fight is brewing between the city and the NRA as the case is likely to head to the U.S. Supreme Court. And CBS 2 spent some time talking to gun owners here in the city who are carrying illegally.

Gun experts say that the .25 caliber is, in fact, very easy to conceal. That's the reason that it is the weapon of choice for many Chicagoans who want to carry an illegal handgun to defend themselves.

Gun instructor John Matuska says a majority of his students are women. He estimates that 150,000 otherwise law-abiding Chicagoans are packing pistols illegally.

"It's their way of immediate protection," Matuska said. "They would rather take a chance with a judge or a jury than take a chance with the bad guy and not have one."

According to SCOTUSBLOG, a pair of petitions challenging the ban have been filed with the Supreme Court.