Ald. Ed Burke: Gun-Toting Private Eye

By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 20, 2012 2:30PM

Carol Marin was on fire Wednesday. First, her Sun-Times column on Brian Urlacher's churlishness towards Bears fans is a must-read, although like Jon's take on DeRo/Chief Keef, I disagree with it. (I still contend, as I did Monday, that Urlacher was referring to "fans" of the armchair quarterback variety. Also, if Bears fans did take Marin's advice, Urlacher seems like the type of man who wouldn't mind.)

Anyway, the other Marin bombshell was a Sun-Times/NBC 5 report that revealed Ald. Ed Burke (14th) is a licensed private detective who is also trained and licensed to carry a revolver and a semiautomatic weapon—the only member of City Council to do so.

Who knew Ed Burke was a cross between Sam Spade and Tony Montana?

Burke is also something of a crack shot, scoring 97 percent on a firing range for his use of a revolver and semiautomatic weapons on a firing range. His Firearm Control Card, issued to him in 2000, allows him to carry a gun to and from his place of employment. Burke doesn't list his position as a private eye in the financial interest statements aldermen are required to file with the city. He's been a licensed detective since 1984 and obtained his private security license in 1987. All this is on top of the security detail Burke has had since the "Council Wars" days, which was cut in half by Mayor Rahm Emanuel last year.

As Marin and her longtime producer Don Moseley note, it's Burke's place of employment that's unknown. The Firearm Control Card is the same one issued to state Sen. Donne Trotter, who was arrested two weeks ago with an unloaded handgun in his carry-on luggage at O'Hare International Airport. Burke's license to carry a handgun is also slightly ironic, since he was one of the main proponents of Chicago's 1982 handgun ban. An 1872 law that allows Chicago's mayor and aldermen to carry handguns as peace officers grandfathers Burke into carrying a gun.

We have images in our heads of an impeccably dressed Burke being confronted by gangsters and pulling out a TEC-9 from a trenchcoat while screaming in his South side brogue, "Say hello to my little friend."