The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Conference Center > Law and Civil Rights > Legal and Political

 
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old March 1, 2005, 03:06 PM   #1
U.F.O.
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 22, 2004
Location: TN
Posts: 513
How bout "THEM" apples?

http://www.sj-r.com/Sections/News/Stories/49173.asp

U.F.O.
__________________
"But today you just read that the man was shot dead
By a gun that didn’t make any noise
But it wasn’t the bullet that laid him to rest was
The low spark of high-heeled boys"
~Traffic - Stevie Winwood~
U.F.O. is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 03:13 PM   #2
Mal H
Staff
 
Join Date: March 20, 1999
Location: Somewhere in the woods of Northern Virginia
Posts: 16,947
The link doesn't seem to be working. What is the gist of the story?
Mal H is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 03:16 PM   #3
TheBluesMan
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: June 15, 1999
Location: Ohio
Posts: 7,558
"Million Mom March" organizer arrested on gun charge or "How About THEM Apples?"

http://www.sj-r.com/Sections/News/Stories/49173.asp
Quote:
A Springfield woman who began lobbying against gun violence after her son was shot to death in 2002 was arrested last week when police allegedly found an illegal gun and drugs in her home.

Annette "Flirty" Stevens, however, said Monday she's innocent, and the arrest is an attempt by police to get her to give up information about unsolved crime in the city.

The handgun, which had a scratched-off serial number, and drugs allegedly were discovered Friday morning inside Stevens' home in the 2500 block of South 15th Street. Authorities said they obtained a search warrant for the residence as part of an ongoing investigation of a recent series of drive-by shootings. No one has been hurt in the gunplay.

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted in the search.

Although police declined to get into specifics, Stevens has a "close connection" with one of two feuding groups involved in the shootings, Lt. Rickey Davis said Monday.

Stevens, 47, who is free on bond, admitted she does know some of the people allegedly involved in the drive-by shootings. But she said she only knows them because her interest in stopping gun violence - sparked by the shooting death of her son Jericko Clark, 20, on July 13, 2002 - has her in the neighborhoods talking to the youths.


She said the police wrongly believe she is the ringleader of the shootings, and they think she has information to solve those cases, as well as others, including the December murder of Andre Ayers, 22, who was shot as a procession of cars wound through the city's east side.

"This is a blatant attempt to try and undermine me," she said Monday night. "... They can't solve these crimes, and I'm familiar with these individuals, so they're going after me because I socialize with all of them."

Davis said detectives working on the drive-by cases - which already have resulted in four arrests - began taking a closer look at Stevens after her name came up in interviews with witnesses and informants.

"Basically, she has a close connection with individuals that have been involved in one side of these two groups that are feuding," Davis said, declining to elaborate.

After finding the handgun and drugs, police arrested Stevens at her job.

Stevens said she believes the search warrant was obtained illegally. She said no drugs were found in her home. And as for the gun, she admits to having it in the house. But she said it belonged to her son. She didn't find it until six or seven months after he died. Not knowing what to do with it, she wrapped it up, put it in a drawer and forgot about it.

Contacted later, Davis said he had no comment on Stevens' statements.

Since her son's death, Stevens has become involved in the anti-gun-violence movement. She helped establish and is president of a Springfield chapter of the Million Mom March, an organization that aims to prevent gun violence.

Last fall, she appeared with other anti-gun advocates at a Statehouse news conference to urge federal officials to renew a ban against semiautomatic assault weapons.

Jonathan Lackland, Midwest regional director of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the march's partner organization, said he was shocked to hear about Stevens' arrest.

He wished to withhold comment on the case until he learned more about it, but he did say he knew Stevens was dedicated to the cause.

"I know Miss Stevens, and I know her character," Lackland said. "I know after the death of her son, it really prompted her to jump full force into activism in terms of gun-violence prevention.

"She has been a staunch supporter of gun-violence-prevention measures," Lackland added. "She has lived by (the theme of) 'I don't want anyone to go through the pain and misery I have gone through. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.'"

Stevens has not been formally connected to any crime directly related to the drive-by shootings. But Friday's discoveries could lead to her being charged with defacing the identification marks on a handgun, manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance and having no valid firearm owner's ID card, police said.
__________________
-Dave Miller
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!
NRA Certified Instructor: Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, Home Firearms Safety, Personal Protection.
Tick-off Obama - Join the NRA Today - Save $10
TheBluesMan is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 03:24 PM   #4
Rich Lucibella
Staff
 
Join Date: October 6, 1998
Location: South Florida
Posts: 10,229
Quote:
Not knowing what to do with it, she wrapped it up, put it in a drawer and forgot about it.
If she doesn't know what to do with a gun in her own home, HOW ON EARTH can she purport to know what I should do with mine?
Rich
__________________
S.W.A.T. Magazine
Weapons, Training and Tactics for the Real World
Join us at TFL or at AR15.com or on Facebook
Rich Lucibella is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 03:31 PM   #5
U.F.O.
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 22, 2004
Location: TN
Posts: 513
Anti-gun activist arrested after firearm found at home


By JASON PISCIA
STAFF WRITER

A Springfield woman who began lobbying against gun violence after her son was shot to death in 2002 was arrested last week when police allegedly found an illegal gun and drugs in her home.

Annette "Flirty" Stevens, however, said Monday she's innocent, and the arrest is an attempt by police to get her to give up information about unsolved crime in the city.

The handgun, which had a scratched-off serial number, and drugs allegedly were discovered Friday morning inside Stevens' home in the 2500 block of South 15th Street. Authorities said they obtained a search warrant for the residence as part of an ongoing investigation of a recent series of drive-by shootings. No one has been hurt in the gunplay.

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted in the search.

Although police declined to get into specifics, Stevens has a "close connection" with one of two feuding groups involved in the shootings, Lt. Rickey Davis said Monday.

Stevens, 47, who is free on bond, admitted she does know some of the people allegedly involved in the drive-by shootings. But she said she only knows them because her interest in stopping gun violence - sparked by the shooting death of her son Jericko Clark, 20, on July 13, 2002 - has her in the neighborhoods talking to the youths.

She said the police wrongly believe she is the ringleader of the shootings, and they think she has information to solve those cases, as well as others, including the December murder of Andre Ayers, 22, who was shot as a procession of cars wound through the city's east side.

"This is a blatant attempt to try and undermine me," she said Monday night. "... They can't solve these crimes, and I'm familiar with these individuals, so they're going after me because I socialize with all of them."

Davis said detectives working on the drive-by cases - which already have resulted in four arrests - began taking a closer look at Stevens after her name came up in interviews with witnesses and informants.

"Basically, she has a close connection with individuals that have been involved in one side of these two groups that are feuding," Davis said, declining to elaborate.

After finding the handgun and drugs, police arrested Stevens at her job.

Stevens said she believes the search warrant was obtained illegally. She said no drugs were found in her home. And as for the gun, she admits to having it in the house. But she said it belonged to her son. She didn't find it until six or seven months after he died. Not knowing what to do with it, she wrapped it up, put it in a drawer and forgot about it.

Contacted later, Davis said he had no comment on Stevens' statements.

Since her son's death, Stevens has become involved in the anti-gun-violence movement. She helped establish and is president of a Springfield chapter of the Million Mom March, an organization that aims to prevent gun violence.

Last fall, she appeared with other anti-gun advocates at a Statehouse news conference to urge federal officials to renew a ban against semiautomatic assault weapons.

Jonathan Lackland, Midwest regional director of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the march's partner organization, said he was shocked to hear about Stevens' arrest.

He wished to withhold comment on the case until he learned more about it, but he did say he knew Stevens was dedicated to the cause.

"I know Miss Stevens, and I know her character," Lackland said. "I know after the death of her son, it really prompted her to jump full force into activism in terms of gun-violence prevention.

"She has been a staunch supporter of gun-violence-prevention measures," Lackland added. "She has lived by (the theme of) 'I don't want anyone to go through the pain and misery I have gone through. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.'"

Stevens has not been formally connected to any crime directly related to the drive-by shootings. But Friday's discoveries could lead to her being charged with defacing the identification marks on a handgun, manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance and having no valid firearm owner's ID card, police said.


Jason Piscia can be reached at 788-1525 or [email protected].
__________________
"But today you just read that the man was shot dead
By a gun that didn’t make any noise
But it wasn’t the bullet that laid him to rest was
The low spark of high-heeled boys"
~Traffic - Stevie Winwood~
U.F.O. is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 03:35 PM   #6
Boats
Junior member
 
Join Date: September 15, 2002
Location: Oregon
Posts: 964
Come now, knowledge of guns and of our constitutional form of government are not prerequisites to becoming a gun control activist.
Boats is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 03:46 PM   #7
Duxman
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 16, 2005
Location: VA
Posts: 1,294
Justice comes even to the anti-gun liberal nut jobs!!!

Not knowing what to do with an illegal gun, so I wrapped it up - put it in a drawer and forgot about it....

A likely story. Good luck with that illegal gun in court.
Duxman is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 03:55 PM   #8
shaggy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 9, 2004
Posts: 1,519
Quote:
Come now, knowledge of guns and of our constitutional form of government are not prerequisites to becoming a gun control activist.
And apparently neither is having an IQ higher than that of a turnip.

Ms. Stevens, methinks thou doth protest too much. Enjoy your stay in the Graybar Hotel.
shaggy is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 04:08 PM   #9
FirstFreedom
Junior member
 
Join Date: May 31, 2004
Location: The Toll Road State, U.S.A.
Posts: 12,451
Quote:
"This is a blatant attempt to try and undermine me," she said Monday night. "... They can't solve these crimes, and I'm familiar with these individuals, so they're going after me because I socialize with all of them."
I wouldn't put that past police at all. But still, no one knows for sure (cept her), and a crime is a crime (drugs, that is), so they're entitled to lean on her to see if info is forthcoming after a few nights in the pokey. I don't see how having a gun in the home is a crime, or if it is, it's unconstitutional. In any event, I have no sympathy for one who, on the one hand, advocates a banning guns as a purported vehicle to reduce crime, while on the other hand, knowingly keeping a gun around. It's just hypocrisy. If guns are bad, period (which is what MMM believes - despite their rhetoric to the contrary), she should have turned it in or destroyed it when she found it.

In other words, "HA-ha" [/nelson voice]
FirstFreedom is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 04:47 PM   #10
PKAY
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 22, 1999
Location: L.A., CA, USA
Posts: 911
In addition, the serial number had been defaced, prima facie evidence that the arm had been in black market circulation and not legally transferred in any manner consistent with the law governing such matters. Having "found" the gun in her house, she should have turned it in to the authorities. As it is, she is a first class hypocrite.
__________________
Safe shooting - PKAY
PKAY is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 05:31 PM   #11
WillBrayjr
Junior member
 
Join Date: September 26, 2004
Location: Northern Indiana
Posts: 1,881
So thats how anti-gunners work. :barf: Shame on them.
WillBrayjr is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 05:46 PM   #12
tyme
Staff
 
Join Date: October 13, 2001
Posts: 3,355
What a classic example of the stupidity and hypocrisy of the anti-gunners.

Maybe scratching off serial numbers and wrapping up guns (in swaddling clothes? duct tape, perhaps?) is her idea of what to do with them.
__________________
“The egg hatched...” “...the egg hatched... and a hundred baby spiders came out...” (blade runner)
“Who are you?” “A friend. I'm here to prevent you from making a mistake.” “You have no idea what I'm doing here, friend.” “In specific terms, no, but I swore an oath to protect the world...” (continuum)
“It's a goal you won't understand until later. Your job is to make sure he doesn't achieve the goal.” (bsg)
tyme is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 05:52 PM   #13
Sir William
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 13, 2004
Posts: 3,261
What concerns me most is the manufacturing. Meth? Firearm with a defaced serial number and manufacturing charge leads me to a short conclusion. Stevens is an addict?
Sir William is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 06:28 PM   #14
alan
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 7, 1999
Posts: 3,847
some will continue to swoon over this hypocryte, this liar anyhow. I wonder why?

NEWS RELEASE
ILLINOIS ANTI-GUN ACTIVIST ARRESTED,
CCRKBA SAYS 'WELCOME TO THE PARTY'
The arrest of a Springfield, IL anti-gun activist by police who allegedly found an illegal handgun and drugs in her home during a contested search prompted the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms to bid Annette "Flirty" Stevens a "welcome to the party."

Stevens became an activist with the Million Mom March after her son was gunned down in 2002. She has acknowledged having the gun – from which the serial number had been removed – in her home. The handgun belonged to her late son, Jericko Clark, she insisted, and she had simply wrapped it up and forgotten about it after finding it several months after his slaying. She claims the search was illegal.

"Annette Stevens may now understand why so many law-abiding people are fed up with the kind of gun laws that are promoted by the Million Mom March and other extremist gun control organizations," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "Ironically, the law against filing serial numbers off firearms is one that gun rights activists and organizations have long supported. Yet here she is, this ‘poster mom' for gun control, acknowledging that she has kept an illegally-altered handgun in her home while she's been campaigning to deprive other citizens of their firearms.

"In the kind of Draconian anti-gun society Stevens and her cohorts are trying to create," Gottlieb continued, "it wouldn't matter if she were innocent as she claims. Under the laws her group supports, gun owners are essentially considered guilty until they prove themselves otherwise. That's everything from background checks to waiting periods, and certainly the Illinois requirement that gun owners have a Firearms Owners Identification Card. Stevens has no FOID card, so there's another gun law violation. There are thousands of local and state laws across the country that the Million Moms support, none of which have done anything to prevent a single crime. All they do is chip away at the gun rights of law-abiding citizens.

"If Stevens is so convinced guns don't belong in society," Gottlieb observed, "then why didn't she immediately turn that gun over to the police when she found it more than two years ago? Why did she keep it? What's wrong with this picture? Ms. Stevens is about to learn that supporting gun control is like keeping a vicious dog. They sometimes bite the hands that feed them."

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.org) is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.

-END-


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


< Please e-mail, distribute, and circulate to friends and family >
Copyright © 2005 Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, All Rights Reserved.

Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
James Madison Building
12500 N.E. Tenth Place
Bellevue, WA 98005 Voice: 425-454-4911
Toll Free: 800-426-4302
FAX: 425-451-3959
email: [email protected]
alan is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 07:14 PM   #15
thelast2
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 6, 2005
Location: Eagle River, Alaska
Posts: 118
Quote:
They can't solve these crimes, and I'm familiar with these individuals, so they're going after me because I socialize with all of them."
Well right there shows what kind of person she is, if she keeps the company of scumbags. I would also think this would be classified as aiding and abetting a known criminal. The saying guilty by association rings true.

Quote:
If she doesn't know what to do with a gun in her own home, HOW ON EARTH can she purport to know what I should do with mine?
To answer that she cant, she apparently has a problem with low self esteem ie. drug use and being associated with groups of wackos makes her feel important and that is the only reason she does it. Ask her to substantiate her belief and she couldnt do it. Hope the hell they lock her up one less idiot on the streets for us to worry about.
__________________
"Genius Has Limitations, Stupidity Does Not"
thelast2 is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 08:21 PM   #16
Bud Helms
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 31, 1999
Location: Middle Georgia, USA
Posts: 13,198
Ongoing thread in L&P ... going there to join the conversation.
Bud Helms is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 08:45 PM   #17
Fred Hansen
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 30, 2001
Location: The middle of WWIII
Posts: 3,335
Quote:
"Million Mom March" organizer arrested on gun charge
Imagine my surprise.
__________________
"This started out as a documentary on gun violence in America, but the largest mass murder in our history was just committed -- without the use of a single gun! Not a single bullet fired! No bomb was set off, no missile was fired, no weapon (i.e., a device that was solely and specifically manufactured to kill humans) was used. A boxcutter! -- I can't stop thinking about this. A thousand gun control laws would not have prevented this massacre. What am I doing?"

Michael Moore
Fred Hansen is offline  
Old March 1, 2005, 08:56 PM   #18
4V50 Gary
Staff
 
Join Date: November 2, 1998
Location: Colorado
Posts: 21,831
The police & ATF working together to make America safe, one mom at a time.
__________________
Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt. Molon Labe!
4V50 Gary is offline  
Old March 3, 2005, 06:07 AM   #19
ktmhk53
Member
 
Join Date: July 4, 2001
Posts: 76
Greetings,
Has anyone seen a picture of Annette "Flirty" Stevens?
I'd be interested in seeing what a "Flirty" looks like, wouldn't you?


ktmhk53
__________________
Striving for naiveté...
ktmhk53 is offline  
Old March 3, 2005, 01:08 PM   #20
SnubbyMan
Member
 
Join Date: January 30, 2005
Posts: 80
And...how come I don't see anything about this in the Chicago Tribune?
SnubbyMan is offline  
Old March 3, 2005, 01:47 PM   #21
Wallew
Junior member
 
Join Date: October 3, 1999
Posts: 910
Quote:
Stevens said she believes the search warrant was obtained illegally. She said no drugs were found in her home. And as for the gun, she admits to having it in the house. But she said it belonged to her son. She didn't find it until six or seven months after he died. Not knowing what to do with it, she wrapped it up, put it in a drawer and forgot about it.
SO, she admits finding the illegal gun that belonged to HER SON and then HID IT.

WHY is not not feasible that the drugs found in her home belonged to her DEAD SON? That would have been my story if I were her.

That way, she can PLACE THE BLAME FOR EVERYTHING FOUND IN HER HOME on her now dead son. What a sterling example of 'motherhood'.
Wallew is offline  
Old March 4, 2005, 11:10 AM   #22
Derius_T
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 29, 2004
Location: South West OHIO (boondocks)
Posts: 1,337
First, let me start off by saying.......

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (Breath) HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (Breath) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...........HA!

(whew)

Now. Ahem. Oh the irony! I think she should be prosecuted TO THE FULLEST EXTENT, of the ignorant laws her very own organization has pushed for years now. Whats good for the goose you know.......

Bet now that the shoes on the other foot, those draconian laws and measures seem a little 'unfair' when they apply to HER.

Oh the sweet, sweet smell of hypocricy.......
Derius_T is offline  
Old March 4, 2005, 11:34 AM   #23
Edward429451
Junior member
 
Join Date: November 12, 2000
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Posts: 9,494
Quote:
"This is a blatant attempt to try and undermine me," she said Monday night. "... They can't solve these crimes, and I'm familiar with these individuals, so they're going after me because I socialize with all of them."
It's like my grandma ma used to say...If you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas.

To reiterate Firstfreedom's comment...Haha!! (nelson)

Two birds with one stone!
Edward429451 is offline  
Old March 4, 2005, 06:35 PM   #24
alan
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 7, 1999
Posts: 3,847
What to do with this MMM founder and apparachnick

In the cold and drearly light of day, the answer to that question stands there, big as life and a couple of times as ugly, as that old saying goes.

Ms. Stevens is guilty of at least a couple of crimes under Illinois laws.

The handgun in her possession was likely not properly registered to her. She also lacked that Holy of Holies, The FOID Card.

Additionally, it looks like she is also guilty of federal charges, at the very least, possession of a firearm with destroyed, obliterated or altered serial number(s).

Fair enough, she is an adult, so let her sleep in the bed she made for herself.

Each and every possible charge should be laid against her, each prosecuted with the utmost possible force and vigor, and for anything that the lady is actually convicted of, she should get the maximim sentence, such sentences to run CONSECUTIVELY. After all musn't justice be served? Also, given her way, how would she and her "co-religionists", those who worship at the Church of The Anti Gun, view some miscreant, hardly with the milk of human kindness, I thing, and even if they felt differently, I find myself suddenly short of milk.
alan is offline  
Old March 4, 2005, 07:56 PM   #25
Handy
Junior member
 
Join Date: August 31, 2001
Posts: 8,785
Perhaps she didn't want to find out what police ballistic records would reveal about her dead son's deeds?



While I see the irony in this, and don't care for her politics, it still sounds like this is the kind of tough, outspoken woman who is trying to take her neighborhood back from gang violence. I wonder if we would gloat if we actually met the woman and see what she lives with?

It just sounds like she is primarily an anti-violence campaigner.



Or have you all decided she's an activist who is also a gun-toting meth dealer?
Handy is offline  
 

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:32 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.07252 seconds with 7 queries