Self-defense and Concealed Carry in Chicago

Thanks to HeyJackass! for making me go look for this story. (Though there may be another story I missed.) Man with legally concealed handgun shoots another man in the head outside Jewel-Osco in West Elsdon neighborhood, Chicago police say

A 54-year-old concealed carry license-holder walks out of a store and immediately gets into an "altercation" with a 32-year-old. He draws his weapon and fires.

Authorities said the man with the gun, a 54-year-old, had been “leaving a grocery store when he was involved in a physical altercation with (the 32-year-old) in the parking lot.” Asked what prompted the two men to not only argue but to exchange blows, Kellie Bartoli, a spokeswoman for Chicago police, said the “report does not have details about the altercation.”

But at some point during that scuffle, police said, the 54-year-old “produced a firearm and fired shots at the other male, striking him in the head.”

The statistics at HeyJackass! indicate that there was a fatal, self-defense shooting in Chicago in December, but a quick search didn't turn up that the 32-year-old in this incident died. He was in a local hospital in critical condition. Several stories indicate that charges are pending, the authorities just haven't said who they are charging or what those charges may be.

A few more details are available from WLS-TV in Chicago. Chicago shooting near West Elsdon Jewel-Osco injures 2; shooter had valid CCL, police say

The shooter was not taken into custody after the incident.

In Chicago, that signifies that the police are convinced that the shooting was justifiable self-defense. Of course in Chicago the decision about charges rests with Illinois State's Attorney for Cook County, Kim Foxx and her band of prosecutors. While they don't like to prosecute hardened felons, their view on lawful self-defense is less clear to me.

Self-defense is a human-right, and even in Chicago, it might be your legal right, but I would not count on it.