A defensive use in Chicago

More on this case can be found here, here, here, here, and here.

The 80-year-old who used his gun to stop an armed robber who shot at him is going to be prosecuted by Chicago.

An 80-year-old Chicago man shot and killed an armed intruder (who also shot at him) while protecting his wife and great-grandson. Now he will face jail time and/or a fine because Chicago is one of the few cities in the United States where law-abiding citizens are denied the right to possess handguns. . . .

UPDATE: Chicago's CBS 2 reports on the surge in desire for people to own guns.

They are law-abiding citizens in Chicago, but they are so worried about their own safety, they say they might have to break the law.

The last straw was the death of Chicago Police officer Thomas Wortham IV last week.

That has some African-American families in Chicago considering doing something they never would have done before: carry a pistol.

CBS 2's Jim Williams reports he grew up among those families and he's never anything like it.

Many Chicagoans have been upset for some time about violence here, but Wortham's murder has touched a raw nerve in the black community.

Now some want to do more than simply call 911 or march for peace in the streets. They want their own gun.

Mike Robinson, who runs basketball camps, is hearing it.

"I've heard parents in my basketball camps express that very fervently, just over the weekend, that they want the right to protect themselves," Robinson said. . . .

UPDATE: Yet another defensive gun use in Chicago a week later.

When police caught up to a fleeing drug suspect early Thursday, they had little problem arresting him. They found him in a private home he had entered, wounded in the chest by a resident with a handgun.

The shooting occurred about a week after an 80-year-old Army veteran used a handgun to shoot and kill an armed burglar who had broken into his home. In both cases, the weapons violated the city's 28-year-old handgun ban, but police so far have declined to press charges.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this month on the constitutionality of Chicago's gun ban, and many believe the justices will strike it down. But, while those on both sides of the gun-rights debate eagerly await the verdict, the decision is essentially irrelevant for many who live in Chicago.

By one expert's estimate, there is a handgun in as many as 100,000 city households, despite the ban. And gang members or those with misdeeds in mind aren't the only ones who have them. In some neighborhoods, otherwise-law-abiding citizens feel forced to violate the gun ban, they say, to protect themselves and their families. . . .