14 DAY TRIAL // 62-year-old Donne Trotter, a Democrat and a State Senator for Illinois, has been arrested for trying to carry a gun aboard a plane.
Security officers at O’Hare International Airport seized an unloaded .25 caliber Beretta, as well as seven rounds for the gun, as they searched Trotter.
The weapon was intercepted as a Transportation Security Administration agent performed an X-ray scan on his carrier bag, WLS-TV, an ABC affiliate, writes.
A veteran senator, Trotter had announced his bid for the Second Congressional District seat last week. According to Your Black World, Trotter is a self-proclaimed "advocate of gun control."
"The people of the district and the party leaders have to make a decision to put a person with this kind of baggage in the answer in the Second District," Congressman Adam Kinzinger says.
"It will be used as an argument against him. It's something he did but not a knock out," Paul Green, director of the Institute for Politics at Roosevelt University, argues.
The Congress position opened up with the resignation of Jesse Jackson Jr. The congressman stepped down following allegations of fraud, by misuse of campaign funds.
Asked by the police to explain why he would attempt to smuggle the weapon on board the aircraft, Trotter mentioned that he worked as a security guard, and was on assignment the night before. He added that he had forgotten he even had it on him.
If convicted on the felony charge of boarding an aircraft with a concealed weapon, he stands to go to prison for 1 to five years.
The senator mentioned that he performed security detail with Chicago's All Points Security. He is registered with the Department of Financial and Professional Regulations as a security guard. His firearm owner identification card is also valid.