Liberal reporter tried to buy gun, was denied because of background check

[Juvenal]

Now if I were speculating ...

Our transaction took nearly an hour because we chatted. Mike used to read newspapers but doesn’t anymore because of opinion writers like me.

Steinberg is Steinberg, he's got a rep that's made him known all the way out in the west suburbs. You can't buy guns in Chicago, so he headed out to Des Plaines.

He knew whether it was legal to bring the gun to Chicago — it’s not. He was friendly, candid, so I asked difficult questions.

Thanks, Nick.

Did he ever feel guilty about the people killed by the guns he sells? No, he said, that’s like asking a car dealer if he felt guilty if someone gets drunk and kills somebody in a car he sold. It seemed a fair answer.

You're a real charmer.

I asked him if I could quote him in the newspaper, and he said no, I couldn’t, so I’m not quoting him.

You can quote me on that.

Now if I were speculating, I'd say they pulled the plug because they didn't much care for handing out rope for their own funeral. You can see what he's done with what he had, and this is pretty typical. He schmoozes up in person and then rips out a new one in print.

I don't know what the dealer would have done with an actual reporter, following an actual story, but this was a stunt performed by a hack. Read whatever you like out of it.

[One Bad Pig]

Now if I were speculating ...

Our transaction took nearly an hour because we chatted. Mike used to read newspapers but doesn’t anymore because of opinion writers like me.

Steinberg is Steinberg, he's got a rep that's made him known all the way out in the west suburbs. You can't buy guns in Chicago, so he headed out to Des Plaines.

He knew whether it was legal to bring the gun to Chicago — it’s not. He was friendly, candid, so I asked difficult questions.

Thanks, Nick.

Did he ever feel guilty about the people killed by the guns he sells? No, he said, that’s like asking a car dealer if he felt guilty if someone gets drunk and kills somebody in a car he sold. It seemed a fair answer.

You're a real charmer.

I asked him if I could quote him in the newspaper, and he said no, I couldn’t, so I’m not quoting him.

You can quote me on that.

Now if I were speculating, I'd say they pulled the plug because they didn't much care for handing out rope for their own funeral. You can see what he's done with what he had, and this is pretty typical. He schmoozes up in person and then rips out a new one in print.

I don't know what the dealer would have done with an actual reporter, following an actual story, but this was a stunt performed by a hack. Read whatever you like out of it.

Ok, so he's a class A jerk. You think he'd let it slide if they were lying about his past, in an extensive communication they gave his employer? Your speculation isn't looking any better than his. Frankly, I wouldn't sell a gun to a wife-beating alcoholic either, even if he was nice in person and had a history of schmoozing in print as well.

[Juvenal]

Ok, so he's a class A jerk. You think he'd let it slide if they were lying about his past, in an extensive communication they gave his employer? Your speculation isn't looking any better than his. Frankly, I wouldn't sell a gun to a wife-beating alcoholic either, even if he was nice in person and had a history of schmoozing in print as well.

So, you'd be worried that he was going to take the gun, that he was only buying for the story, that he'd agreed to sell back to the dealer immediately, that was illegal for him to take back to Chicago, because he might shoot his wife with it in a drunken rage.

Uh huh.

Did you bring enough of that for everyone?

[One Bad Pig]

So, you'd be worried that he was going to take the gun, that he was only buying for the story, that he'd agreed to sell back to the dealer immediately, that was illegal for him to take back to Chicago, because he might shoot his wife with it in a drunken rage.

Uh huh.

Did you bring enough of that for everyone?

Duly noted snark aside, I would imagine that the store didn't want to have on its records a sale to someone like that as a matter of policy. Your stance requires that either the store or Mr. Steinberg is telling an easily falsifiable lie. I don't think either party is quite that stupid.

[Juvenal]

Duly noted snark aside, I would imagine that the store didn't want to have on its records a sale to someone like that as a matter of policy. Your stance requires that either the store or Mr. Steinberg is telling an easily falsifiable lie. I don't think either party is quite that stupid.

Nonsense. Nobody's lying here, except possibly about their motivations.

Steinberg already had his FOID, so there was never a question about a background check. The delay was because of a 24-hour waiting period required in Illinois. The fact is the store was entirely within its rights to change their mind on selling him the weapon, for any reason or no reason at all. They chose to whack him with publicly available information that wouldn't officially disqualify him from a gun purchase. He has no record of alcohol-related charges, and the domestic abuse case, as best I recall, was eventually dropped, though he did write a book about it.

I don't think I've made any secret of the fact I don't care for Steinberg, and simply loathe the Sun Times, which was true even before they were bought by Murdoch, and is still true all of these years after he unloaded it to leverage his buyout of WFLD. For anyone who'd like a more balanced look at Steinberg, there's his books of course, and more accessibly, a 2008 write-up in Chicago Magazine, The Last Stand.

[Juvenal]

... and the domestic abuse case, as best I recall, was eventually dropped ...

Columnist's wife drops charges filed against him

Cook County prosecutors dropped a domestic-battery case against Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg on Wednesday after his wife said she no longer feared for her safety.

At a brief hearing in the Skokie courthouse before Circuit Judge William O'Brien, Steinberg's wife, Edie, answered a series of questions posed by Assistant State's Atty. Kenneth Alpert indicating that she no longer wanted to pursue the matter and wanted to terminate an order of protection against her husband.

[Cow Poke]

Cook County prosecutors dropped a domestic-battery case against Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg on Wednesday after his wife said she no longer feared for her safety.

It's not at all unusual for women to retract these statements.

[Sea of red]

It's not at all unusual for women to retract these statements.

Especially after they sober-up the next morning and remember that they don't have a job. drinkin2.gif

[Cow Poke]

Especially after they sober-up the next morning and remember that they don't have a job. [ATTACH=CONFIG]16517[/ATTACH]

It's actually pretty sad, SoR.... I've arrested men who have beaten up their wives, and while we're doing the fingerprinting, they're sobbing and crying and begging us to let him go "because I really do love him and he didn't mean it", or, because they're afraid they'll be beat even worse when he gets out.

[Juvenal]

It's not at all unusual for women to retract these statements.

Yeah, women go right back to their abusers. But this is really old news. The incident was in 2005. They're still married; there have been no repeats; and there was no conviction. He'd already passed a background check to get his FOID. Google him and you'll find everything the shop cited in the first few links. He's a public figure, in Chicagoland at least.

He's publicly admitted he slapped her and ripped the phone off the wall when she tried to dial 911. I don't believe she retracted any statements. Though she did choose not to press charges, the final decision was with the judge.

Sun-Times columnist loses public defender
Judge continues Steinberg's battery case for a month

Despite several interruptions by Edie Steinberg on Thursday, apparently in support of her husband, Hoffenberg cut her off and reminded her that she was a witness and could talk only with the assistant state's attorney.

"I assume you don't want to proceed because obviously you came with him today," the judge told her. "But that's not your decision."

You'll note that all of the reporting here is from their competitor, the Tribune.

Hmm ... okay, disclosure, whatever ... I've written for both of the major Chicago papers, and for the Chicago Reader, and I've had drinks with most of these characters, including Steinberg, who was an ass when I knew him, and still is from what I can tell.

[Sea of red]

It's actually pretty sad, SoR.... I've arrested men who have beaten up their wives, and while we're doing the fingerprinting, they're sobbing and crying and begging us to let him go "because I really do love him and he didn't mean it", or, because they're afraid they'll be beat even worse when he gets out.

A lot of it boils down to them not supporting themselves; it's how they find themselves in their situations to begin with. I understand that abuse causes people to not think straight but at a certain point, it's kind of up to you to make your own life peaceful. I see these shows where victims are basically given free reign to keep going back and retain societies concern, and it doesn't do them any favors. If they want help they should pay that help respect by not wasting opportunities that people afford them - often on charity. Once you go back a third time, you've kind of lost the right to complain anymore. If that makes me an awful person then so be it.

Other times you have 'victims' that simply got angry at their husbands, called the police with some malicious story, and then remember the next morning they need his financial support. That's when the charges get dropped and the guy is dumb enough to take her back - which is just as stupid.

[One Bad Pig]

Nonsense. Nobody's lying here, except possibly about their motivations.

Steinberg already had his FOID, so there was never a question about a background check. The delay was because of a 24-hour waiting period required in Illinois. The fact is the store was entirely within its rights to change their mind on selling him the weapon, for any reason or no reason at all.

Thank you. The article admitted that the sale was not due to a failed background check. IMO the most straightforward thing to do would be to take them at their word and assume that the store has a policy (entirely reasonable, btw) of not selling to people with a history of DV and/or alcohol abuse rather than deciding that they must be lying and invent some other reason, but that's just me.

[Juvenal]

Thank you. The article admitted that the sale was not due to a failed background check. IMO the most straightforward thing to do would be to take them at their word and assume that the store has a policy (entirely reasonable, btw) of not selling to people with a history of DV and/or alcohol abuse rather than deciding that they must be lying and invent some other reason, but that's just me.

It's a free country. You can believe whatever you want to believe. But let's avoid casting one side of a dispute as gospel, even if it means pushing facts contrary to their narrative off the table, and calling that straightforward, mmkay?

Facts you're discounting:

The salesman,

• Who recognized the writer as soon as he saw his name,
• And doesn't read the papers anymore because of writing from folks like him,
• And was looking ahead to a dude, already asking slanted questions, showing up again the next day, with photographer in tow,
• And didn't want to be quoted for the article,

Canceled the gun purchase.

How in hell did I end up as the one defending Steinberg on this one?

God hates me.

You've got to meet this guy to truly understand how easy it is to take an immediate dislike to him strong enough to never want to see him again, and more, given the opportunity, maybe push his face in a tiny bit. So maybe the letter they sent to Steinberg's boss was just a calm, cool explanation of a general policy to exercise an abundance of caution well beyond what's required by law, even if it costs the business cash from the sale and more cash for the man-hours needed to do a web search for priors on every name showing up on a sales invoice.

But I think it's just, more straightforward maybe, to assume otherwise.

Kudos to Maxon for finding a way to raise boot first in a dirty fight.

[demi-conservative]

Now if I were speculating, I'd say they pulled the plug because they didn't much care for handing out rope for their own funeral. You can see what he's done with what he had, and this is pretty typical. He schmoozes up in person and then rips out a new one in print.

Could be true. But anyway good thing they checked!!!

[Sparko]

how did they find out he had a domestic violence charge against him, Jesse?

Did they do a... background check?