Well, I was up early at 4:00 am this morning since I couldn't sleep again due to the anxiety of this situation. But, I feel better after reading your replies since it gives me hope, although my hands are shaking right now since I'm so livid. Reading all this reminds me of what I have yet to deal with.
I briefly spoke with one of the lawyers and he referred me to an associate of his at a different firm who deals with this sort of thing. I happened to mention these forums and he recommended that if I am to discuss this at all, I shouldn't give any specifics or names just yet for my own protection and for those involved. Sound advice I guess. Unfortunately, this other lawyer is out until sometime next week due to the holidays.
I should have mentioned that this did NOT take place within the city of Chicago. It was an outlying suburb a good distance outside the city, but I don't want to give the exact name and location per advice from the lawyer. Pretty sure the PS90 is not illegal since the gun shop that sold it to me had three of them on display and also sold the 50 round mags. They are in IL about 10 miles from the range. I trust those guys since they've been in business forever and know what they're doing and wouldn't sell something illegal. I also couldn't find anything anywhere that states the PS90 is illegal in IL, as long as it has the 16 inch barrel and can't fire full auto.
For those who are unfamiliar with the FOID card. It's a card you must obtain from the State Police before you are allowed to own or purchase a firearm. I believe it can by taken away at any time at police discretion. As far as I know, there is no gun registration associated with the card. We don't have gun registration in IL except in Chicago. I think the only way the government can know which guns I own is to check the records of the gun stores I purchased from.
As for the encounter, I was mostly polite and civil with the possible exception of me raising my voice a bit to try and speak. You see, every time I'd try to speak, the belligerent cop would immediately talk over me and begin shouting. I couldn't get a word in and trying to have a conversation with this guy was pointless. Now that I look back on the situation, I believe he was trying to intimidate me, but it wasn't working. When I wouldn't submit, he got even more loud and angry. When I turned to leave, he thought it was a direct assault on his authority and he snapped, then in a fit of rage, tried to tackle me. It seemed that they were determined to search my bags no matter what and they weren't going to let me leave until that was done.
As for your advice about asking "am I free to leave", I didn't do that unfortunately, even though I know that's what I should've done. I just turned and left, or at least tried to leave. They never said I was being detained. I guess I shouldn't have thrown the 4th amendment out there either since it only added fuel to the situation, but I really wanted to let them know that I understood what my rights were under the law. But why should I fear the police? That's just not right. What have we become as a nation when citizens fear their own citizen police force? Now more than ever, I really believe it's imperative we have a citizen oversight committee that monitors the police.
The threat they made about coming to my house and confiscating all my guns has me worried and I'm taking it seriously. Later today, a family member of mine is stopping by to pick up most of my guns and ammo and will store them at his house for safe keeping. The only thing I'm hanging on to is my M&P15, five full mags and 500 rounds of .223. I keep thinking about whether I will need to use the M&P15 if they bust down my door. I would assume they'd have some kind of warrant before they attempted that, but you never know these days.
Again, thanks for your support. You guys have been my anchor to sanity during this craziness.
