Blue State Graft Watch: Anti Gun Illinois State Senator Caught Trying to Board Plane With Pistol, Live Ammunition at O'Hare

I'm not sure if I could call this graft or just plain stupidity- or a combination of the two.

The Noisy Cricket, resplendent in all its .25 cal glory

An Illinois State Senator is free on $25,000 bail after his arrest at Chicago's O'Hare airport for attempting to bring a pistol and live ammunition on board a plane on Wednesday.

Donne Trotter, a 62 year old Chicago Democrat, claimed it was an innocent mistake and that he forgot to unload he pistol and magazine with live rounds from a garment bag after reportedly finishing up a shift as a security guard.

Curiously, few people were even aware that Trotter worked a second job as a securty guard or owned a gun until this week's arrest.

It all started on Wednesday morning at O'Hare, when Transportation Security Administration officers say they spotted a gun in Trotter's carry-on bag. [Trotter] said he forgot it was in his bag from the night before, when he told authorities that he had worked a security guard shift for a South Side company.

According to state records, All Points Security and Detective Company currently has more than 50 employees licensed under it to work as armed guards, among them Donne Trotter.

Although many of the state licensees on this list appear to have law enforcement backgrounds, Trotter is not known for that. His bio and campaign disclosures do not list his employment as a security guard, and he has declined to answer any questions about the matter.

All Points has not responded to questions either and has offered no explanation, context or proof of Senator Trotter's actual employment.

Public records reveal the firm has had government contracts, including a $5 million deal to provide armed escorts for CTA cash collections.

The gun was identified as a .25 cal Beretta- a much more compact, small caliber pistol from the manufacturer of the military's M9 9mm sidearm [Just an observation on my part, but unless that was some sort of 'backup' piece, a .25 cal pistol is woefully underpowered for security or protective work of any kind- NANESB!]. During the bail hearing, prosecutors said that although Trotter had an Illinois state Firearms Owner Identification Card for the gun, the Beretta was not registered with the city of Chicago as required by municipal ordinance. The city of Chicago has among the strictest gun control laws in the nation for decades, but that has done nothing to stem the skyrocketing murder rate in the Windy City.

Trotter, who has been in office since 1988, voted against a measure that would allow Illinois residents to carry concealed weapons in 1995 and voted in favor of a ban on high capacity magazines in 2007.

At the end of November, Trotter joined a crowded field of candidates when he announced he would be running for Congress to replace Jesse Jackson Jr, who had announced his resignation amid a federal misconduct probe and after a months-long absence from Congress after checking himself into the Mayo clinic.