Jackson faces jury trial after arrest over gun shop demonstration [View All]

[billbuckhead]

Source: Chicago Tribune

By MICHAEL TARM | Associated Press Writer
6:55 PM CDT, August 6, 2007

MARKHAM, Ill. - It's familiar territory for the Rev. Jesse Jackson: Facing legal trouble for his activist politics. This time it's for protesting gun sales he says provide Chicago gang members and criminals easy access to firearms, with deadly consequences.

Jackson, 65, has been arrested about 15 times during his career as a civil rights leader, dating back to the 1960s when he worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr., said spokeswoman Rashida Restaino.

On Monday, a relaxed-looking Jackson stood in a light pinstriped suit and asked a judge for a jury trial on misdemeanor trespassing charges stemming from his June arrest outside a gun shop where he was demonstrating in support of tougher gun laws.

Prompted by the shooting deaths of nearly three dozen public school students in Chicago during the last year, Jackson and the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a South Side Catholic priest, have held several protests at Chuck's Gun Shop in south suburban Riverdale.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-ap-il-jackson-guns,1,3393195.story?track=rss&ctrack=1&cset=true

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Kudos to Jesse Jackson for standing up to these lowlifes. Where's Illinois favorite son Barack Obama on this?