March
1 , 2005--The president of the Springfield, IL chapter of the
Illinois chapter of the Million Mom March was arrested last week
on gun and drug charges.
Annette "Flirty" Stevens' home
was searched by Springfield police and agents of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who were conducting
an investigation into a recent series of drive-by shootings in
the area.
Authorities discovered drugs in the home.
They also found a handgun with the serial number scratched off,
which constitutes a federal felony.
Police said that Stevens has a "close
connection" with one of the gangs involved in the shootings.
Ms. Stevens protested the search of her
home, saying that it was illegal, and that the police wrongly
believe that she is the ringleader of the shootings.
"This is a blatant attempt to try
and undermine me," she said. "... They can't solve these
crimes, and I'm familiar with these individuals, so they're going
after me because I socialize with all of them."
She further said that she kept the gun
in a drawer after her son was murdered in July of 2002. It was
that murder that prompted her to become an activist with the Million
Mom March organization, said another member of the group.
Stevens has not been formally charged,
although she faces possible charges of defacing the serial number
of a gun, delivery of a controlled substance, and not having a
valid Illinois Firearms Owner Identification (FOID) card.
This is not the first embarassment for
the Million Mom March. In January of 2000, one of the organizers
of the Washington D.C. chapter shot and paralyzed a man whom she
wrongly believed had killed her son. When police searched her
home, they found three handguns and a Tec-9 "assault weapon."
She received a life sentence on nine charges, including illegal
possession of a firearm (guns are, for all intents and purposes,
illegal to own in D.C.).
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