BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today is calling on the Chicago Archdiocese to conduct a full, impartial and public investigation into whether anti-gun Father Michael Pfleger employs armed security, following the arrest of a man outside of the cleric’s church more than a week ago.
“The man arrested outside Pfleger’s St. Sabina church was carrying a firearm with an expired Firearm Owner’s Identification card, which gun owners must have in Illinois,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “A church spokesperson has said the man is not a ‘bodyguard’ for the outspoken Catholic priest. Well, we want to know exactly what he was doing outside that church, with a firearm, since he’s been described as Pfleger’s security and has apparently been with Pfleger at several community events.
“If Pfleger has an armed bodyguard while he travels around pushing to disarm everyone else,” Gottlieb added, “then he is a hypocrite of the highest order. Somebody should remind Pfleger that it is a sin to lie.”
According to at least two published reports, a man identified as Henry Eugene Hale was arrested outside Pfleger’s church on May 28. Reports said his FOID card expired in December, but that he is licensed to work as a security guard in Illinois. Following the arrest, Hale was reportedly released on $150 bail. Four years ago, Pfleger drew criticism for allegedly having three armed guards at a gun control rally, and he also said at one rally that the owner of a local gun shop should be snuffed.
“It is bad enough for a priest to publicly demonstrate against the exercise of a God-given right to self-protection,” Gottlieb said, “but when he apparently does so under the full protection of armed guards, that’s deserving of an investigation. Frankly, our members are tired of the hypocrisy from anti-gunners who toil to disarm everyone else. The public should know if Pfleger has armed bodyguards, who hired them and who is paying them.
“It’s time for the Archdiocese to investigate,” he stated. “Pfleger has become an embarrassment to the church, and something of a false prophet for gun control extremism.
“If Pfleger wants to be a political activist,” Gottlieb concluded, “he should turn in his collar and vestments, and get out of the pulpit and stand on a soapbox. If it’s true that he has armed security, then he needs to practice what he preaches.”