Editor’s Note: Gun Pulse, formerly an email newsletter from The Sentinel meant to cover the battle over the Second Amendment in our nation, is now exclusively available on our website.

Two would-be robbers were shot in the West Side of Chicago last month by a garbage truck driver who possessed a concealed carry license, defending himself in an exchange of gunfire.

Police informed local news that the twenty-eight-year-old garbage truck operator was approached by two men who threatened him with a firearm and told him that he would be robbed. That started an exchange of gunfire between the truck driver and the alleged robbers.

One of the suspects, who was forty-two years old, was shot in the head and was pronounced dead on the scene, while the other suspect, who is twenty years old, was shot in the neck.

The latter suspect was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in critical condition. The garbage truck driver was not injured but was nevertheless taken to St. Anthony Hospital for a cautionary evaluation.

Police said there are charges filed against the surviving suspect. The shootout occurred near a high school, but classes were not in session. Police recovered two weapons from the scene.

The garbage truck driver possessed a valid concealed carry license and firearm owner identification card. Critics of such licensure requirements for practicing self-defense under the Second Amendment contend that the rules inhibit the right to keep and bear arms.

Illinois requires that any resident “who acquires or possesses firearms, firearm ammunition, tasers, or stun guns within the state” must maintain a valid firearm owner identification card.

Illinois lawmakers passed a law two years ago which “regulates the sale and distribution of assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and switches,” thereby limiting access to many semiautomatic firearms. The rules on high-capacity magazines forbid residents from buying magazines of more than ten rounds for rifles or more than fifteen rounds for handguns.