Tio Hardiman is executive director of CeaseFire Illinois. According to the anti-gun group’s web site Hardiman “has dedicated his life and career to community organizing for peace and social change. In 1999, Mr. Hardiman joined Cure Violence, an award-winning public health model that has been scientifically proven to reduce shootings and killings. In this capacity, Mr. Hardiman helped oversee expansion of the program from 5 Chicago-based community sites to 26 sites throughout the State of Illinois.” Translation: he’s made a living hoovering up city and state taxpayer funds to push the cause of civilian disarmament. But it looks like all that anti-violence advocacy has been more of a “do as I say, not as I do” kind of thing . . .

According to a report at chicagotribune.com, “Hardiman’s wife came to the Hillside (IL) police station about 8 a.m. today with “signs of injury” and filed a formal complaint against him, according to Police Chief Joseph Lukaszek.” He’s been charged with domestic battery. Hardiman’s simpaticos at the Tribune don’t detail the extent of his wife’s injuries.

So it seems that instead of receiving his public funding directly via check, he may soon be eating and sleeping at the Graybar Hotel courtesy of those very same taxpayers. Once you get on the dole, it can be hard to shake loose.

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40 COMMENTS

  1. If these douchebags want to curb gun violence, why don’t they try working up a program to keep kids out of gangs, or help convicts put their lives together and lower the recidivism rate instead of campaigning to strip people of their civil rights?

    • because it’s always easier to restrict freedoms than it is to actually solve problems.

      that and they’re all a-holes.

    • Because guns, especially black guns with quad rails, cause violence. Magazines that hold 15 round are especially violent, and mags that hold 30 are even more so.

        • …having tired of his controlling ways, and he, being a faithful gun grabbin’ liberal extremist Democrat, did his best to conquer and control her by whatever means necessary…

    • Because it’s far easier to dictate to the law-abiding who are somewhat biased towards co-operation in general than it is to try and dictate to criminals who will tell you to go fark yourself.

    • Actually, that’s a lot of what his “Cure Violence” group does. They may also be anti-gun, but their model has a strong “fix the behavior” element to it, with volunteers and community members trying to step in and help mediate gang beefs.

      It’s not perfect, but it’s one of the only programs of its kind I’m aware of that is actually focusing resources on the root of the problem (the gangbangers themselves), instead of just knee-jerk blaming all guns everywhere anytime anyone is shot *cough*GabbyGiffords*cough*.

      • In Gabby’s defense, she was shot in the head and probably doesn’t yet have quite the full use of her mental faculties.

        • No worries; ole Markie is takin’ care of that for her…with the help of his generous new found friends from Bloombamaville.

  2. Too bad Mrs. Hardiman didn’t have a gun as then it would have been Mr. Hardiman with “signs of injury.”

  3. How do you actually make a living as a violence reducer in an urban area that continuously highlights your ineffectiveness year after year?

    • What better place to hoover up some $$ than the cradle of violence and available crooked.gov funds. A lot of his funds are going back to the politicians providing the “grants”.

      • Isn’t that the point?

        “Hey give me money to help solve this problem”

        Nothing gets done… and people continue to donate with the “hope” (one of the most bankrupt concepts), something will change.

  4. Reminds me of when a family studies guy around here tried to rape his girlfriend’s teenage daughter. He was also a feminist. The kind of male feminist who spends a lot of time telling woman how they should behave and that they’re oppressed if they freely choose to raise their kids.

  5. That’s why he is anti-gun. More of what we’ve come to expect, which is anti-gun types simply projecting their own mental problems onto others. He KNOWS that he cannot handle the responsibility of owning a firearm and is not emotionally or mentally stable enough to be trusted with one. He wants to believe that this is normal and, therefore, tries to push an anti-gun agenda on everybody.

    His lack of self control, lack of emotional stability, and his violent tendencies were clearly proven when he beat his wife. He was right to know that guns are bad… for him.

  6. I’ll preface this with a disclaimer that I’m at work and so don’t have time to extensively research the background on this story, but…

    While I understand the assumption that this guy is a bad actor because anti-violence community activists also tend to be major gun control proponents, isn’t it somewhat hypocritical to call him a socialist teat-sucker if he has actually achieved results in reducing inner-city violence?

    I thought the prevailing editorial opinion at TTAG was that gun-related enforcement should focus on inner-city gun use and violent crime, particularly gang-related crime, and not on the vast majority of lawful gun owners. If this guy and his programs are actually making a difference, isn’t that an effective use of government funds because it directly reduces law enforcement and incarceration costs?

    Yes, if he committed domestic violence against his wife, then he deserves to be prosecuted and convicted. I’m not sure how we get from there to “he’s a filthy socialist money-grubber and his wife should have shot him” without consider whether his work has, in fact, resulted in inner-city/gang crime rates.

    • Wow!

      This is going to be one of those special interest things where it is the “Cops” are fabricating the whole thing with trumped up charges of a “Good Black Man”…

      Kinda like OJ was…?

      Oh wait, isn’t he behind bars after comitting (more than likely) over three felonies?

    • According to SecondCityCop, Mr. Hardiman didn’t care for the requirement that his staff notify police of brewing violence: “We are not going to be informants or snitches for nobody,” Hardiman said when asked about it Tuesday.

      That’s all I need to see to know that these guys aren’t legit. A legitimate anti-violence organization would find a way to prevent gang violence, not adopt the ethos of the streets.

      Funding an organization of “ex” gangbangers with a million-dollar grant is obscene, especially in an era when qualified experts in social work are available.

    • Maybe she didn’t agree with civilian disarmament. He sure showed her to peace and social change. Leading by example.

  11. This illustrates that “projection” dynamic that we gun rights proponents have long claimed. Tio Hardiman knew he would “lose control” at some point (and did) and assumes that everyone is the same as him so he doesn’t want anyone to be armed … because everyone will lose control and kill someone if they are armed.

    Fortunately, most people are not like him. Even more importantly, only a handful of armed citizens “lose control” and commit their first violent crime with their firearm in any given year.

  12. Another Obama wanna be, he’ll get a slap on the wrist, and a promotion.
    But I think he wants America disarmed so as to more easily beat up it’s citizens

  13. To be fair, maybe the bitch didn’t shut up.

    Still, seems to me yet another grabber motivated by projection..

  16. I love the smell of liberal hypocrisy in the morning …

    Current emotion: Schadenfreude.

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