Mayor Daley got some bad press last week after he threatened to sodomize a Chicago Reader reporter with a rifle. The comment was in response to a question about how effective the city's handgun ban has been, but it apparently offended more than just the reporter.
Christopher Traynor Fox, 39, of San Jose, was arrested Thursday night after allegedly leaving a threatening telephone message against Mayor Richard Daley, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Fox is being held without bail at Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of making telephone threats against a public official, the paper reports.
Fox's mother reportedly told WGN that she thinks the threat was related to Daley's gun control remarks last week.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to overturn Chicago's handgun ban with a ruling in McDonald v. Chicago in June. Daley told reporters last week that he hoped the court would vote to uphold the ban, then Reader reporter Mick Dumke asked: if the handgun ban is so valuable, why is the city is suffering from an epidemic of gun violence?
Daley then walked over to a table of weapons, picked up a rifle with a long bayonet and said, "It's been very effective...If I put this up your -- your butt, you'll find out how effective it is. If we put a round up your..."
Daley laughed off the comment, but the episode made national news--and apparently caught Fox's eye in California.
Further information about Fox's threat was not immediately available.