A longtime Chicago alderman and staunch gun-control advocate who was arrested on federal corruption charges stemming from an attempt to use his position to extort a company hoping to renovate a fast food restaurant in his ward was found to have 23 firearms in his offices, according to a local CBS affiliate.

Edward Burke, who has for decades been one of the city's most powerful and most notoriously corrupt officials, reportedly relied on a city ordinance stemming from the 1870s that designated all Aldermen as "peace officers" allowing them to carry and store weapons in their offices and city buildings - where even those with a concealed carry permit are not allowed to carry them.

According to CBS, federal prosecutors didn't reveal whether the guns found in November were hidden at Burke’s ward office or at his office in City Hall, but, as they pointed out "it’s hard to miss the irony of a staunch gun control advocate having to turn over 23 guns as a condition of his bond."

From banning cellphone cases shaped like guns to supporting laws that ban concealed weapons in places that serve alcohol, Burke has a record as a staunch gun control supporter.

From outlawing cell phone cases shaped like guns to bans on concealed weapons in places that serve alcohol and broadening the gun offender registry in Chicago, Ald. Ed Burke’s aldermanic record has defined him as an ardent supporter of gun control. That’s why many people did a double take when federal prosecutors announced that investigators had found nearly two dozen guns not in his home but in his offices. And a sources tells CBS 2 the weapons were at least at one time on display in cases at his office at City Hall.

Public records show that Burke, a former cop, has been a licensed private detective and a licensed private security contractors since the 1980s. He carries a valid "Firearms Control Card".

A federal criminal complaint unsealed last week charged Burke with attempted extortion for allegedly using his position as alderman to direct business to his private law firm from a company seeking to renovate a fast-food restaurant in his ward.

If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.