Deerfield Pulls Back on Assault Weapon Ban

By Daniel I. Dorfman

The Deerfield Village Board stepped back from a discussed assault weapons ban Monday, instead moving forward with a proposal that stated “assault weapons should be subject to safe storage and security requirements.”

The measure was brought to the public Monday night and the ordinance, which may get further tweaking, is now scheduled to be voted on at the next village board meeting on July 1.

Mayor Harriett Rosenthal, who had said at a previous meeting in June that she was for an assault weapons ban, instead had the scaled back proposal in front of the village board Monday night.

“We felt at this time that was the best thing we could do for our residents,” she said.

The village is contemplating such a move because of the concealed carry legislation recently passed by the Illinois Legislature. Home rule communities such as Deerfield have to put a ban or other legislation in place within 10 days of Gov. Pat Quinn signing the bill, which has a July 9 deadline. 

The chain of events began in December when the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Illinois' ban on concealed carry weapons violates the Second Amendment, and set a June 9 deadline for the state legislature to craft its own legislation to get in compliance. The General Assembly has done that; now Gov. Quinn must act by July 9. The decision may be the subject of an appeal from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

As for the ordinance discussed in Deerfield, the proposal listed definitions of what are assault weapons such as “a semiautomatic rifle that has a fixed magazine that has the capacity to accept more than ten rounds of ammunition.” The ordinance lists specific many types of guns as weapons including an AK-47 and the Bushmaster XM-15.

“If you have one of the weapons that is listed in the ordinance it must be kept in a safe way. It must be locked or disabled and the same when you carry it out of your home,” Rosenthal said.

As for how such an ordinance would be enforced, Rosenthal noted, “We would have to have reason to believe there is a problem and come in and inspect it.”

A  near capacity crowd showed up at the village hall Monday night, most of whom announced their displeasure with the idea. They feared this was the beginning of an effort to limit individual rights to own a gun.

“It’s clearly a prelude to a ban in the future,” said resident Larry Nordal, who said he has a number of guns at home. “This is not a gun safety ordinance. The guns named in here are the guns they plan on banning in the future. If it was a gun safety ordinance, they would simply name all guns. There is no need to name specific firearms in a safety ordinance.”

If an individual is found guilty of violating the proposed ordinance he or she shall be fined no less than $250 and no more than $1,000.