Anti-Gun Group to Protest Opening of Portillo's in Deerfield

DEERFIELD, IL - A North Shore-based anti-gun group plans to protest the opening of the new Portillo's restaurant in Deerfield.

Peaceful Communities, a group that includes several north suburban residents against gun violence, will gather outside the new restaurant at 700 W. Lake Cook Road at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15.

"Twenty-three years ago, seven employees of Brown's Chicken in Palatine were shot to death at work. The owner of the restaurant chain, Frank Portillo, became a spokesman for protecting employees and customers from gun violence at restaurants and stores," said Lee Goodman, an organizer of the protest. "Tuesday, Portillo's is opening a new restaurant in Deerfield, only 12 miles away from where the massacre took place. Dick Portillo, the founder of the Portillo's restaurant chain and the brother of Frank Portillo, will be on hand to welcome crowds."

But Goodman says the management of the Portillo's chain has refused to even talk with members of the community about their desire to have guns banned at the restaurants. Portillo's lets people carry guns at its restaurants even though Illinois law allows the restaurant chain to post signs banning guns."

The protest is one in the group's “Shop Safer” campaign that aims to let consumers know which businesses "provide a safer shopping and dining environment" by banning guns.

Also on Patch: The Brown's Chicken Massacre Remembered 23 Years Later

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