Deerfield Moves Forward With Assault Weapons Ban

DEERFIELD, IL — Deerfield is on track to ban assault weapons, as trustees voted unanimously Monday to accept a report and recommendation from village staff and the village attorney to amend its existing ordinance regulating and defining the class of firearms. Deerfield Mayor Harriet Rosenthal called for the report last month in response to the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The change to the ordinance is modeled on Highland Park's assault weapons ban and is set for first reading at the Deerfield Village Board's March 19 meeting.

Local elected officials and high school students praised trustees for moving forward with the ban, which is on track for final passage April 2. Owners of assault weapons would then have 60 days – potentially until May 27 – to move them out of village limits, transfer ownership to a resident of another town, or to turn over their weapons or ammunition to police. Violators would be fined $250 to $1,000 per offense.

"It is absolutely critical that we react to what has happened finally," said state Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield). "It is time to do it. The State of Illinois finally has developed some courage and is moving forward."

Morrison mentioned the senate passage of a bill she sponsored to create a new class of orders of protection allowing family members and law enforcement to get a court to take guns from people determined to be a threat to themselves or others. The Illinois General Assembly also sent a gun dealer licensing bill to the governor's desk last week.

Some local gun owners spoke in opposition to the proposal. One said he would be forced to cancel a $70,000 addition to his house and move again, having already moved out of Highland Park to avoid its weapon ban.

Mitchell Shore said he is a state-certified law enforcement instructor who has trained more than 1,000 police in the use of the AR-15. He argued that there are plenty of gun laws on the books already, but they just need to be enforced more effectively.

"Now that I'm retired, if you pass this ordinance I am now a criminal in the village's eyes," he said. "My over 20 years of law enforcement service mean nothing, and now I have to move or stay and break the law."

Several Deerfield High School students spoke in favor of the ban. They acknowledged it was an incremental move and emphasized it is important to continue toughening gun laws.

"The fact is the second that we have kids congregating in a public school, a place of peace and education, public learning, and saying that they're scared, that constitutes a problem. That's the facts. The fact is that this is our life," said 18-year-old senior Ariella Kharasch, in an impassioned and extemporaneous address. "And the fact is that Deerfield had an opportunity to do something sooner and they didn't."

She said it doesn't matter that shootings with assault weapons are exceedingly rare, or that far more people die in car crashes.

"Just because it happens less does not mean our lives are worth less," she said. "Please don't put a number on our heads. Because we're not money, we're kids, and one day we are going to be the future, but only if you let us."

Not every Illinois municipality has the option to restrict assault weapons.

After the state's ban on carrying concealed firearms was found to be unconstitutional, Illinois lawmakers gave local governments 10 days in 2013 to pass stricter gun laws that the state's concealed carry act before it took effect.

Highland Park choose to completely ban assault-style weapons. Deerfield did not.

Instead, on July 1, 2013, the village passed an ordinance (0-13-24) that defined assault weapons and added restrictions on their transportation and storage. Trustees are now considering an amendment to that ordinance.

Highland Park ended up getting sued on behalf of a local gun owner who had been affected by the ordinance. In 2015, it was upheld in federal court after the Supreme Court declined to take up a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals 2-1 decision.

Affirming the town's ban, Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook said that while there are some constitutional limits on firearm restrictions, there's still room for state and local government experimentation.

"If a ban on semi-automatic guns and large-capacity magazines reduces the perceived risk from a mass shooting, and makes the public feel safer as a result, that’s a substantial benefit," he wrote.

The proposed ordinance – as recommended by Deerfield village staff in the report accepted by trustees at the March 5 meeting – cites mass shootings that have taken place since the 2013 ordinance as part of the reasoning for enacting the total ban.

It also suggests that the ban may deter or prevent a mass shooting incident, increase the public's sense of safety and send the message that assault weapons have no role in Deerfield:

[A]ssault weapons have been increasingly used in an alarming number of notorious mass shooting incidents at public schools, public venues, places of worship and places of public accommodation including, but not limited to, the recent mass shooting incidents in Parkland, Florida (Margery Stoneman Douglas High School; 17 people killed), Sutherland Springs, Texas (First Baptist Church; 26 people killed), Las Vegas, Nevada (Music Festival; 58 people killed), and Orlando, Florida (Pulse Nightclub; 49 people killed)....assault weapons are dangerous and unusual weapons which are commonly associated with military or antipersonnel use, capable of a rapid rate of fire, have the capacity to fire a large number of rounds due to large capacity fixed magazines or the ability to use detachable magazines, present unique dangers to law enforcement, and are easily customizable to become even more dangerous weapons of mass casualties and destruction;

[T]he corporate authorities of the Village of Deerfield find that amending Village of Deerfield Ordinance No. 0-13-24 (July 1, 2013) to prohibit the possession, manufacture and sale of assault weapons in the Village of Deerfield may increase the public’s sense of safety at the public schools, public venues, places of worship and places of public accommodation located in the Village of Deerfield; and....may increase the public’s sense of safety by deterring and preventing a mass shooting incident in the Village of Deerfield, notwithstanding potential objections regarding the availability of alternative weaponry or the enforceability of such a ban; and...may increase the public’s sense of safety by effecting a cultural change which communicates the normative value that assault weapons should have no role or purpose in civil society in the Village of Deerfield; and... the possession, manufacture and sale of assault weapons in the Village of Deerfield is not reasonably necessary to protect an individual’s right of self-defense or the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia;

» Watch the complete discussion from the Village of Deerfield