While it’s not a complete victory, gun owners in Illinois can breathe a sigh of relief for the time being now that a state circuit court judge has ruled that a proposed local ban on “assault weapons” can’t go into effect.
The village board in Deerfield, a suburb of Chicago, had unanimously approved a local ordinance in April that would have outlawed so-called “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines.” It didn’t take long for those who support gun rights to challenge the law.
“We moved swiftly to challenge this gun ban because it flew in the face of state law,” said Alan Gottleib, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF).
Besides outlawing the possession of many commonly owned semi-automatic firearms, the law called for violators to be fined up to $1,000 per day once they were found to have banned guns.
Guns Save Life quickly filed a lawsuit challenging the law, and the NRA leant its support to the challenge. That was followed by similar action from the SAF and the Illinois State Rifle Association.
Deerfield, which accepted pro bono legal services for the recent hearing, is apparently considering its options now that a judge has ruled against the village. “We will, of course, honor the order issued by the Court and temporarily not enforce the ordinance; but we are certainly going to review all of the options available to the Village, including the right to appeal the decision to the Illinois Appellate Court,” the village board said in a press release.
The hearing was last week, but the ruling was announced earlier this week.
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