Lawsuit challenges Deerfield’s assault weapons ban: ‘It flies in the face of state law’ – By Karen Berkowitz (Pioneer Press) / April 5 2018
A Deerfield resident and two gun owners advocacy groups filed suit Thursday against the village of Deerfield, saying the municipality does not have the authority to ban assault weapons under a 2013 state law.
The suit was filed three days after the Deerfield Village Board of Trustees on Monday unanimously outlawed the possession, sale and manufacturing of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines within the village
The suit filed in Lake County Circuit Court says the village’s ordinance was not enacted within a 10-day window that the Illinois legislature provided municipalities in 2013 before the Illinois Concealed Carry Act eliminated their ability to do so.
Deerfield officials have characterized their ban as an amendment to a 2013 ordinance that defined assault weapons and required safe storage and transportation of those weapons within the village. It is set to go into effect June 13, according to the ordinance.
They claim that by enacting the ordinance within the allowed time frame, they preserved their right to amend the ordinance in the future.
Joining Deerfield resident Daniel Easterday and the Illinois State Rifle Association in the lawsuit is the Second Amendment Foundation based in Bellevue, Wash., which says its membership includes Deerfield residents.
“We moved swiftly to challenge this gun ban because it flies in the face of state law,” said Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation in a statement. “While the village is trying to disguise this as an amendment to an existing ordinance, it is, in fact, a new law that entirely bans possession of legally-owned, semi-automatic firearms, with no exception for guns previously owned, or any provision for self-defense.”
Rose declined comment on behalf of the village of Deerfield and said a statement would be released Thursday evening or Friday morning.
Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, said Deerfield chose not to prohibit assault weapons during the 10-day period afforded by the Illinois legislature.
“They are doing it years later and we feel that is in violation of the law,” Pearson said.
He added that the group also believes the ordinance violates the Second Amendment. Pearson said the organization is prepared to fight the ordinance at all levels of the judicial process.
The suit says that Easterday owns several firearms that would be considered “assault weapons” under the Deerfield ordinance for the protection of himself and his family, as well as for target shooting.
The suit says that because of the ordinance, members of the Illinois State Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation who would possess assault weapons and large capacity magazines for self defense would refrain from doing so because of the penalties in the ordinance and the requirements the weapons be confiscated or destroyed.
The city of Highland Park, which is adjacent to the village of Deerfield, enacted a ban on assault weapons in 2013 before Illinois law was amended to say that “regulation of the possession or ownership of assault weapons are exclusive powers and functions of the state.”
Months later, the city of Highland Park was sued by the Illinois State Rifle Association on behalf of a local gun owner on the grounds the ban infringed on his Second Amendment rights.
The suit was filed just days before owners of assault weapons were required to turn in, or render inoperable any firearms and ammunition magazines outlawed under the ordinance.
The Highland Park ordinance was upheld both by a U.S. District Court judge and, in a split 2-1 decision, by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Though the National Rifle Association appealed the Seventh Circuit ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015, the high court declined to take up the case, allowing the appellate court ruling to stand.
Easterday, the Deerfield resident named in the complaint, has previously spoken at village board meetings about his opposition to the ban. On March 19, he told village officials that he moved to Deerfield from Highland Park after that city banned assault weapons in an effort to avoid having to put his semiautomatic rifles in storage.
Easterday suggested the ordinance should exempt holders of a concealed carry permit. He said obtaining his Firearm Owners Identification card requires stringent background checks and people with a concealed carry permit have even more restrictions.
“We are literally the safest members of your community,” Easterday said last month. “I’ve gone above and beyond the FOID system of training and background checks.”
In the Deerfield ordinance, the definition of an assault weapon includes, among others, semiautomatic rifles that have a fixed magazine with a capacity to accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition; shotguns with a revolving cylinder; and semiautomatic pistols and rifles that can accept large-capacity magazines and possess one of a list of other features. Among the dozens of specific models cited are the AR-15, AK-47 and Uzi, according to the ordinance.
Deerfield Mayor Harriet Rosenthal has previously stated that she decided to take up the ban after the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Fla.
“Enough is enough,” Rosenthal said when the ban was first discussed. “Those students are so articulate just like our students. There is no place here for assault weapons.”
