No Assault Weapons allowed in Deerfield, IL claimed to be unconstitutional

Klamath Falls, OR—Chicago suburb bans assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Owners of assault weapons living in the northern Chicago suburb of Deerfield have until June 13 to remove the firearms from within village limits or face daily fines after a ban was approved Monday night.

The Village Board of Trustees unanimously approved a ban on certain types of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, amending a 2013 ordinance that regulated the storage of those items. The new ordinance prohibits the possession, sale, and manufacturing of certain types of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines within the village, according to the ordinance. One change from the law as it was originally discussed exempts retired police officers from the ban, according to Village Manager Kent Street.

Violations carry a fine of between $250 and $1,000 per day, according to Matthew Rose, the village attorney. He said the fine is levied each day until there is compliance. Street said the new law is modeled after one approved by Highland Park in 2013. That ban survived a legal challenge by one of the city's residents and the Illinois State Rifle Association. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that legislation constitutional and the U.S. Supreme Court let the decision stand when it declined to take up the appeal.

However, Deerfield trustees did enact an ordinance defining assault weapons and requiring the safe storage and safe transportation of those weapons within the village. That measure, which was enacted during the permitted time frame, preserved Deerfield's right to amend the ordinance in the future, Street previously said.

"This is not only held constitutional by the 7th Circuit but similar laws have been ruled constitutional in California, the District of Columbia and Maryland," Rose said last month. The original resolution said that since Deerfield enacted its regulations, "assault 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."

In the 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.

Of course, the term "assault weapon" is in and of itself highly contentious, and no discussion of such a ban would be complete without some clarification. Since the expiration of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban in 2004, there hasn't been any official definition of the term. It is often dismissed by gun-rights advocates for its imprecision in describing what, exactly, an assault weapon is or isn't.

A common NRA talking point states that an assault weapon should be defined as "any weapon used in an assault," whether it be a gun, a knife, or otherwise. Deerfield's ordinance sets its own extensive definition of the term. In short, its version of an assault weapon is "a semiautomatic rifle that has the capacity to accept a large capacity magazine, detachable or otherwise."

There are other aspects, including rifle additions and types of magazines. As defined by the village, the term also includes semiautomatic pistols, semiautomatic shotguns, conversion kits and "any shotgun with a revolving cylinder."

The ban also provides an open-ended list of firearm models. It includes the AR-15 and its variants, which have been used in an overwhelming number of highly publicized mass shootings -- including February's attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The question is will the U.S. Supreme Court take it up this time or if appealed let it stand like it did in the Highland Park case in 2013?

UPDATE: Federal Judge Upholds Massachusetts’s Assault-Weapons Ban

By James Garland of Tulelake News
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