Highland Park City Council Votes to Ban Assault Weapons

The Highland Park City Council voted in favor of a ban on assault weapons on Monday night, the Highland Park News reports.

The vote was nearly unanimous. Councilman David Naftzger was the only one to vote against the ordinance, citing the potential high costs in litigation the ban may cause, according to the Highland Park News.

Patch columnist and former City Councilwoman Sally Higginson was one of the 53 residents who spoke on the subject during the two hours of public comment. She argued in favor of the ban.

"The argument that owning an assault weapon leads to greater security is specious," she said. "In fact, owning a weapon in order to use it for self-protection is not self-defense. It is vigilante law enforcement. That makes for entertaining movies and a terrifying reality."

Some Patch readers were not thrilled that the ban was even on the agenda for Monday's meeting.

"The City Council of Highland Park has no authority to modify or rescind the Constitutional rights of residents they are elected to serve," writes Thomas Chamberlin. 

He spoke at Monday's meeting at well, in opposition of the proposed ban.

"It’s totally unnecessary because it addresses a non-existing problem," he said. "When was a resident injured by an 'assault' weapon?"

The debate is the result of  the concealed carry legislation recently passed by the Illinois Legislature. Home rule communities such as Highland Park have to put a ban or other legislation in place within 10 days of Gov. Pat Quinn signing the bill, which has a July 9 deadline. 

The chain of events began in December when the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Illinois' ban on concealed carry weapons violates the Second Amendment, and set a June 9 deadline for the state legislature to craft its own legislation to get in compliance. The General Assembly has done that; now Gov. Quinn must act by July 9. The decision may be the subject of an appeal from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Debi Gordon, a Highland Park resident who did not attend Monday's meeting, emailed the City Council to express her support for the ban.

"Assault style weapons and high capacity magazines are not designed for protection," Gordon said. "They are designed for killing."

Joe Wallace, another Highland Park resident, attended the meeting to argue against the ban. After it passed, he indicated that some opponents were likely to initiate a lawsuit against the city.

"It's going to happen," he said. "And I think it's going to cost the city a lot of money."