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Evanston amends its gun-ban law
By Brian Cox and Deborah Horan | Chicago Chicago Tribune
August 12, 2008
Following on the heels of a Supreme Court decision that held that a blanket ban on handguns violated 2nd Amendment rights, Evanston's City Council voted 7-1 Monday night to amend the North Shore suburb's weapons ordinance to conform to the landmark court ruling.
Council members believe the move will allow the city to avoid a potential court challenge.
"I find the Supreme Court decision repugnant," said Ald. Steve Bernstein (4th). "But because of it, it's the law. In the short term, we'll be better off getting [the ordinance] off the books."
Evanston's handgun law, one of the more progressive in the country, had banned not just handguns but any device that "is designed to expel a projectile," including BB guns and paintball guns with projectiles larger than .18-inches in diameter. Items such as collectors' guns were exempt from the ban.
City Council members said Monday they saw no alternative but to amend Evanston's law to bring it into line with the high-court ruling.
Wilmette and Morton Grove, which passed the nation's first gun-ban laws, have already modified their ordinances in light of the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling on June 26, and other towns are likely to follow suit, legal experts said. Washington, D.C., whose 32-year ban on owning handguns was struck down, has passed a new ordinance that requires gun owners to take tests and keep the weapon unloaded and either disassembled or locked.
Evanston's move to amend the law came after the National Rifle Association filed lawsuits against it, Morton Grove, Oak Park and Chicago immediately after the high court's ruling. Wilmette was not named in the lawsuit, apparently because city officials had already taken steps to suspend enforcement of its ban, city officials said.
In its opinion striking down the gun ban in Washington, the Supreme Court left municipalities some wiggle room, declaring gun-control measures permissible when they include restrictions that do not unduly infringe on gun ownership.
The opinion's author, Justice Antonin Scalia, also said in the high court's majority opinion that the ruling should not "cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings."
Deborah Horan is a Tribune staff reporter; Brian Cox is a freelance reporter.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-evanston-gunaug12,0,7386423.story
By Brian Cox and Deborah Horan | Chicago Chicago Tribune
August 12, 2008
Following on the heels of a Supreme Court decision that held that a blanket ban on handguns violated 2nd Amendment rights, Evanston's City Council voted 7-1 Monday night to amend the North Shore suburb's weapons ordinance to conform to the landmark court ruling.
Council members believe the move will allow the city to avoid a potential court challenge.
"I find the Supreme Court decision repugnant," said Ald. Steve Bernstein (4th). "But because of it, it's the law. In the short term, we'll be better off getting [the ordinance] off the books."
Evanston's handgun law, one of the more progressive in the country, had banned not just handguns but any device that "is designed to expel a projectile," including BB guns and paintball guns with projectiles larger than .18-inches in diameter. Items such as collectors' guns were exempt from the ban.
City Council members said Monday they saw no alternative but to amend Evanston's law to bring it into line with the high-court ruling.
Wilmette and Morton Grove, which passed the nation's first gun-ban laws, have already modified their ordinances in light of the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling on June 26, and other towns are likely to follow suit, legal experts said. Washington, D.C., whose 32-year ban on owning handguns was struck down, has passed a new ordinance that requires gun owners to take tests and keep the weapon unloaded and either disassembled or locked.
Evanston's move to amend the law came after the National Rifle Association filed lawsuits against it, Morton Grove, Oak Park and Chicago immediately after the high court's ruling. Wilmette was not named in the lawsuit, apparently because city officials had already taken steps to suspend enforcement of its ban, city officials said.
In its opinion striking down the gun ban in Washington, the Supreme Court left municipalities some wiggle room, declaring gun-control measures permissible when they include restrictions that do not unduly infringe on gun ownership.
The opinion's author, Justice Antonin Scalia, also said in the high court's majority opinion that the ruling should not "cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings."
Deborah Horan is a Tribune staff reporter; Brian Cox is a freelance reporter.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-evanston-gunaug12,0,7386423.story
