Winnetka repeals handgun ban
November 19, 2008 at 7:25 AM | Comments (7)
Winnetka Village Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to repeal the suburb's 20-year-old ban on possessing handguns but kept intact other portions of its ordinance regulating firearm use, council President Edmund Woodbury said this morning.
The action followed a recent Supreme Court decision and the filing of a lawsuit by the National Rifle Association and three village residents who asserted the ban violated their 2nd Amendment rights.
"The council voted unanimously to repeal the sections in our ordinance that had been the subject of the lawsuit by the NRA," Woodbury said.
"The village has a significant financial risk in keeping the ban in place, and given that, we felt it best to allow the national debate on this subject is settled."
Council members said they feared if they didn't repeal portions of the ordinance, it would cost the suburb thousands of dollars to fight the suit with the real risk of still losing in court.
About 20 people residents spoke for and against repealing the ban on handgun possession Tuesday, Woodbury said.
Village officials established the ban shortly after a mentally ill woman, Laurie Dann, shot to death one child and injured five others at Hubbard Woods Elementary School in 1988.
In the Chicago area, five suburbs-including Wilmette, Evanston, Morton Grove and Oak Park-had gun bans at the time of the Supreme Court ruling and have now taken similar measures to repeal them.
--Lisa Black
