Let towns pass assault weapons bans

It is time for the Illinois General Assembly to pass Senate Bill 2314, allowing communities to exercise their constitutional rights to ban assault weapons if they so choose. Numerous communities have recently performed legal gymnastics in their efforts to regulate these weapons because of continued state preemption. Since the constitutionality of a local community’s decision to ban assault weapons has already been upheld by the U. S. Supreme Court, the General Assembly should allow municipalities that option.

Five years ago, Highland Park exercised a temporary right to ban assault weapons. Our community supported the ban, the majority of those in opposition were not our residents, and we passed the ordinance. That same opportunity for other cities is long gone, and the General Assembly’s continued prohibition diminishes their rights.

When the constitutionality of our ban was questioned, Judge Easterbrook ( U. S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit) recognized that assault weapons are the weapons of choice for mass violence and justified individual communities banning them in an effort to limit that violence. With the U. S. Supreme Court’s decision to deny hearing our case, our assault weapons ban was allowed to stand, limiting the Second Amendment.

Last month, the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee approved Senate Bill 2314, allowing individual Illinois communities to ban assault weapons if they so choose. The bill now awaits a vote in the Illinois Senate.

Federal or state action is not imminent. As such, we ask the General Assembly to allow locally elected officials to address the unique public safety interests of their individual communities. They may choose to ask the question. They may not. At least allow them the debate, as Highland Park did in 2013. Mayor Nancy Rotering, Highland Park

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