According to a news release issued by the Village, as well as a number of news articles, a Lake County Circuit Court judge ruled that the Village of Deerfield cannot enforce its ordinance banning assault weapons that it passed in 2018. We wrote about that ordinance, and the court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order against enforcement of that ordinance, here.
In passing the 2018 ordinance, the Village relied on authority granted by the Illinois legislature in 2013 when the state enacted legislation restricting municipal regulation of assault weapons. That legislation did, however, provide a 10 day “window” for municipalities to adopt an ordinance. Deerfield did, in fact, adopt an ordinance within the 10 day time-frame to define and regulate assault weapons but did not ban these weapons until 2018. The Village was sued, and argued, among other things, that it simply amended the ordinance it previously enacted in 2013, as authorized by state statute. The Lake County Circuit Court Judge, however, ruled that the Village did not have the authority to ban assault weapons and, therefore, its ban was unenforceable.
This case will likely be appealed, and we will keep you posted.