A unanimous vote by village trustees Deerfield, Illinois, this week is primed to turn many legal gun owners into criminals on June 13.
Fines of up to $1,000 per day will face citizens this summer if they ignore a ban on “semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns with certain features.” The vote was held Monday evening after residents on both sides of the issue sounded off.
“There’s going to be lots of talk about Second Amendment rights but I’d be hard-pressed to find any right that is completely unrestricted,” a local woman said in footage aired by a local CBS affiliate reported Tuesday morning.
Law enforcement officials and their retired peers in the Chicago suburb are exempt from the ordinance.
“We have police — yeah, they had them in Florida [during the Parkland shooting], too,” another man said. “Imagine how those teachers and those kids felt as they looked out that window at that cop hiding behind that tree. I bet they wish they had a gun versus a phone in their hand.”
“Deerfield is a very crime free community, and I don’t see how this is going to make it any more crime free,” a third man said.
Reporter Jeremy Ross likened the Deerfield ban to those adopted in nearby Highland Park.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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