Highland Park City Council Demands State, Federal Assault Weapons Bans

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — The Highland Park City Council unanimously approved a resolution calling for new state and federal gun laws, including a ban on weapons like the one used to massacre paradegoers last month.

Monday's vote came six weeks after seven people were killed and at least four dozen others were wounded when shooter on a rooftop opened fire paradegoers at the city's first Independence Day parade in three years.

Authorities said the 21-year-old gunman was armed with a legally purchased AR-15 style assault weapon and 30-round magazines.

The possession of such high-powered rifles in Highland park has violated local ordinance for 2013, nearly a decade after a federal ban was allowed to expire. Since then, at least 10 people have been issued non-traffic citations for the offense, according to public records obtained by Patch.

"We knew that a federal ban would be the most effective, but a local ban, reflecting the values of this community, was the only option available to us under the law," Rotering said Monday. "Nothing has changed. We need help from all levels of government, and we need to pursue all options."

Mass shootings are a uniquely American problem, the mayor said.

"No community is safe until broader action is taken. The resolution we are considering supports both state and federal laws that ban assault weapons and large-capacity magazines," she said. "It reflects the values of our community and sends a clear message that state and federal action is critical to reducing the likelihood of additional mass shootings. No city, town, or village should have to endure the devastation and trauma of a mass shooting."

Earlier this month, Rotering spoke to the Lake County Board to speak in favor of a resolution lending the board's support to new firearm regulations.

County commissioners voted 16-5 at their Aug. 9 meeting in support of state or federal legislation that bans the possession or purchase or "assault rifles," requires safe firearm storage, reforms the process for Firearm Owners Identification cards and requires training related to the sale or possession of guns.

On Monday, Rotering said she was also looking forward to see the results from a recently announced working group chaired by State Rep. Bob Morgan. The group of Illinois House Democrats has been tasked with coming up with legislative proposals for firearm safety and reform.

"Working together we will pursue legislative initiatives with other governing bodies, because we know that a single city, county or state cannot protect its residents from this violence," Rotering said. "They're not islands, and we are only as safe as what is permitted by the gun laws nearby."

Several residents spoke in favor of the resolution prior to the vote.

Judy Miller, a member of the leadership team of the Highland Park-Highwood League of Women Voters, said gun violence prevention is a nonpartisan issue and encouraged voters to learn every candidate's firearm policy positions.

"The right of people to gather in freedom is one of the self-evident truths upon which our country was established, and yet the carnage and terror that repeatedly descends on our communities has become our country's truth," Miller said. "This is not acceptable. In the land of the free, every community must be free from the reality of gun violence. We call on all our elected officials to do much more to stop the ongoing national nightmare of gun violence."

Rachel Jacoby, a Highland Park resident and graduate student, said she has been preparing to live through a mass shooting her entire life.

"It wasn't a question of if I would be affected by a mass shooting, but when," Jacoby said. "I'm Gen Z, and we're often called the 'mass shooting generation,' and although young people and all Americans have come to accept mass shootings, we refuse to accept them because this isn't normal."

Eight states and the District of Columbia have implemented bans on assault weapons, and the "majority of Americans support a federal ban on assault weapons and large capacity magazines," according to the resolution.

"[O]ur community is not alone in being forced to respond to and undertake the difficult process of recovery from the loss and trauma resulting from gun violence," it said. "[And] the United States Congress and the Illinois General Assembly must stop this threat to our American freedom and take immediate action to ban assault weapons and large-capacity magazines so that they cannot be used by civilians on our streets, in our markets, in our houses of worship, in our schools, at our parades, or anywhere in our daily lives regardless of location."

The U.S. House of Representatives last month passed legislation banning assault-style weapons. Passage in the Senate, which would require the support of 10 Republicans, is not considered realistic, considering the ban lacks the support of all 50 Democratic Senators.

In the Illinois House, a proposed assault weapons ban has nearly enough co-sponsors to assure its passage. A Senate version of the bill is still more than dozen co-sponsors short. Illinois Democrats hold supermajorities in both legislative branches, as well as control of the state's executive and judicial branches.

According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearm industry's trade association, nearly half of all rifles in the country were assault-style weapons, which it prefers to describe as "modern sporting rifles." There are about 20 million such rifles in circulation as of 2020.

During the period of 1991 to 2018, as firearm ownership increased, the violent crime rate fell by more than 51 percent and unintentional gun deaths dropped by over 68 percent, according to a 2020 report from the foundation.

Gun sales set a record in 2020 with nearly 23 million guns sold in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. That same year, guns became the leading cause of death for children in the United States.

Also Monday, the Highland Park City Council voted to extend the local emergency declaration through the next council meeting. The state of emergency allows the city manager to make emergency purchases and take other emergency measures.