AP photo.

Five years after Illinois approved legislation limiting the home rule powers of local governments to ban scary-looking long guns, the Village of Deerfield enacted just such a gun ban. Using rather dubious arguments for the need for such a ban, they did so not by creating a new law, but by amending an existing ordinance dealing with gun storage.

Deerfield then virtue signaled for the mainstream media boasting that they’d succeeded in banning America’s favorite rifle, the AR-15. The village’s less intellectually gifted leaders gleefully claimed they had also banned magazines over ten rounds. When sharper minds pointed out the lack of language in the amended ordinance banning magazines, Deerfield’s brain trust re-amended their now-amended original ordinance to ban those as well.

Fair disclosure: I serve as the Guns Save Life‘s executive director and before this amended ordinance could take effect, GSL sued to block its implementation with the backing of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action.

The Illinois State Rifle Association filed suit as well with the Second Amendment Foundation‘s support. The Clinton family’s favorite law firm, the longtime Democrat-tied Perkins Coie, represented the Village of Deerfield pro bono along with an assist from the Brady bunch.

The trial court, after hearing the evidence, granted an injunction blocking the ban’s implementation.

Village of Deerfield

Perkins Coie then filed an appeal (which was chock full of amateur hour mistakes) to the injunction. How bad was it?  The Village of Deerfield got exactly what they paid for. We’ll let The Deerfield Patch’s headline tell the tale…

Court Rejects Deerfield’s Assault Weapon Ban Appeal

The village’s appeal was too early, too late and initially in the wrong court, but it will get another chance to try to enforce its gun ban.

But now, after the dust has settled, the Illinois Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled on the Village’s (second) bite at the appeal apple. The Appellate court ruled that the Village’s “gut and replace” amendment doesn’t fly in the face of black letter law. But at the same time, the Village’s attempt to ban magazines was flawed.

From The Chicago Tribune:

A state appellate court has upheld the village of Deerfield’s power to ban assault weapons, reversing part of a lower court ruling that had thrown out an amended village ordinance.

With the reversal, which was rendered Friday, the order goes into effect in the village immediately, as the permanent injunction meant to prevent the village from enforcing the ordinance has been removed, officials said…

John Boch, the executive director of Guns Save Life, an organization involved in one of two original lawsuits, said it was outside of Deerfield’s jurisdiction to amend the ordinance in those ways.

“They didn’t ban those weapons in that 10-day window,” he told Pioneer Press. “But a few years later, they came back and completely rewrote a local ordinance … to turn it into a gun ban.”…

Boch said he sees a lane for an appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, and said he is cautiously optimistic it will be appealed.

“Of course we are unhappy with this,” Boch said. “And I think everybody is unhappy one way or another with this decision, so I think it’s highly likely this will be appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court. And whether or not they accept it is anybody’s guess at this point.”

This isn’t over by any means. It does appear, however, that AR pistols and all other semi-auto pistols (like the CZ Scorpion) will remain legal in Deerfield, along with magazines of any capacity.

Don’t touch that dial.

35 COMMENTS

  1. Well, keep fighting on I guess.

    Really, it will never, ever end. The fight will just pass on to others. So, don’t get crazy ideas in your head that one day this will stop.

  2. If the citizenry of the Village of Deerfield do not comply the democRat Party will call out the KKK to confiscate firearms like their military wing KKK did to Black Americans. Those who refuse will have their homes burnt to the ground and be beaten and lynched.
    Gun Owners are the new “Black” in the eyes of sicko lily white Gun Control Zealots who are carrying on a sicko democRat Party family tradition. Either you can bow down to those sick ratbassturds or you can tell them to eat poo…Like I just did.

    • Geez Deb Deerfield is an upscale near lilly white burb. I’ve been there and my brother got his doctorate in Hebrew from Trinity College. Lighten up princess. Everything ain’t KKK…sometime it’s virtue signaling. For the children😋😋😋😋

    • Laws that are un Constitutional are not laws at all,so there is no penalty violating a un Constitutional edict.

      • “Laws that are un Constitutional are not laws at all,so there is no penalty violating a un Constitutional edict”

        You didn’t think the through.

        In an academic setting, you are correct. In reality you will be in jail.

  3. So, they grandfather a law. Then amend it not once, but twice. And they can continue to claim it is grandfathered. One has to wonder just how many interest free accounts are being used to payoff the whole lot.

  4. Let me get this straight: we have a government entity upholding the policy of a government entity. This is my surprised face.

  5. unfortunately none of this matters
    what matters is this:
    (i hope im wrong here but i dont think so)
    the scotus is not going to hand trump the win
    and the republicans will lose the senate
    and whatever the congress wont do for biden or kamala by next spring on gun control and everything else will get done with great haste by executive order
    and whatever gets done no matter how heinous it is will get past the scotus once the democrats put 2 or more leftists on it
    its done people
    its over
    it was nice while it lasted
    reagan was right
    it was ours if we could keep it
    rip america 1776-2020
    they stole it from us
    thanks obama
    thanks rinos
    thanks never trumpers
    thanks mainstream media
    thanks colleges and universities
    thanks hollywood
    you ruined it
    were venezuela now
    we just have more food on the shelves
    for now anyway…

    • That should be on a T-shirt.
      Unfortunately, it carries a tone of truth more fitting for a tombstone.

  6. Deerfield, they band guns in a corn field?
    Seems as this should be up to the owner. More infringements, “One by one”.
    As for city ordinances: Refer to the Heroes of Tombstone. “We’re not saying you can’t have guns, you just cant have them in city limits.”
    The limitations started long ago, however I also believe if the ‘true’ population votes no firearms in their city then so be it.
    With the current number of firearm owners the best case scenario is everyone is gone before Rome burns.

  7. Illinois is a piece of shit state. So happy I moved away 10 years ago and never looked back at that cesspool. Corrupt politics, fraud galore, politicians locked up, Chicago is murder central, anti gun laws everywhere. You’d bettter think twice if you’re sitting in your house and there’s a home invasion. Heaven forbid you do the right thing and shoot and kill the intruder(s), they’ll charge you for not trying to run away first…ASS BACKWARDS..Although, I may have to move once more, if the newly corrupted Ga. turns blue in January…

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