Turning law-abiding citizens into criminals.
Via Chicago Tribune:
Gun-rights advocacy groups are asking a Lake County Circuit Court judge to bar the village of Deerfield from enforcing its ban on assault weapons that is set to kick in June 13.
The ordinance enacted April 2 by the Deerfield Village Board gives residents until June 13 to turn in any guns that fit the village’s definition of assault weapons, remove them from the village or modify the guns so they’re no longer considered assault weapons. The ordinance empowers the town’s police chief to confiscate the assault weapons of anyone charged under the ordinance.
Owners found in violation can be fined up to $1,000 a day, according to the ordinance.
Two lawsuits were filed in April challenging the ordinance on various grounds, including a claim that the ordinance deprives gun owners of property they are legally entitled to possess. The plaintiffs in both lawsuits are asking for a temporary restraining order to block Deerfield from enforcing the ban until the court can hear their arguments for a permanent injunction.
A hearing to consider the restraining order motions is set for June 8, just days before the ban is set to take effect.
“The fast-approaching compliance date compels plaintiffs to seek more immediate and intermediate relief until this matter can be fully heard on the merits,” said attorney David Sigale in a petition on behalf of Deerfield gun owner Daniel Easterday, the Illinois State Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation.
Sigale’s petition notes that Deerfield residents in possession of the those weapons face prosecution, confiscation and destruction of their property and hefty monetary fines.
“This causes significant harm to the plaintiffs in the form of loss of property rights and criminal penalties,” Sigale wrote in the petition.
Easterday attested that he would possess a semi-automatic rifle and large-capacity magazines in his home for self-defense and sporting purposes but for the Deerfield ordinance.
“I refrain from doing so because I fear confiscation of my property, as well as prosecution,” Easterday said in the affidavit.
His lawsuit is asking a Lake County judge to strike down the Deerfield ordinance primarily on the grounds that Illinois law preempts local municipalities from enacting bans that were not in effect as of July 19, 2013.