During next Tuesday’s Naperville City Council meeting, an ordinance will be discussed to ban the sale of assault weapons in the city. This would include semi-automatic rifles, pistols, shotguns and large capacity magazines that hold 10 rounds of ammunition by any licensed dealer.
The three council members to bring this ordinance to the agenda were Theresa Sullivan, Ian Holzhauer and Patrick Kelly. Councilman Holzhauer was appalled with the recent Fourth of July mass shooting in Highland Park, and the other deadly attacks that have taken place around the country. “When we saw the situation in Texas, with 18 children and teachers being massacred in a classroom, as a parent I thought about all the adults on the scene that were thinking about doing something to intervene and for whatever reason decided not to do that,” said Holzhauer. “My thought was that I am in a position where I need to do something.”
On the city’s website, a current draft of the ordinance is available which includes how the council defines an “assault weapon” and lists the brands and types of semi automatic weapons that would be banned from sale.
There are at least two gun shops in Naperville that would be impacted by the council’s ordinance: Range USA and Law Weapons & Supply.
Mayor Steve Chirico knows that if adopted, the ordinance will receive a mixed reaction from Naperville community members. “The response will be very mixed,” said Chirico. “There are members of the public who believe this would infringe on Constitutional rights and be unproductive. There is another view where people say that you have to do something within your regulatory authority to make it harder for people to get these types of weapons that are being used so commonly to cause this damage and loss of life.”
If the ordinance is passed, any person or entity that violates the provisions is subject to a $1,000 fine for the first offense, and a $2,500 fine for each subsequent offense.
Chirico has stated he is in favor of the ordinance as currently constructed, but he is looking forward to the debate on the topic. “There has to be some reasonable regulation that continues to protect second amendment rights,” said Chirico. “ But we need to prohibit the access to these types of weapons to young people and people who are both in a mental capacity where they are not safe.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, only preliminary discussions will take place on the ordinance. But if it is approved later in the year, the ordinance would take effect in the city of Naperville on January 1, 2023.
“People view Naperville as a leader and so I think that what we do absolutely has an impact on the discussion in the Chicago area, in the state and in the country,” said Holzhauer.
Reporting for Naperville News 17, I’m Will Payne.
