On Thursday, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) filed a lawsuit against the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois for their recent gun ban passed by the Village Board of Trustees.
As reported by The Daily Wire earlier this week, the ban passed Monday night “outlaws any weapon the village leaders deem ‘assault weapons,’ including AR-15s. But the ban also includes ‘semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns with certain features.'”
Those who do not comply with the ordinance — which is set to take effect on June 13 — will face up to $1,000 fines per day.
In a press release announcing the lawsuit, SAF confirmed that the Illinois State Rifle Association and a gun-owning private citizen from the village named Daniel Easterday would be joining them in their legal action.
The suit was filed in the 19th Judicial Circuit Court in Lake County and the plaintiffs are represented by Glen Ellyn attorney David Sigale.
“The lawsuit challenges the village ban under a 2013 amended state statute that declared ‘the regulation of the possession or ownership of assault weapons are exclusive powers and functions of this State. Any ordinance or regulation, or portion of that ordinance or regulation, that purports to regulate the possession or ownership of assault weapons in a manner that is inconsistent with this Act, shall be invalid…'” explains the news release.
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb said the gun ban “flies in the face of state law.”
“While the village is trying to disguise this as an amendment to an existing ordinance, it is, in fact, a new law that entirely bans possession of legally-owned semi-auto firearms, with no exception for guns previously owned, or any provision for self-defense,” Gottlieb said.
“The new ordinance also provides for confiscation and destruction of such firearms and their original capacity magazines,” he continued. “What is particularly outrageous about this new law is that it levies fines of up to $1,000 a day against anyone who refuses to turn in their gun and magazines or move them out of the village by the time the ordinance takes effect in June. This certainly puts the lie to claims by anti-gunners that ‘nobody is coming to take your guns.'”
According to PR Newswire, SAF, which was founded in 1974, “is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms.”
SAF currently has over 650,000 members and supporters.
Source: The Daily Wire
