Local minister Mark Winter told the Naperville City Council Tuesday night that somewhere, someone is planning the next mass shooting. They are scouting a location, planning an escape route and finding a weapon that can cause the most damage.
If the council approves a proposed ban on the sale of some assault weapons, Winter said, “we have the opportunity to say to this individual, Naperville is not going to help you do this. We may not be able to stop you, but we definitely won’t help you.”
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Winter was among dozens of residents who packed the council chambers and for more than two hours to give emotional pleas pro and con on an ordinance prohibiting the commercial sale of semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns and large-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
It would affect any licensed gun-selling business or dealer in the city as well as licensed sellers, such as pawnshops and other people and entities licensed by the state to sell firearms.
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The proposal comes in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting and the parade shooting in Highland Park.
Robert Bevis, owner of Law Weapons and Supply, one of two gun store in Naperville, said the proposed change includes standard firearms, including certain pistols. If approved, it would likely close his business, he said.
“If you pass the ordinance, you will destroy, literally in the blink of an eye, everything my family has spent a large part of their lives building together,” Bevis said.
The council later voted to change the proposed ordinance, directing staff to remove handgun sales and large capacity magazines for handguns from the wording. Instead, the ban will focus on semi-automatic rifles or large-capacity magazines capable of holding more than 15 bullets.
Mayor Steve Chirico thanked those who came out to voice their opinions.
“I support the second amendment and I don’t want to prohibit buying weapons people can use for self defense so I don’t believe that should be on the list,” Chirico said. “My focus is on the high-capacity rifles used in these mass shootings.”
James Watts, an employee at Law Weapons & Supply, said his Naperville business serves not just residents but also police departments, the FBI and the ATF when their weapons need repairs. He asked if the council wants them to instead send their weapons to places where it could take months to get them back, endangering the people they’re meant to protect.
In response, the council also later directed staff to add an exemption in the ban for police, law enforcement and military members.
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Some residents spoke about the recent deadly Highland Park parade shooting, which left 48 people injured and seven killed. One man spoke about Cooper Roberts, an 8-year-old boy who loved baseball but will likely never play again after a bullet severed his spinal cord and left him paralyzed from the waist down.
“Will banning this end it? Of course not,” Zimmer said. “But maybe a ban will prevent a single shooting in our town and encourage other communities to follow our lead. Isn’t that a chance worth taking?”
Funeral director Frank Marik questioned what good the ban will do given that Highland Park had a similar ban in place and held the parade in a gun-free zone, yet neither stopped “monsters from being monsters. It focuses on the tool. They’ll just buy it somewhere else.”
The council could take a final vote on the ordinance at its Aug. 16 meeting.
Councilman Paul Hinterlong said he does not support the ban and believes the focus needs to be on mental health issues, which have been shifted to police officers to handle.
“Unfortunately, our government is dropping the ball and people are getting through the cracks,” Hinterlong said. “But this is above our pay grade. People who are supposed to be making these decisions are sitting at home and watching us burn. This is dividing our community more than anything and we need to come together.”
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City attorney Michael DiSanto said that should the council approve the ban, the same law firm that represented Highland Park and Deerfield in their assault weapon ordinances would represent Naperville free of charge in any legal challenges that might be filed.
