* Press release yesterday…

Today, the Illinois Supreme Court allows Deerfield’s 2018 assault weapons ban ordinance to stand. The case challenged Deerfield’s authority to adopt the ordinance but did not challenge the validity or constitutionality of the ordinance. The Supreme Court’s ruling accepted Deerfield’s arguments concerning home rule authority and statutory interpretation.

Rep. Bob Morgan said, “Today is a tremendous day for Deerfield. The Illinois Supreme Court decision affirms that local municipalities have the ability to control the weapons in their communities. This makes Deerfield safer and is a win for the community.”

Following the shooting at Marjory Stone Douglas High School, Deerfield’s leadership team listened to residents, especially high school students who called for the assault weapons ban. Deerfield Mayor Daniel C. Shaprio said, “I continue to believe that these weapons have no place in our community.”

* It’s a bit more complicated than that. From the Supreme Court…

In this case, one Justice of this court has recused himself, and the remaining members of the court are divided so that it is not possible to secure the constitutionally required concurrence of four judges for a decision (see Ill. Const. 1970, art. VI, § 3). Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed. The effect of this dismissal is the same as an affirmance by an equally divided court of the decision under review but is of no precedential value.

Justice Michael Burke took no part in the decision.

* The Illinois Municipal League summed up the issue last year…

The Illinois Appellate Court for the Second District (Appellate Court) reversed a portion of the circuit court’s injunction prohibiting the enforcement of a Village of Deerfield (Village) ordinance regulating firearms. The Appellate Court held that the provisions of the ordinance regulating assault weapons were a valid exercise of the Village’s home rule authority, but that to the extent the ordinance provisions restricting high capacity magazines regulated handgun ammunition, the injunction was affirmed. Easterday, et al., v. The Village of Deerfield, 2020 IL App (2nd) 190879 (December 4, 2020).

* Deerfield Review…

As a result of the deadlocked Supreme Court, the decision of the Illinois Appellate Court, which ruled the weapon ban was legal, remains in effect as the final word. […]

One of the central arguments in the case was whether Deerfield’s 2018 restrictions should be considered an amended law or a new law.

When the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation in 2013 allowing state residents to carry concealed firearms, the law included a provision that allowed home rule municipalities like Deerfield to regulate assault weapons within a 10-day window or lose the opportunity to do so.

Acting within the 10 day time limit, the Deerfield Village Board of Trustees enacted an ordinance regulating the storage and transportation of the specified list of guns but did not prohibit ownership or possession of the guns.

Then in 2018, after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Deerfield officials moved to amend their ordinance to ban certain firearms.