Chicago Suburb Empowers Police Chief to Confiscate ‘Assault Weapons,’ ‘High Capacity’ Magazines

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Whenever gun owners have expressed concern over their Second Amendment rights being infringed upon and the left’s agenda to start with specific gun bans as a segue into confiscation they have been accused of being paranoid, and told that will never happen.

Tell that to the owners of so-called “assault weapons” living in north suburban Deerfield who have until June 13 to remove the firearms from within village limits or face daily fines after a ban was approved Monday night.

Breitbart reports:

The Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois, is giving residents 60 days to get rid of their “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines and empowering the police chief to confiscate them from those who refuse to give them up.

Deerfield previously allowed ownership of such firearms and magazines but had strict storage requirements in place for them. Now, the firearms and magazines will be illegal to posses in one’s home, even if properly stored.

The Chicago Tribune reports the “new ordinance prohibits the possession, sale and manufacturing of certain types of assault weapons and large capacity magazines within the village.” Those in violation of the ordinance will face fines of $250 to $1,000 a day.

Deerfield’s original “assault weapons” ban, including storage requirements. was instituted in 2013. The new ban is being put in place because of instances wherein “assault weapons” have been used criminally in Parkland, Florida, Sutherland Springs, Texas, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Orlando Florida. The ordinance warns that stock “assault weapons” are “customizable to become even more dangerous weapons of mass casualties and destruction.”

Section 15-91 of the ordinance states:

“The Chief of Police or his or her designee shall have the power to confiscate any assault weapon of any person charged with a violation under this article. The Chief of Police shall cause to be destroyed each Assault Weapon or Large Capacity Magazine surrendered or confiscated pursuant to this Article.”

The ordinance does not state whether police will regularly knock on doors and enter homes to check in closets and under beds for “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines.

The Chicago Tribune reports:

In the ordinance, the definition of an assault weapon includes, among others, semiautomatic rifles that have a fixed magazine with a capacity to accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition; shotguns with a revolving cylinder; and semiautomatic pistols and rifles that can accept large-capacity magazines and possess one of a list of other features. Among the dozens of specific models cited are the AR-15, AK-47 and Uzi, according to the ordinance.

The rationale mentions four recent shooting incidents that have claimed a total of 150 lives: The shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead; a massacre at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas that killed 26 people; the Las Vegas music festival shooting that left 58 dead and the Pulse Nightclub mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. that killed 49 people.

Opponents of the ban like Larry Nordal of Deerfield cited their rights under the Second Amendment and expressed fear that more restrictive laws would be passed in the future.

“The ordinance to store firearms was only passed for one reason,” Nordal said. “That was to have an amendatory vehicle that could be used in the future for just this purpose so you could banish assorted firearms in the future. First it’s going to be assault rifles. (There will be) new bans in the future. It’s just a matter of time.”

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