The Gun Counter

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City considers options after NRA gun ban lawsuit
Brian Rosenthal
Issue date: 9/23/08 Section: City

The Evanston City Council is still discussing what to do next after being "forced kicking and screaming" to amend its handgun ban last month.

The change was made following a June 26 Supreme Court ruling, District of Columbia v. Heller, declaring a similar ban in Washington, D.C. to be in violation of the Second Amendment. The day after the landmark decision, the National Rifle Association brought a lawsuit against Evanston alleging its ban was unconstitutional.

The City Council chose to change its ban instead of fighting the potentially expensive suit, said city corporation counsel Jack Siegel, who wrote the amendment. Now, Evanston residents can have handguns in their home for the purpose of self-protection, Siegel said. Other uses and other types of guns are still prohibited.

The NRA sued Evanston because its ban was one of the most restrictive in the country, NRA spokeswoman Rachel Parsons said in July. The ban, established in 1983, prohibited all handguns within city limits. Parsons and other NRA representatives did not immediately return messages seeking comment on the city's amendment.

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Their options are simple...

Option 1: Obey the Law.

Option 2: Go to Jail. Pay a Whopping Settlement for Civil Rights Violations, too.

Mike OTDP wrote:Their options are simple...

Option 1: Obey the Law.

Option 2: Go to Jail. Pay a Whopping Settlement for Civil Rights Violations, too.

Doesn't work that way, unfortunately (see Chicago). There's a fight in court, first.

Let's see... two armed robberies of a nearby Walgreens, armed robbery of a brand new Chase bank branch, three stabbings, one domestic disturbance upgraded to a fatal shooting, and all of this less than 100 yards away from my apartment in Evanston in under 10 months, and yet people who ask politely if they can carry a concealed handgun after licensing and training are told they're the ones who are causing all the problems? (Much of this was attributed to "spillover crime" since my neighborhood was closest to Rogers Park and Howard Street Station locations in Chicago. I don't buy it.) There's a reason I moved back to the northwest burbs and then back downstate. Evanston doesn't get it and they're spreading that crap into the Cook County panhandle, Lake and DuPage Counties. It's the "Just roll over, take it, like it, and never complain that it's happening" mentality in regards to violent crime that makes me glad I left. Evanston has a beautiful campus, a wonderful shoreline, beautiful architecture downtown, and yet they'd rather that regular people be potential victims. I swear it seems sometimes like they're trying to make busy work for police and medical personnel with their attitude against self-defense.

Soup, I'm right by where you use to live near Howard. It makes me crazy that these knuckleheads act like my being armed is the problem.

I lived in Evanston when they enacted their gun ban.

I attended & spoke at all the city council police services committee meetings when it was being discussed.

I excoriated a local Rabbi for favoring it ... sorry, I have no patience with self-destructive landsmen.

After the meeting, a Priest, friend of the Rabbi, confronted me in the hall.

After listening to his diatribe, I responded, "Father, you may pray for my immortal soul ... my mortal ass is MINE!!"

I lived a block north of the cemetery that divides Chicago and Evanston. I had to walk back to my apartment one night when I got home too late to catch the last Purple Line train. I was a bit worried to say the least, but at 4 am on a Sunday that section of Chicago Street was empty. I told myself that the next I do that, laws be damned, I'm carrying something.