Evanston aldermen voted Monday to bring the city’s weapons ordinance in line with last month’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a gun ban in Washington, D.C.
Without public debate the aldermen adopted a resolution prepared by staff authorizing a rewrite of the ordinance.
The resolution directs the city’s legal staff to develop amendments to the existing ordinance that bars private possession of handguns to comply with the court’s decision that the Second Amendment to the federal constitution gives individuals a right to possess and carry personal weapons for self-defense.
The resolution also calls for strengthening provisions of the weapons ordinance against unlawful use of firearms in the city.
The city will seek to have a suit the National Rifle Association filed against its weapons ordinance after the Supreme Court ruling dismissed, based on its plan to bring the law into compliance with the court ruling.