Highland Park City Council passes resolution calling for semi-automatic weapons ban

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- The Highland Park City Council passed a resolution calling for the state and federal governments to ban all semi-automatic weapons, high-capacity ammunition cartridges and magazines, and body armor.

The resolution passed with unanimous approval.

Legislatively speaking, the resolution won't change anything but it's a call to action carrying the weight of a town full of mass shooting survivors.

"It's a huge relief," said Ashley Beasley, resident. "It's a huge relief to have more government agencies coming together saying 'We're not going to live like this anymore.'"

As the haze of shock dissipates a little over a month after the mass shooting during the July 4 parade that killed seven people and injures more than 30 others, city leaders are making an official move to keep high powered assault rifles permanently off their streets.

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The resolution also urges legislation mandating how certain weapons be safely locked and stored.

"This is just the start. Hopefully other communities and the voters will vote people into office who have this as one of their priorities," said Stuart Senescu, League of Women Voters and Highland Park resident.

"We owe it to those who experienced the horror in our town, in country. We owe it to our children," Mayor Nancy Rotering said at a Lake County Board meeting on the same issue last week.

In the five weeks since the massacre, Rotering has become a tireless advocate for statewide and federal assault weapons bans.

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So, too, have a growing group of mothers, building up the grassroots gun safety group Moms Demand Action.

"We need to make sure constituents know how their legislators are voting and we need to make sure those legislators are voting for legislation that promotes public safety," said Alexi Vahlkamp, member.

But just last week Lake County, Illinois commissioners had a contentious debate over the very same kind of resolution simply recommending a state or federal ban on assault weapons.

Highland Park passed an assault weapons ban nine years ago, in the months after the Sandy Hook shooting, long after a federal ban on the weapons had expired.