Carpentersville agrees to resident's guns for money offer

There won't be any former Carpentersville police-issued weapons for sale at a local gun dealer anytime soon.

Trustees on Tuesday accepted the offer of a local business owner to destroy about 30 guns and pay the village $3,000 to do it.

Otto Engineering President Tom Roeser offered the village the donation after trustees overrode Village President Bill Sarto's attempt to block the sale of the weapons by a 5-1 vote. Sarto did not vote on the veto.

Though trustees had previously stated they wanted a written offer from Roeser, three of the seven board members changed their tunes, voting 5-1 in favor of destroying the weapons.

Trustee Paul Humpfer, who initially supported the sale and requested the item be included on last night's agenda, was absent.

That left Trustees Keith Hinz, Kay Teeter, Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, Ed Ritter and Sarto to vote for the destruction of the weapons, while Trustee Judy Sigwalt remained steadfast in her support of the sale.

"None of these guns are Saturday night specials and none have been acquired through a buyback program," Sigwalt said.

Others, though, called destroying the weapons "the right thing to do."

"Three thousand dollars won't make or break the village." Ramirez-Sliwinski said "Three thousand dollars is a small amount if it saves one life by destroying the guns."

Sarto added the offer should not have swayed the board's decision to destroy the weapons.

"This is the proper thing to do with or without the offer from Mr. Roeser," Sarto said. "This sends the message that we care about the community, the people who live here and in neighboring communities."