Naperville gun shop owner gives city until Monday to start negotiating end to gun sale ban

Somewhere between suffering a heart attack and amassing hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, Robert Bevis decided he was all in.

The owner of Law Weapons & Supply in Naperville has seen his world upended since August when the Naperville City Council passed an ordinance banning the sale of certain high-powered rifles. The state passed its own broader ban that was signed into law in January.

As Bevis' family business falters and debt continues to mount, he is being backed by the National Association for Gun Rights and its legal arm, the National Federation for Gun Rights, in an effort to overturn the local and state gun laws.

The state law is making its way through the courts, with a ruling Thursday that put the ban back into effect - at least for the moment.

But at times, court action has put the state ban on hold. And because of Naperville's ordinance, that meant Bevis' business was one of the few gun shops in the state not allowed to sell certain weapons, including the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

Bevis and his legal team this week offered city officials a choice: Either agree by Monday to start negotiating an end to the ordinance, or face a prolonged court battle that could wind up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Naperville officials have declined to comment on the offer, but - with the state law in place - Bevis and his lawyers believe the Naperville law is redundant and unnecessary.

"Now (Naperville) can get out of the ordinance even easier," Bevis said after Thursday's court ruling was announced. "This might entice them to act quicker."

Naperville's ban was passed in the wake of numerous mass shootings, including the July 4 attack in Highland Park that killed seven people. The change was scheduled to take effect Jan. 1 but was delayed until mid-February because of court challenges.

Then-Mayor Steve Chirico said action was needed at the local level.

"Every few weeks or so when we see these mass shootings with military-style weapons, it just continues to build and build, and at some point, even on a local level, we have to be able to do something," he said.

If Naperville turns down Bevis' offer to negotiate, he said he will take the fight as far as it needs to go. For Bevis, that means repealing the local law and making him whole on his financial losses.

"I can't discuss the details of the offer, but it's very fair," Bevis said.

Bevis estimates his business losses at more than $500,000 in addition to the personal debt he's accumulated. In October, he said, he suffered a heart attack that forced him into the hospital on three occasions for a total of more than a month.

Bevis said the NAGR is prepared to cover his legal costs for as long as necessary.

City officials acknowledged receipt of Bevis' offer, which was made public during Tuesday's city council meeting when Bevis, NAGR President Dudley Brown, NFGR Research and Policy Director Hannah Hill and others decried the law during public comments.

New Mayor Scott Wehrli and city council members didn't respond during Tuesday's meeting, and city officials declined to comment through a statement.

"We are aware of the request and anticipated that there would be legal challenges," the statement read, "but at this point we do not have any comment."