Group wants Lake County to oppose all gun control

A group of residents is asking a Lake County Board committee to sponsor a resolution that would oppose any future gun control legislation.

While generally declaring their support of the Second Amendment to the Constitution, members of the board's law and judicial committee on Tuesday expressed reservations about the proposed action.

James Stewart, a Waukegan resident and supporter of the statewide Pro 2 Amendment Resolution movement, said he believes it is important for Lake County to join the 82 other Illinois counties that have passed the resolution.

It is designed to tell state legislators that local governments "Oppose the enactment of any legislation that would infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear arms," according to Stewart.

Stewart and three supporters who attended the meeting told committee members they were asking them and the full board to declare their allegiance to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

"The Constitution is important, every word of it," Stewart said. "You cannot say 'I like this,' and 'I don't like this.'"

County board member Mary Ross Cunningham of Waukegan told Stewart and his group she believed gun legislation was a function of the state legislature, and would confer with elected members of that body before deciding if she would support the resolution.

County board member Steve Carlson of Gurnee said he and the other board members believed in the right of individuals to have guns, but added he suspected the wording of the resolution is too broad.

Carlson said he was concerned it would commit the board to opposing "any" legislation that would restrict firearm possession.

"I have a real problem with the word 'any,'" he said. "If there is legislation to ban armor-piercing ammunition that would penetrate the body armor worn by sheriff's deputies, I do not have a problem with that.

If there is legislation that would ban .50-caliber sniper rifles that can kill from 3,000 yards away, I do not have a problem with that."

County board member Audrey Nixon, of North Chicago, told Stewart and his group there would be no action on the request until it is studied further.

But Nixon, who chairs the committee, signaled she's skeptical of backing the resolution.

"I have to think about all the deaths in this county that are the result of guns, all the kids who are dead because of guns," she said. "I cannot sit here today and say 'Yeah, I will get behind it.'"