By Lisa Black, Chicago Tribune
Less than a week after filing charges against a man who shot a home intruder, Wilmette’s police chief defended the village’s handgun ban Tuesday night before a feisty crowd dominated by gun-rights advocates.
Nearly 200 people packed a meeting of the Wilmette Village Board, and many booed and jeered when trustees voiced support for the ban. When the Pledge of Allegiance was recited at the start of the meeting, several members of the audience loudly emphasized the words, “And justice for all.”
“My experience is handguns create a hazard in the home,” Police Chief George Carpenter told the crowd. “My experience is that handguns are far more likely to be stolen, to be used or threatened to be used in domestic situations, or to be used or threatened to be used in suicides.”
The Dec. 29 shooting in a home near Lake Michigan renewed controversy over the ban, which was enacted in 1989.
Police charged homeowner Hale DeMar, 54, on Thursday with misdemeanors for illegally owning two handguns. He was cited for violating the village ordinance and for breaking a state law by failing to renew his Illinois Firearm Owner’s Identification card after it expired in 1988.
At Tuesday’s meeting, gun-rights advocates complained that no homeowner should be punished for defending his or her family.
“My Plan A is to call 911 and keep the family upstairs,” said Wilmette resident Jim Szczepanik, 51. “But my Plan B is to have a loaded firearm and put a bullet in the intruder.”
Noting that the North Shore community is a relatively safe one, another resident, Ralf Seiffe, said: “It is not a matter of crime control or safety. It is a matter of freedom.”
Though outnumbered by gun-rights advocates, several village trustees and other residents expressed support for the ban.
“There could have been an outcome much more bleak for that family if more shots had been fired,” said Trustee Bernard Michna. “I think it’s close to unanimous there will be no change in the handgun ordinance.”
DeMar shot a Chicago man who is accused of entering the family’s home in the 0-99 block of Linden Avenue twice within 24 hours, first by crawling through a dog door and then returning with a stolen house key.
Morio Billings, 31, of the 2100 block of South Trumbull Avenue is in Cook County Jail, charged with two counts of felony residential burglary and one count of felony possession of a stolen vehicle.
During the second break-in, DeMar had just tucked his two children into bed when his home’s security alarm sounded. He confronted Billings in the kitchen and fired four shots at him, striking him in the left shoulder and left calf, police said.
Billings crashed through the house’s front window to escape, then used the family’s stolen sports-utility vehicle to drive to the hospital, police said.
Police confiscated DeMar’s handguns, a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson, which they say he used to shoot Billings, and a .380-caliber Llama Especial.
If convicted under the village ordinance, DeMar could be fined up to $750.
The Cook County state’s attorney’s office did not file criminal charges against DeMar after determining that he acted in self-defense.
After the charges were filed against DeMar, dozens of people from as far as California called, e-mailed or wrote letters to the village, many in opposition to the handgun ban, Wilmette officials said.
Though Carpenter backs the handgun ban, he said Tuesday night he would not condemn DeMar’s actions.
“This resident’s decision to use a handgun will not be criticized by me,” Carpenter said. “This resident was in a situation where he did what he thought was appropriate.”
Carpenter suggested that if residents think an intruder is in their house, they should keep the family together, call 911 and not confront the intruder.
“The parent is the last line of defense for the family until the police arrive,” Carpenter said.
Wilmette became the fifth municipality in the nation to approve a handgun ban in 1989, one year after Laurie Dann’s deadly shooting rampage in a Winnetka elementary school.
Village President Nancy Canafax is the only current Village Board member who was on the board at the time. The ordinance “had come up before the Laurie Dann incident and hadn’t succeeded,” she said before the meeting Tuesday. “But that was a dramatic event. It passed 7-0.”
Other municipalities that prohibit possession of handguns include Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park and Morton Grove. Some communities ban the sale of handguns.