Assault rifle ban a knee-jerk response to complex issue
I guess I was not surprised the Naperville City Council passed the semi-automatic rifle ban, but I was not expecting the vote to be 8-1.
When governmental bodies take action in response to a specific event, even if the event is horrific, they usually enact policies that are ineffective and require significant fixing later on. And these fixes end up requiring a sometimes endless series of Band-Aid solutions. When legislators make decisions so they can feel better about themselves or because “we have to do something,” the result is rarely good public policy.
This ordinance will reduce gun violence about as much as banning all alcohol sales in Naperville would reduce DUI traffic deaths.
Perhaps five or 10 years from now, we’ll look back at the Naperville ordinance and say, “Naperville led the way with regard to effective statewide legislation that reduced the ability of the mentally ill and violent criminals to obtain semi-automatic rifles.” I hope that is the case. My life experience tells me otherwise.
Paul Radzicki, Naperville
Busing disparity shows Indian Prairie D204’s bias
Indian Prairie School District 204 continues its inequity toward lower-income neighborhoods.
The district told parents in two neighborhoods — the White Eagle and Gombert elementary school areas — that their children will have to walk to their respective middle schools. That means having to cross Montgomery Road, rather than being bused, despite both areas receiving a hazard rating near the maximum of 12 from the Illinois Department of Transportation.
That has now changed. The White Eagle neighborhoods in Naperville, with a hazard rating of 10, have been told their children will now be bused.
The Gombert neighborhoods in Aurora, with a hazard rating of 11, have been told they will not receive busing despite having a higher hazard rating.
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Gombert neighborhood families with students going to Fischer Middle School received no formal communication there would be no busing provided until late July. The Fischer building used to be the old Granger school and the Waubonsie Valley High School Freshman Center. The Gombert neighborhoods were bused to that building in the past.
Gombert’s percentage of low-income students is 34%. White Eagle’s is 14% and the district’s is 17%. This is another example of the inequitable treatment of District 204 toward its lower-income neighborhoods and schools.
Alisha Smith, Aurora
Naperville needs to sound alarm on SAFE-T Act
Safety has always been Naperville’s hallmark. We have a tremendous police force and our county sheriff departments and state’s attorneys are topnotch. We have much to be proud of on the public safety front, which is why the Illinois SAFE-T Act is so troubling.
Will County State’s Attorney Jim Glasgow, while speaking in Naperville, suggested this troubling law would lead to the “end of days” and that Will County was going to be forced to release more 600 inmates (including 60 charged with murder) to the streets due to the elimination of cash bail under the act.
The Illinois Federation of Police stated the goal of the SAFE-T Act is to undermine law enforcement’s ability to protect public safety. One hundred of Illinois’ 102 elected state’s attorneys have publicly condemned this law. Is Springfield’s aim truly to spread Cook County’s many public safety concerns across our entire state?
We have heard a lot of concern about sirens not going off as a small tornado passed through town recently. Let us not again miss the opportunity to alert the public … this time as to to the dangerous SAFE-T Act.
To all Naperville elected leaders, please send a loud and clear message that the city of Naperville values public safety as its highest priority and the numerous problematic provisions within this bill (notably free bail) should be removed from this widely condemned law.
Kevin Coyne, Naperville
Chairman, Safe Suburbs USA PAC
Bailey response to attack showed ‘appalling insensitivity’
There are few things as joyful as going to a parade to celebrate your country with family and friends. But Americans have learned that no place is sacred enough to escape gun violence: not a classroom, a church or a July 4th parade.
We witnessed horror in Highland Park and barely an hour had passed before gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey was telling a devastated and reeling community, “Let’s move on and let’s celebrate.”
Bailey’s response to the tragedy showed appalling insensitivity and inaction — the exact opposite of a leader. But we shouldn’t be surprised given Bailey’s radical vision for Illinois, where AR-15s are easily available, the NRA reigns supreme and there’s no semblance of commonsense gun safety whatsoever.
We need a governor who is ready and willing to find solutions to the gun violence epidemic, not fuel it. Shame on Bailey, and shame on us if we let him into office.
Indivisible Naperville
Dianne McGuire, Nancy Turner, Beth Wendt, Paulette Goodman. Kate Refine, Lisa Yost, Lyndsey Kokoris, Lisa Rose and Rebecca Gamboa
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