After hearing strong opposition from residents Monday night, Park Ridge aldermen agreed not to pursue any restrictions or bans on assault weapons.

"The state should have leadership on this, and the laws they put in place are what we should follow," said Ald. Joseph Sweeney, 1st, at a Park Ridge Committee of the Whole meeting. "I don't think we need to create any new laws for the city."

Like many municipalities in the Chicago area, the prospect of restricting assault weapons came up before Park Ridge aldermen by way of a recently approved state bill allowing licensed firearms owners to carry concealed weapons in the state.

While the bill preempts any municipal regulations on carrying concealed handguns, a caveat of the bill allows local governments to restrict or ban assault weapons within 10 days of the governor signing the law.

The bill recently received a rewrite by Gov. Pat Quinn, whose changes could be overridden by legislators as early as today. Lawmakers continued to wrestle with the issue up until TribLocal deadlines but Park Ridge's move effectively ends discussion on assault weapons there.

Highland Park and Melrose Park banned assault weapons in late June, according to Tribune articles, and Lake Forest officials tabled any assault weapons restrictions earlier this month.

In a written statement, Park Ridge Ald. Jim Smith, 3rd, called an assault weapons ban a "burden of regulation" that "goes way beyond any sensible level and must be considered harassment and discrimination against gun owners."

Several residents said they saw no need for a ban on assault weapons.

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"I'm not familiar with any carnage in Park Ridge," said resident Ozzy Dorado, 35. "I've always felt like this is a very safe and wonderful place to live. If you pass this assault weapons ban in Park Ridge, you're going to be trying to solve a problem that we don't have."

Instead, Dorado said that enacting an assault weapons ban would create problems by making "thousands of legal firearms owners criminals overnight."

Another resident, who called himself a "flaming liberal," said the city already has gun laws on the books that "properly regulate" the misuse of firearms.

"We do have a violence problem," said Josh Kiem, 57. "But you can't go after it by legislating what people can have."

Only one resident in attendance Monday night spoke out in favor of an assault weapons ban.

"There are a number of Park ridge residents who are not here that do believe this council should be bold and move forward with an assault weapons ban," said Deborah Kelliher, 57.

After the meeting, some residents expressed relief in the city's lack of action.

"The rhetoric behind an assault weapons ban is so emotionally charged that it's easy to lose sight of rational decisions," Durado said. "I love this city. It would have been sad to see us turned into a criminal overnight."

jbullington@tribune.com