A coalition of federal, state and local lawmakers in DuPage County gathered Monday to demand DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick reverse his controversial stand that he will not enforce provisions of Illinois’ new assault weapons ban.
“Everyone is here for one common purpose, and that is to demand that Sheriff Mendrick do his job,” said U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi at an event that brought together members of the state’s democratic congressional delegation with DuPage County Board members and others.
Mendrick drew fire last week, after posting a letter on Facebook addressed to the people of DuPage County. In it, he said it was his belief that the new Illinois law was a clear violation of the second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects the right to keep and bear arms.
But State Rep. Anne Stava Murray, D-Naperville, accused Mendrick of “willfully misunderstanding the law and “creating straw man arguments” not to enforce the law.
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In a statement released Monday afternoon, Mendrick struck back at the lawmakers saying, “When elected officials are blatantly untruthful, maybe they are the ones who should consider resignation.”
“There is absolutely nothing that we are doing or not doing that would make a mass shooting more accessible in DuPage County," he added.
A downstate Illinois judge on Friday granted a temporary restraining order in a case challenging the legality of the assault weapons ban, effectively halting enforcement of the law for the more than 800 plaintiffs.
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All but a handful of Illinois' county sheriffs have said they won’t enforce the ban. Many of them did so by posting letters almost identical to Mendrick’s.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said he is not one of them. Speaking at the City Club Monday Morning, Dart said sheriffs take and oath to uphold the law, “not our version of it.” He said it is “wildly premature” to make such pronouncements when the Illinois State Police have not given any clear guidance on how the law will be enforced.
And while some members of the DuPage County Board have talked about the possibility of censuring Mendrick for his position, some say there is little they can do but to keep the pressure up on another voter-elected public official.
U.S. Rep. Sean Casten called upon Mendrick to “immediately rescind his statement. “If he can’t,” Casten said, “he has got to resign.
