As Illinois’ assault weapons ban — created in the wake of the 2022 Highland Park July 4 mass shooting — faces legal challenges, a Highland Park group has been taking another approach in advocating against assault weapons: Naming and shaming.
The Highland Park Peace Project, which also goes by HP3, maintains a growing public database of hundreds of companies and businesses it categorizes as either “heroes” or “enablers,” depending on whether they work with the five major civilian-facing manufacturers of so-called assault weapons like the one used in the mass shooting four years ago.
These “enablers” can range from online retailers like Amazon to accounting firms. These companies may work with, sell to, retail for, or be under contract with Smith & Wesson, Sturm Ruger, Bushmaster, Daniel Defense, or Sig Sauer.
HP3 co-founder Daniel Perlman was at the Highland Park parade when a gunman opened fire on the crowd, killing seven and wounding nearly 50 others. He’s been active in the gun violence prevention space ever since and helped found the group a year ago.
Perlman said he has a background in private equity and is aware of efforts by some public pension funds to avoid their investments being used in areas “they (find) socially or morally at odds with their organization.”
HP3 and its database were built on that idea, approaching gun violence “through a commercial lens,” he said, using money to put pressure on the gun manufacturers, and providing information to “businesses’ decision-makers and everyday people.”
“It has created transparency; what we’ve created has now allowed corporations and consumers to ask for accountability,” Perlman said.
Each enabler is verified by trawling through records, bankruptcy filings, legal documents and annual reports, Perlman said. Before publicizing a business on their database, HP3 sends them a letter with their findings, offering an opportunity for them to refute the claims, he said.
‘Apolitical’
Perlman argued their goal wasn’t to vilify but to stop businesses from working with the manufacturers and from helping put “millions of dollars into the pockets” of manufacturers giving assault weapons to civilians.
Part of that is celebrating their hero businesses that take clear stances or cut ties with manufacturers, he said, such as Salesforce or REI.
He said the group doesn’t take a political stance on legislation, instead focusing on trying to “change behavior” and describing the database as “apolitical.” Still, it sits within a deeply politicized debate, and the approach isn’t without local opponents.
Republican Lake County Board member Michael Danforth, District 17, has a background as a weapons importer and firearms attorney, and he’s been a consistent opponent of many firearm-related resolutions on the board, including one earlier this year voicing the county’s support of the RIFL Act.
Danforth called HP3’s efforts “misguided,” driven by “political ideologies” and a “hatred for gun manufacturers.” Saying the numerous businesses that work with gun manufacturers are “somehow a bad guy … that’s just foolishness,” he argued.
“They may mean well at the end of the day, but they’re attacking the wrong people,” Danforth said.
He described the database as painting with a “broad brush” and said the purchase of such firearms is protected under the Second Amendment, something being reaffirmed by legal challenges across the country.
“These companies made firearms, made tools, that somebody went out with criminal intent and killed someone with … that’s not the manufacturer’s fault,” he argued. When reflecting on the “tragedies” seen in Highland Park and other mass shootings, such as in Uvalde, Texas, and Littleton, Colorado, “we should honor their memory, but we shouldn’t blame the manufacturers.”
Legal challenges
Perlman warned that legal progress on assault weapon bans is slow and not “etched in stone”; legal challenges are being mounted in several states, including Illinois. Under the current U.S. Supreme Court makeup, he warned, the bans would fall if they made it to the country’s highest court.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court indicated it would hear arguments possibly later this year over Cook County’s ban on so-called assault weapons and a similar law in Connecticut, a precursor to what could be a sweeping ruling on the constitutional right to own such firearms.
While the Cook County case is separate from another lawsuit before the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago challenging the constitutionality of Illinois’ statewide ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines — a ruling in the Cook County case could directly shape that one.
The state law bans all or most of the same weapons as the Cook County ordinance and has been in effect since January 2023 when Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker signed it following the Highland Park shooting.
With the July 4 weekend, Perlmann is personally reflecting on the shooting and the “horror and fallout from being there.” HP3 has several connections to the shooting, including another victim who recently joined its advisory board.
They plan to get the word out about their organization and its database on the grim anniversary that led to the group’s founding, Perlman said.
Rebecca Johnson and Jeremy Gorner of the Chicago Tribune contributed to this report.
