If you, or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence the Illinois Department of Human Services offers a 24/7 hotline to help connect you to resources throughout the state. That number is 1-877-863-6338. It is toll free, multilingual and confidential.
The Cook County Sheriff's Office is putting up more than 50 signs on billboards across the county to raise awareness for Illinois' Firearm Restraining Order law (FRO).
"We’re doing everything we can to get the word out to people to say this tool is out there, you can use this," Sheriff Tom Dart said. "This is something that has real impact on real people and it’s such a valuable tool, it’s just not being used.”
The law allows anyone who fears for themselves or others to file a petition and go in front of a judge to express those concerns. If a judge signs off, local law enforcement can temporarily confiscate weapons from a home.
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“All of us I think in a certain sense have gotten numb to the steady drumbeat of gun violence in our communities," Dart said. "We’re outraged by all of them, but I think particularly we get outraged on those ones where people sit there and say ‘how wasn’t something done here?’ All the signals were there that there was going to be violence.”
Under the FRO, the person with confiscated weapons has 14 days to request a hearing in court to appeal the decision.
The weapons are not destroyed and are returned if the initial issue is resolved.
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The law passed in 2019, however it hasn't been used much since then.
Dart said there were 74 FROs filed statewide in 2019, and fewer than 100 nearly every year since except for 2022, which saw 112 orders filed.
When asked if it was a matter of underutilization or enforcement issues, Dart said Cook County officers will enforce the law, and provided an example of a domestic violence case last year. He said deputies were alerted to guns in the home following a domestic violence incident, however officers could not get consent to enter the home.
“Our officers did a great job and filed a Clear and Present Danger form with the State Police, which gets rid of the FOID card," he said. "We then went into court and got one of these orders, and when we went into the house we got 29 weapons out of that house.”
Several of those weapons sat in front of him during the news conference announcing the billboards Tuesday.
He hopes the new signage, along with training local law enforcement agencies and partnering with Domestic Violence advocates will help bring awareness to the tool.
“It’s very frustrating because so much of this we cannot prevent," he said. "There’s so much we can though."
Domestic violence survivor advocates say the FRO is a great tool for a mental health crisis, and potentially to stop mass shootings, however they don't believe it's always the safest route for domestic violence survivors.
"We recommend they request gun safety and removal through an order of protection," said Amanda Pyron, executive director of The Network Advocating against domestic violence. "It’s a one-stop shop. A survivor talks to one judge and can get all their needs met through firearm remedy through the order of protection.”
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the presence of a gun in these situations increases the risk of homicide by 500%. In January 2024, 19 domestic violence-related homicides in Illinois.
Pyron said a bill currently waiting for a vote in the Illinois Senate would help streamline the gun removal order of protection process.
"It's called Karina's Bill after Karina Gonzalez who was murdered, quite frankly, by someone who should have never had a gun," Pyron said.
Karina's Bill would require judges to issue a gun seizure order along with an order of protection, requiring law enforcement to serve the order and take the weapon within 48 hours. However, in November, the vote was delayed until spring citing enforcement and implementation road blocks.
