(The Center Square) – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he will sign a measure the previous General Assembly approved to confiscate firearms from subjects of domestic violence orders of protection.
House Bill 4144 started as a measure dealing with fire hydrants, not firearms. During lame duck session, it was gutted and replaced with what’s known as Karina’s Law, named after a murder victim of domestic violence where the assailant had an order of protection against him.
The amended bill would require police to confiscate firearms from someone who has an order of protection against them, rather than current law that requires the subject to relinquish firearms to a qualified third party.
Opponents said the measure violates individual rights by not having due process.
In the Senate, state Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, said a better route would have been to enhance penalties to a felony for violating orders of protection.
“Do all of you know that right now in the state of Illinois, if you violate an order of protection it’s a misdemeanor? Do you know what else is a misdemeanor? If you walk into a store and you take a candy bar and you leave, that’s a misdemeanor,” McClure said last week.
McClure said his measure to make violating orders of protection a felony never got a hearing during the 103rd General Assembly before they adjourned.
During floor debate in the House last week, state Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia, said the measure changes state law by requiring the firearms to be confiscated by police, not as it is now where someone has to relinquish the firearms to a qualified third party.
“Most importantly in this critical timely nature of an emergency, we need law enforcement to take possession of those firearms,” Hirschauer said Tuesday. “They are the most trusted and safest place for those firearms to be.”
State Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Dieterich, opposed the bill.
“A petitioner can go to court, circumvent the state’s attorney and law enforcement, file for that order of protection. The judge shall issue that order of protection. Law enforcement issues that order of protection, serves that order of protection,” he said. “With the search warrant, kicks in somebody’s door, seizes their firearms and they have no due process rights at all.”
House Bill 4144 was approved with some Republicans in both chambers joining Democrats to advance the measure in the final hours of lame duck session.
Last week, Pritzker said he will sign the measure after it was negotiated with law enforcement.
“They felt like they can effectuate … Karina’s Law,” Pritzker said during a news conference Wednesday. “It’s the right idea. It’s the right thing to do. I will sign the bill.”
The bill has yet to be sent to the governor’s desk.
