(The Center Square) – With just hours before the end of the 103rd General Assembly, the Illinois Senate has approved a measure requiring police to confiscate firearms from subjects of an order of protection.
Six minutes before a committee hearing Monday night, an amendment to House Bill 4144, legislation that was originally filed in September 2023 dealing with fire hydrants, was amended to be Karina’s Law.
The proposal, named after a domestic violence victim, would add to the state’s existing law around orders of protection and access to firearms. Currently, the subject of an order of protection must relinquish any firearms in their possession to someone else who is eligible to have firearms, including police. If enacted, HB 4144 would require police to confiscate firearms from such individuals within a certain timeframe.
Kane County State’s Attorney Julie Mosser said the measure allows for due process, an issue impacted by recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent on a similar issue.
“And we’ve even added the fact that it has to be immediate and present, not just a finding of a danger,” Mosser said.
Josh Witkowski with the Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources told the Senate Executive Committee that while the proposal may comply with two of three provisions of Supreme Court precedent, it doesn’t when it comes to due process.
“I would much rather see something that helps victims of domestic violence and survives a constitutional challenge than to see somebody escape on a constitutional issue due to due process,” he said.
The due process issue was addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case United States v. Rahimi decided last summer. One element of the case centers on whether the disarmament of individuals under domestic violence restraining orders, without a requirement for specific findings of dangerousness, violates their Second Amendment rights.
Despite there being double the number of opponents than there were proponents filing witness slips, the measure passed committee.
Moments later, the measure was brought to the Senate floor late Monday evening during lame duck session.
State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said constitutional issues aside, the measure will be unworkable in rural areas with fewer law enforcement resources.
“Downstate Illinois cannot comply with half the stuff this place passes in the first place,” Rose said.
State Sen. Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago, said the measure she sponsored is focused on protecting victims of domestic violence abusers.
“It’s not OK that we are concerned, that some people are concerned more so with the rights to bear arms, the rights to have access to guns,” she said.
Opponents of the measure say people don’t just have the right to bear arms, but also the right to due process, something they say the bill lacks.
The amended House bill passed the Senate late Monday evening and can now be taken up by the House on the last full day of lame duck session Tuesday.
