(The Center Square) – Gun owners in Illinois are now required to lock up their firearms with a new law Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed.
Senate Bill 8, known as the Safe Gun Storage Act, outlines storage requirements where a firearm could be accessed by a minor, an at-risk person, or someone otherwise prohibited from using firearms.
The measure was sponsored by state Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia.
“Safe storage is no longer a debate. It’s threatening our lives,” Hirschauer said just before Pritzker signed the measure. “It’s a life saving standard. It prevents accidents. It prevents suicides. It keeps firearms away from those who should never have access.”
The law increases the age from 14 to 18 for what’s considered a minor where a firearm must be “secured by a device or mechanism, other than the firearm safety, designed to render a firearm temporarily inoperable;” or “placed in a securely locked box or container.”
Being found in violation beginning Jan. 1 could carry a $1,000 fine.
“If a minor, an at-risk person, or a prohibited person obtains a firearm and uses it to injure or cause the death of a person or uses the firearm in connection with a crime, the civil penalty shall not exceed $10,000,” the law states. “The court may order a person who is found in violation of Section 5 to perform community service or pay restitution in lieu of the civil penalties imposed under this Section if good cause is shown.”
Illinois State Rifle Association’s Ed Sullivan testified against the bill before it passed.
“You can’t sue somebody for the acts of somebody else,” Sullivan said. “So once again, overreach by the anti-gun coalition.”
When Senate Bill 8 was being debated during spring session, Josh Witkowski with Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources said the U.S. Supreme Court already dealt with whether a firearm could be required to be inaccessible in the home via trigger lock or cable lock.
“Just as we are dealing with here, it stated that that firearm not being accessible for self defense is a violation of Second Amendment rights,” Witkowski said in May.
Standing alongside Pritzker at the bill signing Monday, state Sen. Laura Ellman, D-Naperville, said the measure also requires reporting lost and stolen firearms within 48 hours, instead of 72 hours.
“The clock starts ticking when they detect that the gun has been stolen or not, so once they find out that is when the clock starts ticking,” Ellman said.
Multiple failures to report could lead to the loss of a Firearm Owner’s ID card.
Pritzker also signed House Bill 1373, which requires law enforcement agencies in Illinois to participate in the federal firearm tracing platform eTrace.
