Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is requesting $10 million to train and equip officers to retrieve firearms from individuals prohibited from owning them due to legal or mental health issues. Noncompliance with Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card revocations has led to incidents like the 2019 Henry Pratt Co. shooting, prompting pending legislation to increase fees on firearm purchases for enforcement funding.
In Illinois, 114,000 individuals are prohibited from owning firearms due to legal issues or mental health concerns, but roughly 84,000 of them have not surrendered their weapons, according to data from Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. Dart is requesting $10 million from state legislators to fund efforts aimed at retrieving these firearms or ensuring their secure storage. The funding would be used to train and equip officers to enforce compliance among those whose Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) cards have been revoked.
This issue has practical implications, as demonstrated by a 2019 incident where a man, who should have surrendered his weapon after a felony conviction, used it in a shooting at Henry Pratt Co., a Chicago suburb, killing five employees and wounding several others. Dart’s report indicates that similar cases have occurred due to noncompliance with FOID card revocations.
Legislation currently pending in Springfield seeks to address this problem by increasing fees on firearm purchases to fund enforcement. Illinois State Police have been tracking revocation compliance since May 2019 and have brought 4,300 individuals into compliance through 2022.
Illinois State Representative Bob Morgan, who experienced a mass shooting firsthand during a parade in Highland Park in 2022, supports the proposed legislation, which would raise the fee on firearm purchases and transfers to $10. The increased revenue would support enforcement efforts to manage the backlog of unsurrendered firearms in the state.