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G-PAC APPLAUDS SENATE PASSAGE OF SAFE AT HOME

For Immediate Release
April 11, 2025

SPRINGFIELD — The Gun Violence Prevention PAC of Illinois (G-PAC), the state’s leading gun violence advocacy organization, applauded Illinois Senators for passing Safe At Home to protect more children and at-risk and prohibited people from accessing guns in Illinois.

Senate members voted 33-19 Thursday to pass Safe At Home (Senate Bill 8) led by Senate President Don Harmon and sponsoring Senators Laura Ellman and Ram Villivalam. 

The proposed legislation would better promote responsible gun ownership in Illinois by enhancing what it means to safely store weapons and strengthening reporting requirements for lost and stolen guns. Working together, these safety measures will protect more children, at-risk and prohibited people from accessing deadly weapons, targeting an increasing number of instances of accidental shootings, suicide, mass shootings, and crime and violence in Illinois communities. 

“Too many horrific headlines have proven we need to strengthen our laws to secure guns in homes and better prevent weapons from getting into the hands of children, vulnerable individuals and people prohibited from owning a gun,” said Kathleen Sances, President and CEO of G-PAC. “The research behind Safe At Home shows us that stronger secure storage laws can prevent unintentional shootings, suicide, mass shootings, and crime in our communities. With the level of gun ownership in our society, we must ensure our laws work to keep our communities safe and save lives.”

“Illinois must do more to stop senseless and preventable tragedies that claim lives and devastate families and communities,” Sen. Ellman said. “Safe At Home is a lifesaving measure to help avert the heartbreak of unintentional shootings and other acts of violence.”

“Illinois is a leader in gun violence prevention, and I’m proud to help lead Safe At Home into law,” Sen. Villivalam said. “With the level of gun ownership today, our laws must keep up to protect children and other vulnerable populations from accessing weapons and preventing tragedy.”

Senate Bill 8 now moves to the Illinois House for consideration, sponsored by Reps. Maura Hirschauer and Kevin Olickal.

Provisions of Safe At Home include:

  • Outlines improved safe storage requirements in homes where a minor, at-risk person, or someone prohibited from using firearms could gain access to them.
  • Changes definition of “minor” to a person under 18 years of age (military and national guard excluded).
  • Adds civil penalties associated with the failure to safely secure firearms; at first violation, courts may impose community service or restitution.
  • Strengthens requirement for reporting a lost or stolen firearm from 72 to 48 hours after the owner first discovers the loss or theft.
  • Requires education for gun owners of the obligation to report a lost or stolen firearm at the time of firearm purchase and FOID/CCL application and renewal process.
  • Requires ISP to create a portal for law enforcement to report individuals who have failed to report the loss or theft of a firearm.
  • Imposes penalty of revocation of FOID card on second violation for failure to report lost and stolen firearms. 

Read the research behind Safe At Home and more details in G-PAC’s fact sheet. 

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Rick Ryan

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As the Lake County State’s Attorney, I am honored and humbled every day to lead the fight against crime, and to strive to ensure equal and just treatment under the law. I have been an attorney for twenty-two years – and each of those years has made me a stronger and smarter advocate for people, for ideas, and for the principles that unite us all.

I am so proud to lead an office of 140 dedicated colleagues who serve the public by prosecuting crime, advocating for victims, and planning crime prevention programs. I am also proud to work with hundreds of Lake County police officers on a daily basis to connect with every community and to develop comprehensive, holistic plans to respond to the mental health and economic crisis that arose from the COVID-19 pandemic.

On one particular day, July 4, 2022, I was saddened, inspired, and motivated by the bravery of so many people. We will always stand with the victims and honor the police and other first responders who ran toward the danger. Just as so many heroes that day thought only of themselves, I also witnessed the prosecutors in my office answer the call to serve survivors and their community – even on one of its darkest days.

Every moment that I have been your legal representative, I have worked tirelessly to oversee prosecutions and to implement policies that make my family and my neighbors safer in the short term and in the long term. That is the job of the State’s Attorney: to prosecute, to innovate, and to strategically plan.

I was raised in a small town. My parents are teachers, and from them, I learned that everyone must be treated equally and that America’s sacred mission is to provide a political, economic, and legal system that allows anyone to prosper regardless of the circumstances of their birth. After graduating from Knox College and the University of Chicago Law School, I spent two years at a first-rate civil law firm in Chicago where I learned that hard work and attention to detail on every case mean the difference between success and failure.

With my wonderful wife Stephanie, I am raising my two sons, Sam and Teddy, in Lake County. Nothing is more important to me than my family’s safety and I bring that passion and determination to protect all families with me to work every day.

I joined the Lake County Public Defender’s Office in 2003 and started my own law firm in 2009. From 2003 until 2020, I watched the Lake County legal system fail to prioritize violent crime, prevent wrongful prosecutions, or address racial disparities.

So, in 2019, I decided to run for State’s Attorney so that I could serve our community by improving a local legal system that cared more about covering up its mistakes and biases than uncovering new and innovative ways to help people.

I won the 2020 election, and became the first Democrat to hold this position in 40 years. Bringing in a new party wasn’t as important as ending 40 years of one mindset that had forgotten the people and that had failed to act urgently to develop new strategic plans to prevent crime while also ensuring that each prosecution is smart, moral, and just.

We have followed through on our promises. We have built the first-ever violent crimes unit, increased prosecutors in our domestic violence division, and vastly upgraded our cyber lab. Now, we have top-notch software and personnel to finally keep up with those who would exploit others.

We have been awarded a large federal grant to bring the first ever Human Trafficking Task Force to Lake County. We have deepened our investment in people by bringing in more victim specialists and raising the salaries of many of our prosecutors.

But the work goes on. We must expand our prevention efforts that are starting with the Gun Violence Prevention Initiative launched in 2022. And we know that the opioid crisis touches thousands of lives throughout this country.

I am proud to serve on the Executive Board of the Lake County Opioid Initiative which has been working tirelessly since its founding in 2012 to reverse a devastating trend of increased overdoses. In 2022, our office was part of a national settlement against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

As an attorney of 22 years, I have committed my life to helping people, and I have conducted over 70 jury trials in Lake County, and handled appeals that have culminated in over 20 oral arguments before the appellate court and Supreme Court of Illinois.

I see my time in this office as the next phase of helping a community that I love and where I have chosen to raise my family. In my first term, we have made Lake County safer and fairer through just prosecutions, constitutional policing, and innovative crime prevention policies.