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G-PAC & LAWMAKERS CALL FOR STRONGER SAFE STORAGE LAW IN WAKE OF GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTING

For Immediate Release
September 9, 2024

G-PAC & LAWMAKERS CALL FOR STRONGER SAFE STORAGE LAW IN WAKE OF GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTING

CHICAGO — In the wake of last week’s school shooting in Georgia, the Gun Violence Prevention PAC (G-PAC) of Illinois joined with Sen. Laura Ellman and Rep. Maura Hirschauer to announce a push to change Illinois’ gun storage law to prevent minors and other at-risk individuals from accessing deadly weapons and inflicting tragedy.

The Safe Firearm Storage Act (SB 3527/HB 5065) would strengthen existing Illinois law around safe firearm storage to better prevent a tragedy like the horrific shooting that occurred in Winder, Ga. Illinois law, unlike Georgia, requires locked storage of a gun in some cases, but only if there is a person aged 13 or younger living in the house.

The recently proposed safe storage legislation would change the age limit to require secure, locked storage for weapons in a home with a minor aged 18 or younger.

“Simple changes in our laws can help save countless lives, and G-PAC is committed to making those changes with the help of our gun safety champions,” said Kathleen Sances, President and CEO of G-PAC, Illinois’ leading gun violence prevention advocacy organization. “A 14-year-old child should never have access to a firearm. We don’t need to keep living this way.”

“Illinois is committed to leading the charge in gun violence prevention, and the next crucial step is ensuring safe firearm storage,” Ellman said. “Proper gun storage is a lifesaving measure. Incidents like the tragic mass shooting at Apalachee High School should never be considered an inevitable part of life – they are a failure of our system. Legislation that mandates safe storage can help avert such tragedies and address the everyday horrors of unintentional shootings by children and teen gun suicide.”

“Our heart breaks for the families impacted in Georgia’s school shooting, but we won’t just offer our thoughts and prayers – we will act,” Hirschauer said. “We will build on our record of nation-leading gun violence prevention legislation and ensuring safe storage of firearms is a common-sense measure long overdue.”

While the legislation was introduced last spring session, the Illinois General Assembly did not act on it. G-PAC is launching the “Safe At Home” campaign to push for the legislation this fall, as well as a bill to strengthen reporting requirements around lost and stolen weapons.

Details of the Safe Firearm Storage Act:

  • Prohibit someone from leaving a firearm outside of their immediate possession or control unless it is unloaded and secured in a lock box or container that makes it inaccessible to anyone but the owner or another legally authorized user.
  • Prohibits storing or leaving a firearm where the owner would know a minor, an at-risk person, or someone prohibited from using firearms is likely to gain access to them.
  • Defines “Minor” as a person aged 18 and under.
    • Adds “At-risk person” as someone who has made statements or exhibited behavior to a reasonable person there is a likelihood the person is at risk of attempting suicide or causing physical harm to oneself or others.
    • Adds “Prohibited person” as a person ineligible under federal or state law to possess a firearm.
  • Adds civil penalties associated with the failure to safely secure firearms:
    • Violations begin at $500 and escalate to $1,000 if a person knowingly prohibited from accessing a gun obtains a weapon.
    • Establishes a penalty of $10,000 if a minor, at-risk person, or someone prohibited from having a firearm obtains one and uses it to injure or cause the death of someone or uses it in a crime.
  • Fines received from penalties will benefit the Mental Health fund.
  • At first violation, court may impose community service or restitution in lieu of civil penalties.

Founded in 2013 by gun violence survivors, G-PAC is committed to ending the gun violence epidemic by supporting the passage of a responsible, common sense gun safety agenda focused on illegal guns and gun trafficking. Learn more about G-PAC: https://gpacillinois.com/.

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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.