Illinois House passes bill protecting domestic violence survivors from gun violence

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — The Illinois House passed a bill Tuesday night to add new protections for domestic violence survivors who file an emergency restraining order. Under the plan, an abuser's guns could be taken away, and their FOID card revoked, if a judge approves the emergency restraining order.

The proposal was named Karina's law in honor of Karina Gonzalez, who alongside her daughter, was shot and killed by her husband shortly after an emergency restraining order was imposed on the man.

In the past three years, the bill had stagnated in the state capitol, only being passed as one of the last bills for debate for the 103 General Assembly.

Amanda Pyron, President and CEO of The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence, highlighted the dangers to women if the bill doesn't pass.

"There has been a 63% increase in domestic violence firearm-involved deaths between 2019 and 2023 across Illinois," Pyron said. "Domestic violence shootings across the state in 2023 resulted in on average three times as many deaths than non-domestic violence shootings."

After the emergency order has been approved by the judge, law enforcement must take away the abuser's guns within a 96-hour time limit.

House Democrats during the debate mentioned stories of women similar to Karina, where they would file for a restraining order, only to be shot and killed shortly after.

When presenting the bill, Rep. Maura Hirschauer (D-West Chicago) said she was nervous reading what she considered the most important legislation of her career.

"It has been 21 months since we failed to take action on Karina's bill," Hirschauer said. "Our failure to act had life and death consequences for our constituents, people, mostly women and children, who look towards us and our laws for protection."

Many House Republicans voted against the bill, mentioning dangers to police officers when taking the guns and a possible infringement on Illinois citizens constitutional rights.

"How do they get their second amendment rights back?" Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) said. "Once you start to take someone's constitutional rights away, you've gone down a road that I don't think any of us should go down."

The proposal passed out of the House on a 80-33 vote. State senators previously voted 43-10 to passed the legislation. It will now head to Gov. JB Pritzker for his signature of approval.