SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) – Lawmakers and advocates against domestic violence are renewing calls for action to protect survivors from gun violence.
It comes after a man is accused of killing seven of his family members in Joliet, and another man is accused of shooting and killing his wife and three daughters in Tinley Park.
“The system is failing women in Illinois, and Illinois can do something about it,” Yolanda Androzzo, the executive director of One Aim Illinois, said during a press conference Wednesday.
Advocates and lawmakers said that means passing a bill taking guns out of the hands of accused domestic abusers when an order of protection is granted.
“There can be no ambiguity and no delay in this process,” State Rep. Maura Hirschauer (D-Batavia), said.
A bill in the Capitol would require a court to issue a search warrant alongside an order of protection to allow law enforcement to take firearms away from an accused abuser.
Law enforcement would then have to execute the warrant within 96 hours. Advocates say under the current system, survivors can request for firearms to be removed but that the law isn’t consistently enforced.