State Rep. Sharon Chung of Bloomington is celebrating the passage of Karina’s Bill.
The bill will let authorities remove guns from alleged abusers who have protection orders against them.
If an alleged abuser has a history of abuse, authorities are to confiscate their guns no less than 96 hours after a warrant has been released.
Chung, a Democrat who represents the 91st Illinois House District stretching from Bloomington-Normal to the Peoria area, said the bill will save the lives of domestic violence victims.
“This bill will help so many people and probably prevent them from getting killed, like it'll save their lives,” Chung said. “So, it was something that was really important to me, and I was pushing for it, and I was really happy to see it get passed.”
The bill had been voted on three times prior to its passing but never leading to full vote until the lame duck session last week.
It had been named after Karina Gonzalez. She and her daughter Daniela were shot and killed allegedly by her husband in summer 2023.
The passing of the bill also comes nearly a year after Bloomington-Normal faced its own tragedy: the death of schoolteacher Amy Moore, who was killed by her ex-husband with a gun he bought in Iowa. Moore obtained orders of protection against her ex-husband before the killing.
Illinois has stricter guns laws than the states surrounding it but faces gun violence partially due to out-of-state trafficked guns. 60% of guns used in crimes came from out-of-state.
While the bill couldn’t protect Moore, Chung said Karina’s bill can save lives in the future.
“If he was convicted of, he had the FOID card, and they knew that he had access to a gun, those sorts of things like, you know, law enforcement officers can take them away. So hopefully we can save some lives here with this bill being passed," Chung said.
Gov. JB Pritzker said he will sign the bill when it hits his desk. It passed with bipartisan support in both the Illinois House and Senate.
Spring session
As the finals days of last session were wrapped up in early January, lawmakers are going back to their districts to talk to constituents and work on new bills.
For Chung, she is continuing the effort to help domestic violence victims through a new proposed bill. She said it’s not “soup yet” or what lawmakers call a bill that is a work-in-progress.
The bill as proposed would make it mandatory for schools and daycares to be notified if a child’s parent has a restraining order against them. Chung said she has been working on the bill with Mid Central Community Action, a Bloomington-based organization that combats domestic violence.
“They're the ones who sort of deal with a lot of the domestic violence legal paperwork and with orders of protection,” Chung said. “The people there said that this is something that seems like a no-brainer. And to me, it seems like a no-brainer too. So, in my mind, what we want to do is just to really protect people to ensure their protection.”
Last year, it was predicted that a $3.2 billion deficit shortfall would affect Illinois’ annual budget, leaving open the door for program cuts. Chung, a member of the Moderate Democratic Caucus, said the budget must be balanced but still provide enough for essential services.
“We'll also be really trying to be engaged in budget discussions and trying to figure out how we can provide great services to the people in our communities and in our state without cutting unnecessary services,” Chung said. “Seeing what we can do to keep driving economic growth and helping in terms of education funding, all those sorts of things that we all really do care about quite a bit.”
Chung said she is a strong advocate for higher education funding, but said she doesn’t know if this is a good year to overhaul or up funding.
“I do know that some needs have changed,” Chung said. “I don't know if this is really the best year to sort of discuss, to up any of that funding, but that's something that's always been a big priority of mine. My kids are in public school here in Bloomington. We have a great public university here in Normal. Public education is something that's really important to me, and I want to make sure that we are continuing to fund that and just really help students get off on the right foot.”
Chung also said she is not going to push for any gun bills this session but said she trusts her colleagues who have worked on gun-related bills such as state Reps. Kelly Cassidy and Rep. Maura Hirschauer to lead on the issue.