Cook County sheriff calls for funding to enforce firearm regulations
COOK COUNTY, Ill. - Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is pushing for funding to help with firearm regulations.
The funds would train and equip more door-knock officers to retrieve weapons from those who have had their state Firearm Owners Identification Card taken away.
The sheriff's department said more than 112,000 Illinois residents have been declared too dangerous to own a gun, but the state doesn't know if 84,000 of those people still have them.
Dart said that statistic is due to the revocation effort being severely under-funded and that the problem is a long-standing one.
The Cook County Sheriff's Office put out a report that shows if nothing changes, in three years, there could be as many as 10,000 additional illegal guns in the state.
He's proposing that the funding be put toward regional efforts to remove those guns in a more efficient manner.
"We're asking for money to be appropriated to state police, who then can disperse it. Then, they can disperse it the way that they find to be fit. I would strongly suggest to you that some departments have the capacity to do it on their own. Other ones, you're fooling yourself. You're just kidding yourself – this problem won't go away. In those areas, we need to think of a regional task force model…," said Dart.
Felony indictments are the most common reason that a resident's card can be revoked, followed by mental health concerns and domestic violence-related infractions.
Illinois is one of 11 states that require gun owners to get a license before purchasing a firearm.
