Dart Seeking Authority To Seize Guns When FOID Cards Revoked
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said Thursday that a former top aide, now serving in the Illinois Senate, will sponsor legislation allowing police to confiscate guns from homes of people who have lost their state permit.
Dart said Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago), his former chief of staff, plans to sponsor legislation allowing sheriff's deputies to enter the home of anyone whose Firearms Owner's Identification Card has been revoked for a felony gun conviction, and confiscate any firearms they still have.
"For people who have a VOID card revoked, they have to return it within 48 hours, and within 48 hours they have to account for all of the weapons that they have," Dart said.
Dart Seeking New Gun Law
The sheriff said a recent encounter with the holder of a revoked FOID card convinced him he needs the authority to do just that.
"His son came into the house while we were there, and informed us, 'Well, you shouldn't feel terribly sorry for him, the reason his gun was taken away was because he took it to work to try to kill his foreman,'" Dart said, "He not only still had his FOID card, but his house still had guns in it."
Dart, a former state senator himself, said approximately 36,000 of the 350,000 FOID cards issued in Cook County have been revoked, but he has no power to see if those card holders are still in possession of their weapons.
"Think about the absolute insanity of this; that we have people who've been ajudged who should not have firearms – that clearly can't purchase them anymore – but are we saying that you can't purchase them, but the ones you have already, that's okay?" Dart said. "No, that's not what we're saying. We're saying you shouldn't be around guns."
Dart said Cunningham will introduce the proposal in Springfield within the next couple weeks.
