Illinois

In July 2018, Governor Bruce Rauner signed House Bill 2354 into law creating Illinois’s Firearms Restraining Order (FRO). The law went into effect on January 1, 2019. Training for various law enforcement agencies, health professionals, and advocates began shortly after the bill was signed into law. Training includes information about how the FRO works (including qualifying criteria; authorized petitioners; petition, service and firearm dispossession; and return of guns) and how the FRO interacts with other policies. Illinois’ FRO law was updated to extend the length of the final order to up to one year.

A Firearms Restraining Order (FRO) is a civil order that temporarily prohibits individuals who pose a significant danger of causing personal injury to self or others in the near future from purchasing and possessing firearms, ammunition, or firearm parts that could be assembled to make an operable firearm. Law enforcement and family members (including a current or former spouse, parent, child or stepchild, a person related by blood or present marriage, a person who has a minor child in common with the respondent, or a person who shares a common dwelling with the respondent)¹ are authorized to petition for a FRO. A respondent is required to answer or appear within seven days of service of the petition.² Petitioners may seek an emergency FRO which will be issued on an ex parte basis. An emergency hearing held on an ex parte basis must be held the same day the petition is filed, or the next day court is in session.³ If an emergency FRO is issued, the order will remain in place for a maximum of 14 days until the hearing for a plenary FRO, unless both parties agree to an extension. Petitioners may also seek a plenary FRO without first petitioning for an emergency FRO. A plenary FRO is issued after the respondent has received notice and an opportunity to go before a judge to contest the petition.  Upon receipt of a plenary FRO petition, a court must order a hearing within 30 days.⁴ A plenary FRO can restrain a respondent from possessing firearms, ammunition, and firearm parts for up to one year but no less than six months.⁵

To legally possess firearms or ammunition in Illinois, residents must have a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card. Similarly, residents must have a Concealed Carry License (CCL) to carry concealed firearms in the state. When an emergency or plenary FRO is issued, the respondent to that order must surrender any firearms, ammunition, and firearm parts that could be assembled to make an operable firearm in their possession to law enforcement for the duration of the order. The respondent’s FOID card and CCL are also suspended for that time.

Illinois’s FRO law includes an ex parte FRO issued by a judicial officer; a hearing where the respondent is provided notice and an opportunity to participate; the respondent’s right to counsel (at no expense to the government);  and the requirement of substantial and credible evidence (e.g. the enumerated factors the judicial officer must consider) to issue a FRO.