Illinois’ gun ID card scrutinized amidst violent crime outcomes
[March 04, 2025]
By Catrina Barker | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – After a triple homicide-suicide in Bloomington, a
gun rights advocate says Illinois’ Firearm Owners Identification card
revocation processes and gun control laws “don’t work.”
A Bloomington Police Department news release last month said a firearm
used in a triple homicide-suicide was recovered at the scene under the
body of Christopher Simmons. The firearm was legally purchased by
Simmons in 2021. In 2022, Simmons' FOID card was revoked, and he was
prohibited from legally possessing firearms.
Guns Save Life Executive Director John Boch said Simmons shouldn’t have
had guns.
“In this case, a couple of officers could have knocked on that door and
asked about his gun … that might have gotten the gun, but they didn't do
that, and the state police didn't do that,” said Boch.
The Illinois State Police informed local law enforcement that Simmons
failed to submit a Firearm Disposition form.
“Notification of Simmons’ revocation was sent and included in the law
enforcement portal, which local law enforcement agencies can use for
enforcement purposes,” ISP spokesman Melaney Arnold told The Center
Square.
The Center Square asked Bloomington Police if confiscation or seizure
actions were taken, they did not immediately respond.
Boch suggested the General Assembly allocate public funds to assist
local departments in seizures.
“In my opinion, the buck stops with the state police because ultimately,
they're the senior law enforcement agency in the state, outside the
local sheriffs … and unless the General Assembly offers more money to
the local law enforcement to have availability for these officers to go
out and do this when they're strapped for funds, especially in smaller
towns, you're going to get these people that fall through the cracks,
and they sometimes do really horrific things,” said Boch.
Simmons was released on “conditional discharge” for 18 months in
September 2023 for a misdemeanor gun charge. Boch said probation
officers, unlike local law enforcement, don’t need a court order to
search and seize firearms.
“If anybody's on probation and parole, their respective probation/parole
agents can search their homes without a warrant or anything at any time,
that's part of the agreement for these people being out of custody,”
said Boch.
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Boch said local law enforcement could have contacted Simmons' probation
officer to conduct a search after being notified of his failure to
submit a Firearm Disposition record.
Separately, Robert Crimo III pleaded guilty Monday to the 2022 Highland
Park parade shooting where he killed seven people and injured dozens.
ISP is facing civil challenges in the Illinois Court of Claims over
issuing Crimo a FOID card. Plaintiffs argue a local police report of
Crimo being a “clear and present danger” should have blocked Crimo's
card.
In 2022, Lake County Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli discussed the
report of Crimo given to the ISP.
“[In September of 2019] a family member reported that Cremo said he was
going to kill everyone and Crimo had a collection of knives. The police
responded to his residence. The police removed 16 knives, a dagger, and
a sword from Crimo's home. At that time, there was no probable cause to
arrest. The Highland Park Police Department, however, did immediately
notify the Illinois State Police of the incident,” Covelli said in a
2022 news conference.
In 2022, state Sen. John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said clarity on FOID
card issues is needed before considering further gun control.
“It would seem to make sense to me when we have a tragic situation, like
July 4th that happened, that highlights a problem in our safety net
around guns that we first diagnose the problem. What happened
specifically and address that problem before we move on to anything
else,” Curran told The Center Square in 2022. “That still hasn’t been
done here. That’s step one in promoting better gun safety and public
safety, and until that’s done, I’m not sure we should be moving on to
two, three, four. We have to make sure that this is done first.”
ISP confirmed they didn't attempt to seize Simmons' firearms after his
failure to submit a Firearm Disposition form. ISP issued Crimo a FOID
despite a “clear and present danger” report from Lake County law
enforcement, but have since updated its internal policies to make clear
and present danger reports more prominent in FOID application reviews.
Greg Bishop contributed to this report.
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