Karina's Bill is an important step to help protect domestic violence survivors

It’s been nearly a decade since Kira fled her abusive husband, but the fear continues. Her husband used to chase her around their Chicago home with a shotgun, she says. He’d put it under his chin and threaten to blow his brains out — or to kill her.

With the help of family and the domestic violence shelter Sarah’s Inn, Kira and her children were able to escape. Police served the order of protection on her husband, but no weapons were removed from the home. Kira’s attorney returned to court, and a judge told her husband he had to surrender the guns to someone else – his elderly mother who lived in a nearby state.

Kira doubts the weapons were removed, and her teenage children have FaceTimed her while visiting their father to show the guns remained in his home.

"It’s been eight years. I’m still scared. If I hear something outside, if the kids hear something outside, we all jump," said Kira. (The Editorial Board is not using her last name for safety and privacy reasons.) "You always live with that fear."

State lawmakers can, and should, take action to lessen the fear that domestic violence survivors, and their children, can face even after fleeing abuse. They can do so by voting "yes" on Senate Bill 2633.

Karina’s Bill would provide police with clear authority to remove firearms from someone who’s had an order of protection served against them. The bill has the support of Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart as well as activists, including the son of the late Karina González, the domestic violence victim for whom the bill is named.

Karina González' and her daughter Daniela were shot to death in July 2023, allegedly by González's husband Jose Alvarez, who is charged with their murders. Their son, Jesus Emmanuel "Manny" Alvarez, was wounded in the shooting.

In a recent Sun-Times op-ed, Manny Alvarez recounted the steps his mom had taken to protect him and his sister, including obtaining an order of protection against his father.

But law enforcement hadn’t removed his gun from the home, even though Jose Alvarez's FOID card had been suspended.

“I lost the two closest people in my life, something that could’ve been avoided if the system for removing that firearm was better,” he wrote.

The bill would give judges across the state clear authority to order firearms to be removed when someone receives an emergency order of protection. Law enforcement would have up to four days to enforce the order, and the bill would close a loophole in current law by barring the transfer of ownership of guns in these cases. A search-and-seizure warrant for firearms would only be granted if an accused abuser had access to firearms and posed an "immediate and present danger" to the person seeking the protective order or to a child.

Danger in removing weapons

Some law enforcement representatives have raised concerns about the danger posed to police officers who are put in the position of taking away weapons.

Such situations can pose a risk. Gov. J.B. Pritzker — who said he supports the legislation in general — noted that when he said recently "literally you have to bring sometimes four officers to one situation in order to remove the weapon. And if somebody doesn’t want to give it to you, it becomes quite complicated.”

But the situation is surely even more complicated and dangerous for those who have been abused. And survivors and their families are at greatest risk in those hours and days after leaving an abusive relationship, advocates point out. One in five people are killed within two days of filing a protective order, says Maralea Negron, director of policy, advocacy and research for the Network Advocating Against Domestic Violence.

The group reports that 70 people died last year in Illinois in gun-related domestic violence incidents, and 59 others were injured. Another 34 people have been killed so far this year, a 55% increase over last year at this time. And 21 have been injured, a 133% jump from 2023.

"These are actual people, these are real lives impacted," Negron told us.

People like Karina González and her daughter Daniela, and the son and brother they left behind.

There's still time for lawmakers to act, before the legislative session ends later this month, and help domestic violence survivors move forward with their lives, safely.

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