Red Flag Law unused in Kane County, though guns seized in domestic, stalking/no contact cases

ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP – When the Firearm Restraining Order Act went into effect in Illinois on Jan. 1, 2019, Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain said his office braced for a mass of requests from the public.

Also known as the Red Flag Law, it allows family or friends to report someone who could be a danger to themselves or others. A judge can issue a 14-day or six-month order to confiscate guns, according to the statute.

“We expected a litany of those [reports] when it first went into effect,” Hain said. “New Jersey adopted that model a couple of years before and we were using New Jersey as a model. Their seizure orders went through the roof. The first month, there was a shootout between law enforcement attempting to serve an order to take guns. We did a lot of early bracing. Three and a half years later, we have not seen a single one.”

As to why no one has made such a report is anyone’s guess, but Hain thinks it might be a combination of not knowing the law exists at all, along with regular gun seizures through normal court proceedings.

“The vast majority are settled through orders of protection and stalking/no contact orders used in domestic violence situations,” Hain said. “Because those orders are the most common and [judges’ seizure orders] remedy the issue.”

If a person accused of domestic battery or stalking has weapons, the weapons are seized for safekeeping in an evidence vault at the Sheriff’s office.

People still can call their local police agency or the Sheriff’s office in unincorporated areas to report a potentially dangerous person with a gun, Hain said.

As to what else can be done to get ahead of mass shootings like the one in Highland Park, Hain said he posts regularly on the sheriff’s Facebook page to provide information about mental health resources.

“Know the warning signs,” Hain said. “If you see something, say something.”

It can take up to three months to get mental health support, he said.

“But the office has a social worker who can respond immediately, connect people to resources and act as an interim counselor to try to mitigate any acts of violence, homicidal or suicidal behavior,” Hain said.

People having access to high-powered guns is not a recent phenomenon, he said.

“There have always been high-powered guns in the community. It’s just the rapid exposure of active shooting that has brought them to the surface,” Hain said.

All deputies have a modern patrol rifle with a scope on it and they all get two hours of stress-induced firearms training every month, Hain said.

“They run a certain distance between barricades or barriers for cover. This prepares our deputies at a much higher level and fills them with a great deal of confidence,” Hain said. “Once a year, all deputies go through rapid response training for a proper response to an active shooter.”

As to whether the public having access to high-powered weapons changed deputies’ jobs, Hain said, “It has not.”

“We are just ensuring that our deputies are the most prepared to combat those weapons,” Hain said.

Regarding calls for banning assault rifles, Hain said the wording needs to be more clear.

A semi-automatic weapon fires one shot at a time and is used for hunting coyotes and larger animals and should not be banned, he said.

“If you’re talking about fully automatic weapons, those should be banned. Guns that can shoot through an engine block of a vehicle or through the armored SWAT vehicles – that I support,” Hain said.

A .50 caliber rifle is the strongest that can be acquired and that is the concern, Hain said, because it can shoot through an engine block or an armored vehicle or a vest.

“If it can shoot through a vest, it should be banned along with armor piercing ammunition,” Hain said.