A new Illinois law requiring guns to be locked up failed only hours into 2026 in northwest Chicago.
Less than 24 hours after a new Illinois law mandating that firearms be locked up to prevent access by children or otherwise unauthorized persons, a 7-year-old Chicago child was reportedly shot in a home in the Windy City’s northwest side.
Perhaps no mishap could better illustrate the futility of adopting such legislation with the expectation it will live up to its advertising.
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When the Daily Herald reported on the new law, the headline, which led with the words “Lock ‘em up,” may have misled some to believe the city was going to jail armed criminals. In reality, the new statute, signed by anti-gun gov, J.B. Pritzker six months ago in Springfield, actually seems more designed to penalize gun owners by hitting violators with fines which may go as high as $10,000.
Nobody was immediately taken into custody following the New Year’s Day shooting, which left the victim wounded but expected to be okay. As noted by the Daily Herald report, “Failure to comply isn’t a crime.”
WLS News in Chicago noted in its report, “But it is still not clear how the 8-year-old was so easily able to access a gun moments before he allegedly pulled the trigger.”
What is clear is that the new Illinois statute—essentially like any other restrictive gun control law—failed almost immediately. The law, Senate Bill 8, dubbed the Safe Gun Storage Act, carefully notes in its synopsis, “Provides that if the firearm is carried by or under the control of the owner or other lawfully authorized user, then the firearm is deemed lawfully stored or kept.”
This may or may not satisfy the Supreme Court’s language about locking up guns in the text of District of Columbia v. Heller, the 2008 Second Amendment case, which reminded the nation that the right to keep and bear arms belongs to individual citizens, not just militia members, and that handguns are protected by the amendment.
The Heller ruling, authored by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, notes, “In sum, we hold that the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense. Assuming that Heller is not disqualified from the exercise of Second Amendment rights, the District must permit him to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.”
It has long been a matter of common knowledge that government cannot legislate against stupidity, and when it adopts restrictions on the fundamental right enshrined in the Second Amendment, criminals routinely ignore them.
A look at the popular website Heyjackass.com, which tracks homicides in Chicago, tells the tale. In 2025, the website says, the city racked up 433 homicides, of which 362 involved firearms. Heyjackass.com acknowledges last year’s totals are down from 2024 by better than 30 percent. Even the number of people shot and wounded, a total of 1,592, was down 35 percent from the previous year.
Other provisions of the new law, explained in the synopsis, include:
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Provides that the court may order a person who is found in violation of the Act to perform community service or pay restitution in lieu of the civil penalties imposed under this Section if good cause is shown.
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Provides that nothing in the Act shall be construed to preclude civil liabilities for violations of the Act.
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Provides that a violation of the Act is prima facie evidence of negligence per se in any civil proceeding if a minor, an at-risk person, or a prohibited person obtains a firearm and causes personal injury to the death of oneself or another or uses the firearm in the commission of a crime.
Illinois isn’t the only state with a new storage mandate. California also requires guns to be stored in a locked safe (SB 53). And that’s not all. Starting April 1, the Golden State restricts gun purchases to three per month after a court ruling struck down the one-per-month limit as unconstitutional. Other restrictions will kick in at mid-year.
With state legislatures opening for business within the next few weeks in many states, watch for Democrats to push even more restrictions on law-abiding gun owners, while tending to go softer on criminals. Sponsors of such legislation will remain deliberately oblivious to the New Year’s Day event in Chicago.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
. NOT. Just another cheap shot at legal gun owning Americans. Yet another reason people are moving out of Illinois in droves.
