Lake County Board members discussed safe gun storage practices, gun death statistics and potential policy solutions to accidental gun deaths and broader gun violence on Friday at its Committee of the Whole meeting.
The board heard testimony about the importance of safe gun storage from Kristin and Mike Song, whose son Ethan was killed by an accidental gunshot at a friend’s house in 2018, and several Democrats afterward expressed their emphatic support and called for Illinois to enact Ethan’s Law.
Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart, D-Lake Bluff, said she believes board members have reached a “consensus on moving forward” to support the law’s passage in Illinois, and work with its public health department, the Lake County sheriff’s office and other county entities to educate residents about how they can safely store their firearms.
Despite pushback from many in the board’s Republican minority, board Democrats used their significant majority to push for Illinois to enact laws to reduce gun violence following the July 4 mass shooting in Highland Park.
The board voted 16-5 in August to add support
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for an assault weapons ban — which passed in January and is now facing a host of court challenges — and regulations around the storage of firearms to their legislative advocacy platform.Hart said that since the board has already adopted safe firearm storage advocacy into its 2023 legislative platform, she believes support for the Ethan’s Law bill introduced to the Illinois legislature on Feb. 8 can be added without going through committee and back to the full board.
In their presentations to the board, Kristin Song and District 18 member Sara Knizhnik, D-Vernon Hills, each cited national statistics that show that 76% of American school shooters use guns taken from their homes.
Knizhnik called getting meaningful gun legislation passed, “one of the biggest challenges of our time,” and said the Songs have been “incredibly successful” by repeatedly sharing details of their tragedy with lawmakers and everyday people around the country.
Kristin Song broke into tears as she recounted the weeks following Ethan’s death, and how her life was “shattered into a million pieces.”
Connecticut Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy reintroduced Ethan’s Law in Congress in January, which would need significant Republican support in both chambers to pass.
Knizhnik, a gun violence prevention activist who won her board seat in November, said, “It’s time we put responsibility where it belongs, on the firearm owner and not on the child who accesses the unsecured firearm.”
She told the board that firearms are the leading cause of death for children in the United States, and added that 4 million U.S. children live in a home with an unlocked, loaded gun; and that 54% of gun owners reported not locking up their guns in the home.
County Board members also heard presentations from Lake County health department Executive Director Mark Pfister and Lake County sheriff’s office Deputy Chief Chris Covelli about how their organizations are working to promote the safe storage of guns.
Both expressed firm support for the board’s focus on lessening gun violence, and Covelli said the sheriff’s office is “100% on board” and that “there is no wiggle room.”