{"id":25849,"date":"2025-12-22T16:16:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T22:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=25849"},"modified":"2025-12-22T16:16:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T22:16:30","slug":"new-laws-gun-storage-police-background-check-changes-take-effect-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/25849-new-laws-gun-storage-police-background-check-changes-take-effect-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"New Laws: Gun Storage, Police Background Check Changes Take Effect in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><h4>Gov. JB Pritzker passes in front of a row of Illinois State Police vehicles during a ceremony outside the Illinois Capitol in Springfield on March 30, 2022. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jerry Nowicki)<\/h4>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First-time gun offenders can earn a FOID card under new law<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By BEN SZALINSKI<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><a href=\"mailto:bszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Article Summary<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Several new public safety laws will take effect Jan. 1.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One new law requires gun owners to store their firearms in a locked and secure location when children are present or face big fines.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A law honoring Sonya Masey will take effect requiring police departments to do more in-depth background checks for new hires after Capitol News Illinois reporting raised questions about Sangamon County\u2019s hiring process.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other new laws remove the statute of limitations for cases of human trafficking of a minor and allow first-time gun offenders to obtain a Firearm Owner Identification card.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gun owners in Illinois must take new steps in 2026 to secure their firearms in their homes, particularly when children are present.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gov. JB Pritzker signed <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ilga.gov\/Legislation\/BillStatus?DocNum=8&amp;GAID=18&amp;DocTypeID=SB&amp;LegId=157098&amp;SessionID=114\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Senate Bill 8<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, known as the Safe Gun Storage Act, in late July, which prohibits gun owners from storing their weapons in an unsecured way at any location where they know that the gun could be accessed by a minor, a person at risk of harming themselves or others, or by a person who is prohibited from possessing a firearm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the law, gun owners will be required to keep them in a locked container so that they are inaccessible or unusable by anyone other than the owner. Owners who violate the law could be subject to fines as high as $10,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Read more: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/pritzker-signs-bills-addressing-gun-storage-tracing-of-firearms\/\"><b>Pritzker signs bill addressing gun storage, tracing of firearms<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gun owners must also report lost or stolen firearms to police within 48 hours of discovering a gun missing. That\u2019s down from the previous 72-hour requirement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Background checks for police officers<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">State lawmakers passed a bill in response to the murder of Springfield resident Sonya Massey in 2024. Massey, a Black woman, was killed when former Sangamon County Sheriff\u2019s Deputy Sean Grayson, a white man, shot her in her kitchen while investigating a reported prowler. Grayson was convicted of second-degree murder in October.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/capitol-news-illinois-reporter-wins-driehaus-award-for-investigative-reporting\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reporting<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2024 revealed that Grayson had a history of reprimands and disobeying superiors at departments that previously employed him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Read more: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/pritzker-signs-police-background-check-expansion-in-sonya-masseys-honor\/\"><b>Pritzker signs police background check expansion in Sonya Massey\u2019s honor<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilga.gov\/legislation\/BillStatus.asp?GA=104&amp;DocTypeID=SB&amp;DocNum=1953&amp;GAID=18&amp;SessionID=114&amp;LegID=161340\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Senate Bill 1953<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a police department or sheriff\u2019s office making a hire would be required to request employment personnel files from the applicant\u2019s previous employers, including other law enforcement agencies. The previous employer would be required to share the information within 14 days.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Law enforcement applicants would be required to sign a document authorizing the release of information, including military service records, police discipline databases, employment and criminal history, driving records, academic credentials, a credit check, and more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI feel confident that going forward and over time, our communities and law enforcement will have built a trusting relationship, and I will have kept my promise to my childhood friends and Sonya\u2019s mother,\u201d Sen. Doris Turner, a Springfield Democrat who sponsored the bill and knows Massey\u2019s family, said at an August news conference.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Gun permits for offenders<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilga.gov\/Legislation\/BillStatus?DocNum=1899&amp;GAID=18&amp;DocTypeID=SB&amp;LegId=161184&amp;SessionID=114\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Senate Bill 1899<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> creates a path for first-time gun offenders to obtain a Firearm Owner\u2019s Identification Card and legally own a gun.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First-time offenders are allowed to apply for a FOID card after receiving a court order demonstrating they successfully completed the First Time Weapons Offense Diversion Program and are otherwise eligible to own a gun.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The opportunity narrowly applies to people charged with a Class 4 felony, which is the lowest level charge for illegally possessing a firearm. The bill received bipartisan support in the legislature, and proponents said it will mostly benefit young people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Human trafficking statute of limitations<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The statute of limitations on cases of human trafficking of minors is going away.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilga.gov\/Legislation\/BillStatus?DocNum=2602&amp;GAID=18&amp;DocTypeID=HB&amp;LegId=160521&amp;SessionID=114\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">House Bill 2602<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> removes the 25-year window for victims of involuntary servitude, involuntary sexual servitude of a minor, or trafficking to pursue charges from crimes that happened while they were a minor. They will now be allowed to bring charges at any time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Read more: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/plans-expanding-protections-for-trafficking-sexual-assault-victims-approved-by-house\/\"><b>Plans expanding protections for trafficking, sexual assault victims approved by House<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rep. Anne Stava, D-Naperville, said in April that the 25-year cap was protecting human traffickers who \u201creally don\u2019t deserve peace of mind.\u201d The bill unanimously passed the General Assembly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Missing persons reports<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilga.gov\/Legislation\/BillStatus?DocNum=24&amp;GAID=18&amp;DocTypeID=SB&amp;LegId=157123&amp;SessionID=114\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Senate Bill 24<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> prohibits police departments from establishing waiting periods before they accept a missing persons report. The law requires police to immediately enter information about a person reported missing into the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The law also requires police to keep missing persons cases open until the person is located.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. JB Pritzker passes in front of a row of Illinois State Police vehicles during a ceremony outside the Illinois Capitol in Springfield on March 30, 2022. (Capitol News Illinois [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":25850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New Laws: Gun Storage, Police Background Check Changes Take Effect in 2026 - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/25849-new-laws-gun-storage-police-background-check-changes-take-effect-in-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Laws: Gun Storage, Police Background Check Changes Take Effect in 2026 - 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