(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is calling on state lawmakers to provide more funding for police efforts to keep firearms out of the hands of Illinoisans who are not supposed to have them.
Dart says the numbers are staggering. In Cook County alone, he said, there are 27,000 people who have had their Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) cards revoked but have not surrendered their permits or weapons.
“There’s been no effort to go and get any of the guns back. None, none, absolutely none,” the sheriff said at a news conference Friday.
Among those who have not complied are 1,863 people who are deemed a “clear and present danger”; 5,368 who have a serious mental health concern, and 5,574 who have an order of protection against them, Dart’s office said.
The sheriff’s office formed a special unit to ensure compliance and has recovered more than 1,000 firearms and worked more than 7,100 cases since its creation, officials said.
The number of revoked cardholders is expected to increase to 40,000 in Cook County in four years.
The state currently sets aside about $2 million for revocation enforcement statewide, Dart said. He wants that number to go up to about $8 million to $10 million per year.
Police are supposed to take guns from people who have not complied after losing their FOID cards or see that the guns are transferred to a third party.
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