A first-of-its-kind state law would force gun manufacturers to pay for a portion of the financial toll of gun violence in Illinois.
Gun violence costs the state about $20 billion annually, according to estimates based on data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That figure includes direct costs like emergency services, medical care, law enforcement resources and funeral expenses. It also includes indirect costs like mental health treatment, loss of income and childcare.
The Responsibility in Firearms Legislation Act, a bill coming before the Illinois General Assembly, would require gunmakers to contribute to a state fund that would help offset the costs shouldered by taxpayers and the individuals directly affected by a shooting.
If passed, the law would be a first of its kind in the country. Other states have considered similar bills, but none have become law.
“Name another industry in this country that gets to sell a product, profit from the damage it does and pay nothing for it,” said state Rep. Kevin Olickal during a news conference Tuesday morning outside the University of Chicago Medical Center.
“When a car is defective, the automaker pays. When a drug harms patients, the manufacturer pays. Tobacco pays. Asbestos pays. Opioid companies are paying right now. That is how accountability works in every industry but one: firearms,” said Olickal, who is sponsoring the House version of the Responsibility in Firearms Legislation Act.
Under the law, a manufacturers would only be on the hook if one of its guns is used in a firearm injury or death in Illinois. And those manufacturers would together cover 7% to15% of the overall annual cost. If passed, the law is estimated to save Illinois nearly $300 million in the first year it’s in effect.
Tuesday’s news conference comes after eight people were fatally shot and 30 were wounded in shootings over the Labor Day weekend. The holiday marks the end of summer, and this season has been historically peaceful in Chicago compared to past years. The city had 122 murders in June, July and August — the lowest summer total since 1965.
Despite that drop in shootings, the toll of gun violence persists.
Anthony Douglas is a resident trauma surgeon with the University of Chicago’s emergency department. Douglas, standing with his fellow physicians at Tuesday’s news conference, shared anecdotes from the front lines of Chicago’s gun violence epidemic. In the last four years, Douglas and his colleagues have cared for 4,656 patients with gunshot wounds.
“We have had enough,” Douglas said. “The physicians and staff before you today have called time of death on more Illinoisans than we can remember. They’ve heard the screams of thousands of mothers in the wee hours of the night, spent innumerable nights washing the blood of children off their skin and watched the tears of anger and grief seep from the families of victims of gun violence.”
Between hospital shifts, Douglas has spent months helping to craft and push for the bill in Springfield. He’s hopeful the bill has enough support to pass during the upcoming lame duck session in January.
“Hundreds of millions of dollars fall onto victims, families, hospitals and ultimately taxpayers,” Douglas said. “While our society shoulders the cost of gun injury every year, the manufacturers of these lethal products profit billions.”
The law would require the state’s law enforcement agencies to provide the Illinois State Police with the name and manufacturer of the firearms recovered from shootings, which would include homicides, suicides, nonfatal injuries and unintentional shootings.
The gunmaker would then make an annual payment to a state treasury fund that would support victims and violence prevention efforts: The amount a manufacturer pays is proportionate to how many of its guns are tied to shootings in the state.
The vast majority of manufacturers won’t be affected by the law, Douglas said. In 2024, only 55 manufacturers had weapons recovered in injuries and deaths in Illinois, he said. There are over 3,000 gun makers in the U.S. alone, according to 2024 data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.