In Brief:
- Advocates hope the bill would pressure gun manufacturers to add safety features to their weapons, while providing support to victims.
- The bill is crafted in a way to avoid running afoul of gun manufacturers’ liability shield against misuse of their products.
- Critics say the bill would increase the price of guns, making them unattainable for low-income people who want to carry a firearm for protection.
An Illinois bill proposes a novel approach to gun regulation and gun violence prevention.
The Responsibility in Firearm Legislation (RIFL) Act, if passed, would subject firearm manufacturers to a variable licensing fee: The more often their guns are found to have been used in injury-causing incidents, the higher their fee. The money would go toward compensating gun violence victims or to cover other costs associated with gun violence.
The bill aims to skirt federal protections for the firearm industry. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act shields sellers from most civil lawsuits over unlawful use of their products. So the RIFL Act aims to compel these companies to financially compensate gun violence victims outside the court system.
“This is designed to avoid [the federal immunity law],” Dr. Anthony Douglas, a medical resident at the University of Chicago Medicine Trauma Center and the architect of the bill, told The Trace.
The bill “really is the first of its kind,” says Jennifer Dineen, associate director of University of Connecticut’s Center for Advancing Research, Methods, and Scholarship (ARMS) in Gun Violence Prevention, and member of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium.
If the law passes, manufacturers would be unable to operate in Illinois without obtaining the to-be-created state license, and retailers could only sell Illinois consumers guns from licensed manufacturers. This would be enforced with hefty fines for violations — manufacturers could face up to $1 million in fines per month.
Advocates say the bill would incentivize firearm manufacturers to design their products with safety measures built in. Bill sponsor and Democrat Rep. Kevin Olickal told The Trace the bill will “compel manufacturers to be more responsible,” and adopt changes to make their weapons less dangerous. Some gun safety advocates recommend features that make it harder for a child to pull the trigger, for example. Bill sponsor Sen. Robert Peters reportedly compares the bill to regulations compelling carmakers to install seat belts and other safety features.
Opponents of the RIFL Act worry it would make guns too expensive for many consumers as companies pass on the costs of compliance.
The bill could price low-income people out of carrying guns for protection, says John R. Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center.
“What you're going to do is you're going to primarily disarm the very people who benefit the most from owning guns. You're not going to stop wealthy people from owning guns,” Lott says. “They might as well just come out and say, ‘We don't like poor people owning guns.’”
Should the bill become law, it will likely face legal challenges. Other jurisdictions with similar laws have had to make an argument for their constitutionality in court. In 2022, San Jose passed an ordinance requiring gun owners to obtain liability insurance covering negligent or accidental use of their guns and to pay an annual “gun harm reduction fee” that the city would direct to a nonprofit. By 2024, the city had survived initial lawsuits over whether the ordinance violated the second amendment, and public officials in Sacramento and a prospective gubernatorial candidate in Florida have suggested similar approaches in recent years. Still, San Jose has not yet implemented the fee part of its ordinance and may see fresh lawsuits once it does.
Illinois’ bill, meanwhile, still has far to go before it could face a potential court case. It’s been steadily accruing new sponsors, with the House version listing 16 sponsors as of September and the Senate version clocking 20 sponsors.
It’s unclear whether the law has the votes to pass, but Illinois is a state that favors strong gun regulations. Democrats maintain a majority in the state House and state Senate, and Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker has touted his record of passing gun regulations.
“Illinois has been one of the most aggressive states in the nation in combatting the epidemic of gun violence,” Pritzker said when signing two new gun laws in July.
