Illinois State Police confiscate over 1,000 illegal guns over 46-day stretch

CHICAGO - During a 46-day stretch from mid-June to the end of July, Illinois State Police confiscated more than 1,000 illegally owned guns.

This was a concentrated effort by the agency to reinforce firearm compliance.

Troopers conducted 1,700 compliance checks, 25% of which were done in northern Illinois.

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In some cases, residents who legally obtained a FOID card had their privileges revoked or were deemed a threat under the state's red flag laws.

"Because quite often what we have is, people who do commit a criminal act and then that's a basis for a revocation. Or there's an order of protection file, or there's a firearms restraining order file, or they have some other mental health thing in their background that results in being a prohibitor," said Brendan Kelly, director of the Illinois State Police.

Kelly said gun owners who are brought back into compliance will have their weapons returned.