One Year Later, Still “Punishing Fear”: How the Criminalization of Gun Possession Has Changed in a Year
One year ago, Chicago Appleseed published a report about the rampant criminalization of gun possession in Cook County, titled Punishing Fear: The Devastating Impacts of the War on Gun Possession in Chicago. One week later, Eileen O’Neill Burke was elected as Cook County State’s Attorney, and her administration has only exacerbated the issue.
The report highlighted that many people in Chicago choose to carry guns out of safety concerns rather than violent intent. Illinois’ strict gun laws make the path to legal gun ownership inaccessible for poor, undocumented, or non-White Chicagoans, especially for those with a history of criminal legal involvement. At the time of the report, 82.6% of felony gun charges in Cook County were for possession of a weapon rather than use, sale, or delivery. Policing of gun possession, often in the form of pretextual vehicle stops, disproportionately targeted Black and Brown neighborhoods on the South and West Sides, placing them at an intersection of risk of both violence and arrest. Only a small portion (1%) of felony gun possession cases were diverted from the traditional criminal legal process, and a majority (61%) resulted in guilty pleas, which often carry a multi-year sentence in prison and a lifetime ban from owning a gun legally. Since the report was published, the approach to gun possession by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) has shifted further toward criminalization.
On her first day in office, Burke introduced a detention policy that requires prosecutors to file a petition to detain in all gun possession cases where the firearm had any of the following attributes:
- Modified with an extended magazine or drum magazine
- Modified with an automatic switch
- Missing a serial number
- Defaced in any way
We have already witnessed some consequences of this policy. The rate of pretrial detention has almost doubled since Burke took office, increasing the Cook County Jail’s population by hundreds of people. This is especially true for weapons cases, where 35% of cases resulted in pretrial detention in 2025 as opposed to 21% in 2024.
In February, the CCSAO decided to no longer divert gun possession cases to the Restorative Justice Community Courts (RJCCs), of which they had made up a majority of cases. Even though Chicago Appleseed has previously stated that gun possession cases, being crimes without a clear victim, are not well-suited for the RJCCs, this policy change will likely lead to more gun possession convictions due to limited alternative diversion options for gun cases.
Burke’s team advocated for Senate Bill 1899, which was passed in the current legislative cycle as Public Act 104-0398. The act will permit people with pending first-time gun possession cases to apply for a FOID card while in a court-led diversion program. Though this act has potential to reduce the number of gun possession convictions and handle these cases more appropriately as licensure issues, it is only effective if prosecutors divert gun possession cases to eligible programs. Halting referrals of gun possession cases to the RJCCs without a clear plan to divert gun possession cases to other diversion programs, such as the First Time Weapons Offense Program (FTWOP), hampers the impact of this legislative win.
In January, the CCSAO began to pilot its “Felony Review Bypass Program,” which reduces the legal standards necessary for filing felony gun possession charges. The policy allows police to file felony gun possession charges without the oversight of legal counsel, which is not possible for most felony charges in Cook County. The policy is now in effect citywide, as Burke announced in a recent statement.
The criminalization of gun possession is ineffective in addressing the root causes of violence, and alternative models that support people who carry guns, as opposed to criminalizing them, already exist in Chicago. For example, Stick Talk promotes firearm harm reduction through collective healing, culturally responsive political education, and mutual aid in neighborhoods and inside prisons. Chicago Appleseed also recommends investing in diversion programs that do not unreasonably disrupt a person’s work, school, or family life.