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Illinois will now cover funeral expenses of children killed by gun violence

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:


  • Illinois passed a new law that will cover funeral expenses of children killed due to gun violence.
  • The new law will take effect starting July 1, 2023.  
  • Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the U.S. in 2020. 

Illinois passed new legislation into law that will cover up to $10,000 of funeral expenses for families that lose a child to gun violence. 

On May 10, Governor JB signed Murdered Children Funeral and Burial Assistance Act into law. The bill cites “the painful process of bereavement for families, who also must bear the responsibilities of planning and paying for a funeral—usually through some form of debt.”

The state creates a fund to directly pay for funeral expenses as the burden is especially hard on low-income families. Grieving families had to pay for funeral expenses upfront and apply for reimbursement. Under the new law, funeral businesses can coordinate directly with state agencies to shoulder the bill. 

Families that lose a child under the age of 17 due to gun violence as a result of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and voluntary and involuntary manslaughter and whose income is less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level will be eligible for the financial help. 

The ‘Murdered Children Funeral and Burial Assistance Act’ will take effect beginning July 1, 2023.  

For the first time in more than ten years, guns were the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in 2020. Data shows more than 4,300 children from ages 1 to 19 were killed due to firearm-related incidents.  

On Saturday, a 16-year-old boy was fatally shot at the famed Millennium Park in Chicago. The suspect was identified as a 17-year-old boy who is being charged as an adult with second-degree murder. 

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a city-wide curfew for young people and banned unaccompanied minors at Millennium Park after 6 p.m. from Thursday until Sunday. She also ordered a 10 p.m. curfew for all minors in Chicago on weekends The Windy City’s decades-old curfew was 11 p.m.  

“You need to make sure that you understand what your young people are doing, who they are with and where they are going,” said Lightfoot.  

Chicago has the highest number of reported homicides of all states in the U.S. It reported 797 homicides in 2021 — the highest number since 1996. In January, the state reported better figures, with shooting incidents down by 11 percent and murders down by 6 percent compared to the same time in 2021.  

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In April, President Joe Biden announced that it will be illegal to sell so-called “ghost guns” — firearms that are almost impossible to trace or regulate since they do not contain serial numbers.

Source: The Hill

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15 Comments

15 Comments

  1. Gwyllim

    May 20, 2022 at 7:36 pm

    I would’ve loved to have been on the street to ask the ‘kid protectors’ if they would walk in a pro-life march? And it’s ‘criminal violence’, not ‘gun violence…guns can’t walk around and shoot people by themselves.

    • CandygramForMongo

      May 23, 2022 at 6:42 am

      And ghost guns don’t shoot…….they say BOO!!!

    • Grizzly

      May 23, 2022 at 6:43 am

      Very TRUE!!

    • vistacharlie

      May 23, 2022 at 8:43 am

      Pretty much agree with your sentiments. The term “gun violence” includes suicides, accidental discharges, victims shooting to protect themselves (possibly against a gang of teenagers trying to rob them) and of course police shootings of bad guys. The actual deaths by assault, robbery or murder make “gun violence” much lower if the above shootings are not included. what they should use is FBI classification of “murder” or “homicides”. It should also be noted is that Chicago and illinois are among the most heavily regulated gun control areas in the US. This is basically an admission that gun control measures are not the solution. London, in Great Britan has even worse gun control laws including on street body search for dangerous weapons. The gun control measures had minimal effect there and “dangerous items” included any sharp instrument like knifes, scissors, box cutters and i believe hammers? What is needed is capture of those generating violence.

  2. RC Desmond

    May 21, 2022 at 9:45 am

    Money for Murdered Children, Translated=GET USED TO IT !

    • Alex

      May 21, 2022 at 6:38 pm

      Pretyy much, sickening… Lets not go after the real problems like the criminals ?

    • tj

      May 27, 2022 at 8:13 am

      RC. YOU NAILED IT WITH THIS STATEMENT. Another case of fighting solution not the problem. When guns outlaws only outlaws have guns

  3. CandygramForMongo

    May 23, 2022 at 6:40 am

    Save a child, take out a gangbanger!!

  4. Donald Cook

    May 23, 2022 at 7:38 am

    Guns Don’t Kill. Criminals Do Kill. Now the Citizen and taxpayers are having to foot the bill, to protect the Criminal. take the step to control gun violence, get rid of the Criminal.

    • glenn398

      May 23, 2022 at 8:42 am

      That would mean enforce the laws on blacks same as everyone else and that isn’t going to happen.

    • glenn398

      May 23, 2022 at 8:44 am

      That would mean enforce the laws on everyone equity and that isn’t going to happen.

  5. Tucker61

    May 23, 2022 at 8:15 am

    With the amount of Black violence and death, they will be bankrupt in no time.

  6. glenn398

    May 23, 2022 at 8:41 am

    Since most of the gun violence is in the black community this should be labeled another Black bill.

  7. ox

    May 23, 2022 at 9:26 am

    The taxpayer shouldn’t be picking up someone’s funeral costs, anymore then the taxpayer should be paying off someone’s debt (student loan} Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. call it anyway one want’s, I could care less, I’m entitled to my opinion. I should expect a knock on my door from the truth detectors from that fraud Mayorkas, commissar of DHS. What is going on in Chicago is the same as any other large city, Baltimore, NYC etc. Running these large cities is like running a large corporation. None of these corrupt politicians have experience in running a large corporation, just like Lying corrupt Quid Pro KING Joe isn’t qualified to run the U.S. What is needed even though I don’t like Bloomberg, is a Bloomberg type of Guy and it doesn’t matter if he is a Republican or Democrat. It’s bad liberal commie Democrat policies that are killing these cities. Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws on the books, Chicago ties the hands of their police, and the prosecutors let the criminals walk without posting bail. Voters have a tendency in these cities to vote for race, then to vote for the best qualified for the job, that’s okay just as long as the person is qualified. Neither Lightfoot of Chicago or Buffoon Adams of NYC are not qualified to run their respective cities. Obviously African Americans, feel in the inner cities, they don’t want to be ruled by some white politician. One can’t have it both ways. Only the voters can clean up the cities, by voting for the best qualified. Voting for Lightfoot certainly didn’t stop the gun violence or crime. Voters don’t have a right to complain about the gun violence and crime if they keep voting in politicians that refuse to take the necessary steps to stop it. Try enforcing the gun laws that Chicago has on the books now, and prosecutors that prosecuting criminals, for their actions, instead of letting them back out to the streets 2 hours after they are arrested. One size fits all against law abiding gun owners doesn’t work, to combat crime. Law abiding gun owners obey the law, Criminals don’t obey gun laws. The government puts the fear of G-D into law abiding gun owners, criminals could care less about the government, G-d, the police, or their gun laws.

  8. The Crunchbird

    May 23, 2022 at 10:15 pm

    This is not intended to be racist, just factual. How many of these poor children wee black? How many of those doing the shooting were black? Why can’t we ask these truthful questions without being called racists?

    There is a huge problem with black Americans in our cities. While I am sure that this is not entirely the fault of black Americans, nobody can deny that there is a serious problem.

    Black on black murders and other crimes are beyond belief. Whenever and whenever there is a problem, we should all be looking for an answer. Hiding behind a cloak of false white guilt is not that answer.

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