Bloomington's two-year gun violence commission ended this week, but members say they are motivated to continue their work.
The Special Commission on Safe Communities delivered its final report during the Bloomington City Council’s meeting on Monday, while urging the council to make the commission permanent.
“Every commissioner I’ve talked to would like to continue on,” Scott Denton, a forensic pathologist who chairs the commission, said on WGLT's Sound Ideas. “We think the work isn’t done.”
The 29-page report, compiled through interviews and data collection, compares Bloomington to national trends and points to areas of concern, including suicide, domestic violence and youth interaction with guns.
"The report is a source of joy," said Denton, noting commissioner Ryan Bertrand's work authoring it. "I was told by some council members that they usually don't get this kind of work from other commissions. I'm very proud of that. We did something we might not thought of as 'special.' But now, looking back on it, I think it's amazing that we did this."
Trends
The commission found gunfire incidents are generally trending down in Bloomington, with the exception of youth gun violence. Gun deaths spiked in 2025 —an anomaly given a triple murder-suicide in February. Denton said Bloomington is generally safer than peer communities like Champaign-Urbana, Peoria and Decatur. He said gun violence has been through peaks and valleys in the Twin Cities, requiring diligence to remain a safe community.
Key recommendations surrounded improved collaboration among community agencies, gun security, youth engagement, increased access to mental health services and suicide prevention.
“What we need to do is follow through on those eight recommendations,” Denton said, “helping the police secure guns, preventing suicide — recognizing it’s not a problem that’s going to go away on [its own]. It needs to be monitored to look for upticks.”
At Monday's meeting, city council members appeared largely supportive of the commission continuing, which Denton said was surprising.
“When the commission was formed, it passed by one vote,” he said. “It was not an overwhelming majority.”
Denton said the group’s future work could move away from data collection to put some of its recommendations into action.
“We know that the average age of a person shot is 18 years of age,” Denton said. “That is a high schooler. How do we prevent that? We start with grade schools. We help them do their job better.”
First steps, he said, would include bringing stakeholders together, such as Project Oz, YWCA McLean County, Moms Demand Action, and subject matter experts who informed the commission’s report to better coordinate with each other.
“There’s not a lot of overlap,” Denton said. “We tried to pull everyone together and get as much data as possible, then we realized that they’re all doing good work, but they’re not rowing together.”
That lack of coordination means resources allocated for mental health or suicide prevention, for example, aren’t getting enough visibility or having the desired impact. According to the commission’s report, most gun deaths are suicides — and a person who engages in gun violence often exhibits warning signs.
“I deal with counties. I deal with cities. I deal with municipalities all the time,” said Denton, who is contracted to conduct autopsies by McLean County. “The differences aren’t maybe as great as people think, but there are a lot of resources. The suicide help is there, but you have to access it.”
Between Project Oz and police officers, the commission felt there is robust support in the schools. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline is available to all community members in crisis. But Denton said it should be even easier to get support.
“But in the community in general, let’s say you’re at home, and you’re alone, and you’re having a mental health crisis, what do you do?”
In the past decade, suicides by gun in Bloomington have jumped nearly 60%. Because multiple suicide attempts are extremely rare, the report suggests the lethality of guns is a crucial consideration in preventing suicide.
Gun access and security
According to Denton, Bloomington’s efforts to encourage safe storage and effective buy-back programs have led to positive results. Most guns fired are obtained illegally, he said, through theft or exchanging hands, with single guns used in multiple crimes.
Another way guns remain in circulation is related to difficulty enforcing Firearm Owner Identification [FOID] revocations. Bloomington recently earned a grant to assist Illinois State Police with removing guns from people whose FOIDs are expired or revoked.
“When the commission was formed, there were comments saying this is just going to be a gun control commission,” Denton said. “We purposely stayed away from gun control. We understand the Second Amendment.”
State and federal law restricts certain people from legally possessing firearms, such as those with felony convictions, mental health disorders or who are respondents to an order of protection.
“How do you take away a gun from someone who doesn’t want to give it back? It’s extremely dangerous,” Denton said. “It’s a huge problem because it’s a voluntary system. I think the latest statistic is there’s a million guns sold every month in America. How do you control that?”
