CHICAGO (WLS) -- New legislation introduced late Wednesday afternoon in Springfield would, for the first time, require gun owners to be fingerprinted.
Under the proposal, a Firearm Owners Identification Card would surge in price from $10 to $50 and the duration of the card would be cut in half from ten years to five years.
Northlake Democrat Kathleen Willis is sponsor of the bill and told the ABC7 I-Team that it was filed just before 5pm. Rep. Willis says the money generated by increased FOID fees would completely fund increased enforcement by Illinois State Police and fund grants for a new mental health program in schools.
READ: "Fix the FOID Act"
FOID cards are required for the legal purchase of firearms and ammunition in Illinois.
In an exclusive interview with the ABC7 I-Team, acting state police director Brendan Kelly said that the five-fold increase in FOID fees would fund stepped-up law enforcement efforts to enforce Illinois gun laws.
During the I-Team interview Kelly discussed Illinois' largely misguided and unsuccessful efforts at revoking FOID cards and tracking down the guns of people not entitled to them.
The $40 spike in cost for a FOID card would be the first increase in more than a decade. Gun cards cost $5 from the time the program began in 1968 until 2008 when the fee was doubled.
There are nearly 2.3 million FOID card holders in Illinois. Attention has been focused on the state's FOID program after each mass shooting.
The FOID legislation introduced late Wednesday week is known as "the Aurora package" after the state's most recent workplace attack in southwest suburban Aurora that left five factory employees dead and five police officers wounded and raised questions about FOID enforcement. The shooter in that case, an employee who had just been fired, had a revoked FOID card-but as the I-Team reported in February authorities had not retrieved his card or his weapons.
In the wake of the Aurora shooting tragedy, Illinois State Police revealed that there were 10,818 FOID revocations sent out in 2018. Police were unable to account for the majority of the guns.
Kelly, acting state police director, pledged in Wednesday's I-Team interview to improve enforcement of Illinois FOID laws beginning with better communication of gun owner's information to local law enforcement.
The FOID initiative is one component of an aggressive and wide-ranging set of initiatives Kelly has outlined. He told the I-Team that all of his plans depend on "manpower, manpower, manpower." In the government world that also translates into money, money, money and Kelly is looking for significant increases in both-beginning with two additional classes of recruits which would yield a total of 200 new state troopers.
If they take fingerprints for a FOID card, why not take fingerprints from voters?
ReplyDeleteWith the support of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, Guns Save Life filed a lawsuit today in Illinois state court challenging the state’s Firearm Owner’s Identification Card (FOID) Act.
ReplyDeleteThe FOID Act requires individuals to pass an extended background check, provide a photo, and pay a fee before being granted government permission to possess a firearm in their own home. Illinois gun owners must pay a fee and renew their FOID card every 10 years. If the card is stolen, gun owners are forced to jump through additional hoops and are burdened with more fees to exercise their constitutional right to self-protection.
The case of one Guns Save Life member shows how drastically the FOID Act infringes on that right. In compliance with the Act, the member recently sought to renew his FOID card. But the police denied his application and revoked his card, claiming to have suddenly found a battery conviction in his record. He has no such conviction, and the courts have no record of one. Nevertheless, because he no longer had a FOID card, he was forced to disarm.
“Something is very wrong with a law that causes a law-abiding Illinois resident to dispossess himself of his firearms because of a government recordkeeping error,” said John Boch, executive director of Guns Save Life. “This episode should reveal to everyone the FOID Act’s basic unconstitutionality.”
But efforts are underway in the Illinois legislature to raise the costs of FOID cards. With the help of the NRA, Guns Save Life seeks to end once and for all this infringement on the constitutional rights of the law-abiding gun owners of Illinois.
and those increase fees go where and towards what?
ReplyDeleteDemocratic slush funds....
DeleteAnother reason to move out of the peoples republic of Illinois.
ReplyDeleteSCOTUS
ReplyDeleteJoin the NRA, Second Amendment Foundation!!
ReplyDeleteOh for heaven’s sake it’s only going to be $10. a year. My car sticker is $110 a year. Let’s trade prices.
ReplyDelete