NW Illinois News

Representatives of gun owners support a move to scrap the requirement for a Firearm Owners Identification Card, but are downbeat over the possibility of the Illinois Legislature passing a bill to repeal the law.

State Rep. Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) has filed HB 1770 designed to repeal the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act, arguing it is "an unnecessary hurdle" to be overcome by law-abiding citizens.

This is a view echoed by the Illinois State Rifle Association and its Executive Director Richard Pearson, who argued that a card is not necessary when everyone needs background checks and can be tracked via their Social Security numbers.

"There are several bills ... but I do not think they will pass because they just do not have the numbers," he said. "The last one they refused to let it out of committee."

For citizens to acquire a card, it requires administrative efforts, time and money spent by the Illinois State Police, Pearson told NW Illinois News.

Gun owners pay a fee of $10, but there have been attempts to raise this considerably, perhaps as high as $500, Pearson said.

"And that is always the danger [of] pricing people out of their Second Amendment rights," he added.

Introduced in 1968, the cards have to be submitted to an authorized gun dealer before a purchaser can buy a firearm.

Chesney described the card as "one of many ways Illinois has monetized the exercise of constitutional rights with unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape."

“With a backlog of often over 100,000 Illinoisans waiting in line for a bureaucrat to approve this constitutional right after already requiring payment for this right, it is past time we get real about the lack of need for this bureaucracy," Chesney said in a press release. "Imagine if to hold a protest in a public park, a First Amendment right, you had to wait over 100 days for a permit you pay for on day one of the application. People would be rightfully outraged. That’s what’s happening with FOID cards.”