FOID Backlog Could Make More Than Sixty Thousand Gun Owners into Criminals

For gun owners outside the state of Illinois, all eyes are on Virginia or maybe Texas hero Jack Wilson.  But for gun owners in Illinois, they’re facing a much more local and imminent threat.

In order to legally own a firearm in the state of Illinois, gun owners must apply for a Firearm Owner Identification Card, or FOID card.  We told you several weeks ago about a woman who was facing charges after defending her own life with a gun in Chicago.  The woman had her FOID card but not her concealed carry permit.  See, she just couldn’t complete ALL the paperwork in time to defend herself legally and thus was charged with a crime.

But back to the current FOID fiasco.  As with most government programs, it’s not very well thought out.  And it sure as heck isn’t efficient.

As of today, there is a backlog of more than sixty-two thousand applications for a FOID card or a FOID card renewal.

The state of Illinois is—at best—delaying residents their right to own guns.  At worse, it’s an unofficial ban on firearm ownership.

But because each person’s FOID card expires on a different day and each gun owner is waiting a varying amount of time, there’s no outcry.  It’s just ‘the way things are’ and gun owners just must ‘be patient.’

Meanwhile, a tyrannical FOID card system that shouldn’t even exist keeps the clock ticking.

A Grace Period–For Now

For now, if gun owners have filled out their paperwork and paid their fees before their card expires, they’re being allowed to keep their guns.  Gun owners must keep a receipt of their renewal fee with them at all times, along with their expired FOID card.

But what happens when the state decides they won’t extend this grace period forever?  Once they won’t honor this little grace period, if you own or purchase a gun in Illinois without a FOID card, you’re a criminal.

There are rumors of police in rural areas going door to door to remind people their cards are expiring.  Some versions have nice cops giving you a heads-up so you have time to transfer the guns to a relatives name—somebody whose FOID card isn’t expired or pending renewal.

Other versions have not-so-nice cops coming to warn you that when your card expires, they’re coming to take your guns.  We have seen stories circulating on Facebook that go both ways but can’t confirm which version of the story are more accurate.  We’ll keep you updated.

Compromise Brought Us Here!

Once again, “let’s just go along with it and we’ll vote these bad guys out later and then change the law” didn’t work.

Illinois gun owners shouldn’t have to apply for a FOID card at all.  When you add in that the program is run with such incompetence and waste, it would be laughable if it wasn’t an outrage.

Since when do completely incompetent bureaucrats have the right to make tens of thousands of people into criminals?  Since we gave one freaking inch of ground to these leftists.