Gun rights advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the Illinois State Police claiming that the office in charge of handling Firearm Owners Identification card applications is unconstitutionally delaying that process.
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SPRINGFIELD — Gun rights advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the Illinois State Police claiming that the office in charge of handling Firearm Owners Identification card applications is unconstitutionally delaying that process.
State statute dictates that “no person may acquire or possess any firearm, stun gun, or taser,” or ammunition, without having a state-issued FOID card. ISP has 30 days from the date it receives an application and filing fee to either approve or deny that request. For renewals, state police officials have 60 days.
The Firearms Services Bureau, in charge of processing those applications, “often” misses those deadlines, according to the lawsuit. Residents are left “in limbo for months,” argue the State Rifle Association, based in Chatsworth, and Second Amendment Foundation.
The Foundation, based in Bellevue, Washington, has Illinois members.
Court documents misidentified the bureau chief of that ISP office — it is Maj. Jarod Ingebritsen, a spokesperson said, not Jessica Trame. The lawsuit was also filed against State Police Director Brendan Kelly.
“The consequences for delay are neither abstract nor a mere inconvenience; they are a matter of life and death,” the groups alleged. “Sadly, in similar situations, where the government bureaucracy legislatively empowered to act as a Second Amendment gatekeeper has dithered in processing applications, there have been fatal results.”
The only example cited in the lawsuit is a 2015 case in which a New Jersey resident was killed by her ex-significant other before her gun permit application was processed.