Illinois is one of only four states that require a license to own a firearm, but the state is routinely failing to process applications and renewals in a timely manner.
“I have constituents who have waited more than a year to get a FOID card. That is denying them a basic constitutional right,” state Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said.
Twelve years ago, in Heller vs. District of Columbia the U.S. Supreme Court interpreted the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as a right to own firearms.
Liberals hate this decision almost as much as conservatives hate Roe vs. Wade.
“How would a woman feel if she were told she had to wait five or six months to exercise her constitutional right to an abortion?” said Todd Vandermyde, a lobbyist for licensed gun dealers in Illinois. “That’s what’s happening with our constitutional right to bear arms. A woman may be the victim of abuse and wants to buy a gun to protect herself but she may have to wait months and months to get a FOID card before she can even buy a gun.”
Firearm Owners Identification, or FOID card, must be presented when purchasing guns and ammunition. And it is a requirement for possessing a firearm. The average wait time for new FOID card applicants is 122 days according to the Illinois State Police.
 If you are an otherwise legal gun owner and are arrested for possessing a firearm without a valid FOID card, you could be facing an offense punishable by up to a year in jail. Before issuing FOID cards, the State Police conduct a full criminal background checks on applicants.
There are a number of reasons why the state has fallen behind in processing FOID applications and renewals. They are inadequately staffed, the volume of applications has gone up two or three fold and COVID restrictions have made it more difficult for office workers to process the paperwork.
For example, between July and October of last year Illinois processed 52,077 new FOID applications. For the same period this year the state processed 114,512, Beth Hundsdorfer, a spokesperson for the Illinois State Police, said.
State Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Moline, said rioting in cities across the country has sparked the growing desire to own firearms.
“Before folks didn’t think this could happen in their town or their neighborhood. Now they know that it can,” he said. “So, they want to find a way to protect themselves.”
Anderson wants to eliminate the FOID card requirement for Illinois.
“Now that the federal government requires instant background checks when a gun is purchased, the FOID card is redundant,” he said.
Hundsdover said within the past “several months,” the State Police have hired  21 Firearms Eligibility Analyst Trainees and will continue to hire additional analysts in the coming months. She added, on average, the current staff works an extra week in overtime hours each month to address application processing needs.

Illinois law has required FOID cards for more than 50 years. The cards typically expire after 10 years. But Hundsdover said cards that expire during the current COVID crisis have had their expiration dates extended by 18 months through an executive order from Gov. JB Pritzker.
But this is far from a satisfactory solution.
Individual police officers don’t always know about executive orders, Vandermyde said.
“If someone hands an officer a FOID card that appears to have expired that person is likely to get arrested,” he said.
He added that many stores selling firearms and ammunition won’t accept a FOID card that appears to have expired.
“It’s not like when you go into a store to buy ammunition, you have a state trooper standing behind you telling the clerk its ok to accept that FOID,” Rep. Butler said.
Butler noted firearm deer season begins this week in Illinois.
“I have one constituent who really wants to go deer hunting. But he is still waiting for his FOID card so he won’t be able to go hunting. That’s just not right.”
 
Scott Reeder is a veteran statehouse journalist and a freelance reporter. ScottReeder1965@gmail.com.