Gov JB Pritzker with Illinois State Police – AP photo
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois gun owners striving to obey state laws by obtaining required Firearm Ownership Identification (FOID) cards have been complaining for a while that their requests for renewals and concealed carry licenses are taking months found out this week the reason for the delay.
Evidently the delays are caused not so much by the rising number of gun ownership applicants as much as it is that Illinois officials have been diverting millions of dollars away from the Illinois State Police department that handles the applications and renewals.
That diversion amounts to nearly $30 million over the past four years – and a reason why Illinois State Police staff devoted to implementing some of the nation's toughest gun ownership laws remains limited and overworked.
An investigation conducted in conjunction with the Illinois State Rifle Association and state Rep. Keith Wheeler, R-Oswego, with the aid of state researchers found the General Assembly has siphoned almost $30 million over the past five state budgets.
A memo from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability sent to Wheeler showed more than $13 million swept from the State Police Firearm Services Fund in fiscal years 2015 through 2019. With another fund having been raided of $15 million, lawmakers took $28.5 million in fees paid for by the state’s more than 2 million Firearm Owners' Identification cardholders.
And despite the "sweeping" of the Firearm Services Fund – a money-grabbing tactic that began under former Governor Bruce Rauner – state lawmakers have been pushing for higher fees and shorter gun owner-license lengths.
As of March 2019, there were currently 2,285,990 active FOID cards statewide and over 250,000 new applications filed last year alone.
At the same time, newly-elected Governor JB Pritzker urged the ISP to step up enforcing revoked FOID cards.
In March, the Illinois State Police, with the support of Gov. JB Pritzker, unveiled a list of changes to how the agency handles firearms services processes, especially when it comes to revoking Firearm Owner’s Identification cards, needed to possess a gun in the state. This includes sharing information about identified gun owners with other agencies and increasing enforcement in cases where a card is revoked.
