State Representatives Mike Marron, Charlie Meier, and Patrick Windhorst held a press conference in Springfield Wednesday alongside fellow Republican legislators and 2nd Amendment supporters to discuss solutions to end delays in FOID card processing, and discussed their shared 2nd Amendment focused legislative agenda. The lawmakers expressed their concerns that fund sweeps of $28 million from the Illinois State Police fund have led to delays in processing FOID card applications and renewals.
Marron
says his office is overwhelmed every week with calls from constituents
experiencing long delays for FOID renewals.
“My office receives dozens of constituent calls regarding FOID
renewals every month,” Marron said. “There has been a steady increase of
approval delays leading to many frustrated citizens unable to speak with a live
person when checking on their FOID renewal and approval status. The delays are
not due to a lack of funding, but because money that was supposed to be used to
provide service to Illinois’ two million FOID cardholders was used for spending
in other areas.”
Rep. Charlie Meier says the fund sweeps have led to long delays for gun owners to get their FOID cards renewed.
“The
FOID program has been used as a piggy bank to fund other programs,” Meier said.
“If the State is going to require the fee, and require the FOID, then we owe it
to our citizens to run an efficient and effective program. If we can’t do that,
the program should be eliminated.”
Rep. Patrick Windhorst said he is sponsoring a legislative package that would
eliminate the FOID altogether (HB 913). Barring its passage, Windhorst says his agenda reduces costs and
regulations for law-abiding citizens.
“Illinois is one of only four States that still requires a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card (FOID),” Windhorst said. “Though I believe the FOID card is unconstitutional, that issue will ultimately be decided by the courts. Until the courts decide, there are steps we can take as a legislature to address FOID renewal delays and decrease high costs and burdensome regulations on law-abiding gun owners.”
Windhorst
says his legislative package aims to reduce fees, eliminate long waiting
periods, and allows for automatic FOID renewal if a concealed carry license is
still in effect.
“We are here to say, either void the unconstitutional FOID card, or stop the
fund sweeps and pass our legislative package to ease the burden on law-abiding
gun owners, reduce costs, and improve renewal times,” Windhorst said.