SAF Cheers Ruling Declaring Illinois’s FOID Requirements Unconstitutional

In the aftermath of the Bruen decision, it was pretty clear that a lot of gun control laws were going to fall. There was no way that any analog could be found to a founding-era gun law for some of these measures.

One such example is Illinois and its requirement for a FOID card. Permit-to-purchase requirements are bad enough, but gun owners in the Land of Lincoln are required to maintain that card for as long as they own any firearms.

And that measure was just knocked down by a court as unconstitutional by a state court. Among other arguments, he pointed out how charging for a FOID card amounted to a poll tax and that owning a gun without a FOID card was well within the Second Amendment’s protections.

Not something I expected to see from a state circuit court in Illinois.

Needless to say, the Second Amendment Founding, which was involved in the case, is taking a well-earned victory lap.

From a press release:

A Circuit Court judge in Illinois has struck down the state’s requirement to have a Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) card to possess a firearm in the home for personal protection in a case supported by the Second Amendment Foundation and Illinois State Rifle Association. 

The case is known as State of Illinois v. Vivian Claudine Brown. Ms. Brown is represented by attorney David Sigale of Lombard, Ill.

In his 15-page decision, White County Resident Circuit Judge T. Scott Webb observed, “The Defendant’s possession of a .22 caliber rifle within the confines of her home, even without a valid FOID card falls squarely within the protections afforded her by the Second Amendment.

“If an intruder had entered Ms. Brown’s home,” Judge Webb added, “and threatened violence towards her and, God forbid, she was forced to use that .22 rifle to defend herself, she would have committed a class A misdemeanor carrying with it a possible penalty of up to 364 days in the county jail. She could claim self-defense, but that does not change the fact that she possessed a firearm without a valid FOID Card. Such an outcome is asinine especially in this great nation that so cherishes the right to be secure and defend oneself within the home.”

“This is an important ruling in a case that has been up and down the Illinois judicial ladder a couple of times already,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We expect the state to appeal again, which could put the case right back before the Illinois Supreme Court for the third time, and we are confident we will win. It’s hard to see how the Illinois Supreme Court avoids the constitutional issue, as they have done on the previous two visits.”

“Today’s decision reflects a correct application of Supreme Court precedent to unconstitutional restrictions on the rights to keep and bear arms,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “Illinois’ FOID card poses an untenable barrier to the exercise of Second Amendment rights in one’s home as the court correctly identified. Determining the FOID card to be an unconstitutional obstacle to firearms ownership and possession in one’s home was the only logical result.”

Honestly, this is a fantastic ruling on such permitting requirements in general, but Illinois and its FOID requirement always went beyond that.

Even with such a requirement, though, the lawlessness that rules certain areas of Chicago has continued for years and years. That’s because the people who represent a problem in the city aren’t people who are going to care about FOID requirements. They don’t care about any gun law. If you’re not going to be deterred by laws against shooting people, what other law is suddenly going to deter you?

But the requirement for a FOID card goes beyond this. There’s effectively no constitutional reason for such a requirement, and in the wake of Bruen, the onus is on the defenders to provide a historic analog for such a rule.

The problem for them is that no such rule exists. Guns were easily sold to anyone who had the money back in the day because the right to keep and bear arms was simple and understood as inalienable.

Somewhere along the way, we lost sight of that as a nation. Some individuals remember, but the government forgot.

This ruling is a stark reminder to the state of Illinois that they can’t just keep restricting people’s rights.

Of course, I fully believe this measure will continue to work up the judicial chain and the sorry excuses for state supreme court judges will probably try to rule otherwise, but then this can move to the federal court system, where hopefully we can put an end to the stupidity once and for all.