Kadner: Police can’t follow law on FOID card requests

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Updated: March 2, 2012 8:13AM

Illinois has so many requests for Firearm Owner’s Identification cards that state police can’t process them in a timely manner.

In addition, people calling the state police to ask why they haven’t received their FOID cards are put on hold for as long as 35 minutes, if they’re lucky enough to get through to an answering machine that puts them on hold.

I tried the number 12 times, received a busy signal 11 of those times and got the answering machine once. After 20 minutes on hold, I hung up.

Under law, the state has 30 days to process FOID card requests. I’ve been waiting 50 days for a response to my application.

Although I am not a gun owner, I decided to apply for the FOID card to see what the process was like because Illinois may soon pass a concealed-carry law.

Illinois is the only state in the nation that doesn’t have some sort of concealed-carry legislation on the books.

According to Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the state police department, Illinois had a record number of FOID card applications in the last three years.

Last year, 321,437 people applied for FOID cards, 287,552 in 2010 and 326,008 in 2009.

In December 2011 alone, Bond said 31,078 applications were received. Since 2004, the average number of applications processed in the month of December has been 22,537, she said.

“The month of December by far has been the busiest December, which could also contribute to the overwhelming number of applications being processed.”

There has been a 16 percent increase in FOID cards applicants in Chicago, which Bond attributed to a Supreme Court decision overturning the city’s gun ban.

Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, laughed when I asked if he had heard complaints about the state’s tardiness in responding to FOID card applicants.

“The governor isn’t staffing the FOID processing center of the state police department,” Pearson said. “He’s not replacing people as they retire. And that’s because he’s not enthusiastic about the idea of gun ownership.

“We’re telling people to apply for the cards at least 90 days in advance of when they plan to purchase a gun because that’s how long it’s taking the state to respond. The state law says they have 30 days from the receipt of the application to respond. So the state police department is basically violating the state law.”

In an email responding to my questions about FOID cards, Bond stated, “The FOID application process is involved and extends beyond completing initial paperwork.

“Background checks, name verifications, criminal history information and other mandated criminal justice applications must be thoroughly verified. This verification process could take up to 2 to 8 weeks.

“There is no time frame that be placed on obtaining this information, and compromising any of these systems would result in a breach of public safety.”

Why can’t Illinois citizens get through to the FOID answering system in a reasonable amount of time?

“Depending on the time of the call, there have been lengthy waits,” Bond replied.

“We are in the process of reviewing a more automated system. Although callers have had difficulty getting through, the application process is still ongoing and usually the cards have already been processed. So far, we have only been running about 3 to 4 weeks behind the required 30-day period.”

As for the rifle association’s claim that the governor is failing to fully staff the FOID card processing center, Bond said, “Like government agencies across the country, we are challenged with doing more with less in all departments within the ISP. More than 50 percent of the applications without criminal issues are processed and mailed within one week of being received.

“The backlog is a result of those applications that require more scrutiny. Again, we cannot compromise public safety.”

I was surprised to find that my application requires more public scrutiny than that of Howard Ludwig’s 10-month-old Baby Bubba.

You may recall that several years ago, Ludwig wrote a column for this newspaper when his baby received a FOID card.

Researching gun ownership has been an educational experience for me.

I’ve discovered that a basic class in responsible gun ownership can cost $200 and up and that’s without actually firing a gun.

A course that teaches self-defense and includes time at a firing range can cost about $400.

A quality handgun costs about $600, but most places I contacted wouldn’t let me test fire a gun at their range if I had no previous experience.

That seems like buying a car without being allowed to test drive it.

It’s easy to get a gun illegally, I guess. Not so easy to go about it the right way.