Rep. Niemerg Fights for Better Service for FOID Card
TEUTOPOLIS…State Representative Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) continues to fight for better service for the thousands of applicants for new and renewal licenses for Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) cards for Illinois citizens. Illinois State Police (ISP) administers the credentials and according to their latest data as of May 2021, the state is looking at a backlog of 159,678 applications for FOID and Concealed Carry License (CCL) cards.
“My office continues to get calls and emails from many people in my district who continue to say they are still waiting for either their FOID card or concealed carry license,” said Rep. Adam Niemerg. “It is my understanding that there is still a backlog of nearly 160,000 applications for new and renewal FOID and Concealed Carry cards.”
According to the ISP, the newest backlog numbers includes new applications and renewals. They claim that is down 35% from more than 243,000 applications from March. Specifically with the concealed carry license applications, the backlog for new applicants and renewals right now is 45,364. That’s only down about 8% since March. “The ISP says that they are making improvements and that the backlog has decreased since March 2020 because of hiring more people and technological advances, but the average wait time for a FOID card is about seven months. The average wait time for a concealed carry license is about five and a half months and these times are not acceptable,” added Rep. Niemerg.
Rep. Niemerg points out that along with the long delays are instances of the identification cards being incorrect such as the woman in his district who received a FOID card with her name on it but some man’s picture instead.
“I do not think Illinois citizens should have to be required to have a FOID card and hopefully the law suits making their way to the Supreme Court will get a fair hearing and find that Illinois’ FOID card requirement is unconstitutional. Until then, it should not be such a burden on law-abiding Illinoisans and they shouldn’t have to wait so long to enjoy their Constitution rights to gun ownership for personal protection, hunting and sport.”
