Illinois screws gun owners, again.

S

shamus005

New member
This part from the article says it all: "Hampton said the division that handles applications and renewals had lost more than half of its workers through an internal realignment within the state police this year. A year ago, 17 workers processed an estimated 22,000 FOID cards, compared to seven employees now."

"Internal Realignment", eh? Sounds more like Gov Blago wanted to delay the FOID process. Read the article below.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

State aims at FOID backlog

By Kurt Erickson

Advertisement

SPRINGFIELD - The Blagojevich administration announced Monday it will hire additional workers in an attempt to eliminate a backlog of gun owner identification cards.

The move comes three days after Lee News Service first reported significant delays in processing the cards, which are required for anyone who owns a gun in Illinois.

The problems triggered complaints from gun owners, who said the state's paperwork woes were causing them to be in violation of state law while they waited for up to 50 days for their Firearms Owners Identification Cards to be approved.

On Monday, Illinois state police spokesman Lincoln Hampton said the agency received approval from the governor's budget office to immediately hire 10 temporary workers.

"We're looking to hire them right now," said Hampton.

The agency also will start the process of hiring 10 permanent employees, who will replace the temporary workers. The FOID card, which costs $5, was created in 1968 as a way to identify people who may possess and acquire firearms and ammunition.

About 1.2 million people have FOID cards, which are good for five years.

In response to the delays, the Illinois State Rifle Association, which lobbies the General Assembly on behalf of gun owners, issued a statement calling for an investigation into the delays.

"Law-abiding gun owners put forth a good faith effort to comply with the law," said Rifle Association executive director Richard Pearson of Chatsworth. "Nonetheless, they face felony prosecution because the Illinois state police cannot, or will not, live up to the agency's legal obligations."

Hampton said the division that handles applications and renewals had lost more than half of its workers through an internal realignment within the state police this year. A year ago, 17 workers processed an estimated 22,000 FOID cards, compared to seven employees now.

The staff cuts were exacerbated by the busy holiday and hunting season, which traditionally causes an increase in applications. As of Friday, there were 25,586 cards awaiting processing, Hampton said.

Gun owners who have not received their new or renewed cards continue to technically commit a felony, but Hampton said earlier that police officers are allowed to use their discretion when dealing with any possible offenses.
 
Say it isn't so!

Man, I was born there and my dad lives there, but it doesn't look like I'll be spending any money there anytime soon.
 
No conspiracy. What happened was the governor said all temporary employees had to be gone from all state agencies by 12/31/05. Temporary employees are not state employees but contractual hired thru a temp service, even tho some of them have been working the same job for years. Temp employees actually save the state money. They may work for $10-$12/hr tops but the state doesn't pay any medical, insurance, retirement, etc. What will be hired will be full time, regular state employees, at a cost greater than a flat $10-$12/hr. When these temps were let go effective no later than 12/31, and most had to be gone long before that, there was only a small core staff left to do the work. As a result, more work, particularly during the fall which is always a spike, and a lot fewer employees to do the processing. Therefore it's the 50+ day delay.
You're going to see the same backlog of services in every agency that comes under the governor. It's not just FOID.
 
Not to hijack the thread but...
Contracted clerical staff may be cheaper but contracted medical staff is WAY more expensive!
On a brighter note I just renewed my CCP yesterday and turned in the sheriff's copy of C&R licence!
 
way to identify people who may possess and acquire firearms and ammunition.
Click to expand...

I've got an easier way and it won't require an employee one, and is constitutional, unlike their scheme. If the applicant is a citizen and not a felon they can possess and acquire - and the NICS check takes care of that.

Truly sickening what the people of that state have to put up with.
 
This deserves close notice

from the article:

Owners who have not received their new or renewed cards continue to technically commit a felony
 
um, Math 101...

quote:
Hampton said the division that handles applications and renewals had lost more than half of its workers through an internal realignment within the state police this year. A year ago, 17 workers processed an estimated 22,000 FOID cards, compared to seven employees now.

The staff cuts were exacerbated by the busy holiday and hunting season, which traditionally causes an increase in applications. As of Friday, there were 25,586 cards awaiting processing, Hampton said."

If they had shut the department entirely a year ago, they should have a backlog of 22,000. So, how did we get well over a year's backlog, in a few months, as the result of a 60% staff reduction?

Your tax dollars at work. Glad to be out of Illinois.
 
There's a whole lot more than 22,000 cards processed in a year. There are about 220,000 processed every year. There's about 1.2 million FOID cards. Rough estimate 1/5 of them expire every year. Then add additional new issued cards each month. The fall is a major run since people forget about renewing their cards until it gets close to hunting season.
 
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