Summons issued to ISP, AG Cook County in FOID challenge

By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Officials with the Illinois State Police, attorney general’s office and Cook County state’s attorney have been summoned in a case challenging the state’s gun owner ID law.

The Illinois Firearm Owners’ ID card has been around since 1967. The law requires an Illinois resident to get a FOID card from Illinois State Police if they want to own or buy a firearm.

Jacob Huebert, an attorney for plaintiffs on the case from the New Civil Liberties Alliance, said the case is simple as there is no text, history or tradition around the country’s founding of a gun owner ID requirement.

“There was never anything that required somebody to go get the government’s permission before owning any firearm in the founding era,” Huebert told The Center Square Daily. “So if the courts just apply that in a straightforward way, it should fail under the Second Amendment.”

Huebert noted recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent on gun control legislation that urges the judiciary to judge Second Amendment challenges to whether the challenged law has any analogous law from the founding era when the Second Amendment was ratified.

The three plaintiffs, two who want a firearm but don’t want to comply with the FOID Act, and another who has a FOID card, but doesn’t want to further comply, are represented by Huebert.

“This is way beyond the pale, because here you’re just automatically deprived of your liberty until you go satisfy government officials in the executive branch that you’re entitled to exercise your constitutional rights,” Huebert said.

State officials sued in the FOID card case have until next month to reply to the challenge. The Illinois State Police said they do not comment on pending litigation. The offices of the AG and the state’s attorney did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The case comes as legislators at the statehouse, who are in session until May 31, contemplate further gun control laws with other laws on the books facing ongoing litigation.