What is the need for the FOID?

JG-TC.com has a letter from Brad Metcalf of Mattoon, IL that suggests dropping the FOID Act.

While I am prone to dislike the FOID I think it has some use. When the Brady law that required the NICS background check and waiting periods was enacted, it allowed for exemption if a state had a screening and ID system in place for legal gun ownership. The reason we have the waiting periods in Illinois is because the Illinois General Assembly passed a law requiring the wait. Under Brady an Illinois resident with a valid FOID would only have to fill out the Federal 4473, undergo the NICS background check, pay, and take the weapon home that day. The Illinois General Assembly, our own state legislators, are the people who have mandated the waiting periods in Illinois. With the current laws of Illinois, the FOID is redundant. If the Illinois law requiring the waiting period were repealed the FOID is a pre-approval system that exempts Illinois residents from the Brady required waiting periods.

Now, lets imagine a retailer of ammunition....

A customer enters the store, asks the clerk about some ammunition, and decides he would like to purchase some .45auto ammunition.

With the FOID-

The clerk would ask the customer for their FOID, check that it is valid and the customer is of legal age for that ammunition and proceed with the sale with a reasonable assurance the customer is able to legally posses that ammunition.

Without the FOID-

The clerk would ask for ID and check that the customer is of legal age for that ammunition. The clerk would have no idea if that person was a felon or otherwise prohibited from possessing that ammunition.


If the laws allowed an Illinois resident to go to an FFL and purchase a firearm and take it home at that time the FOID would be a welcome thing to most people. I think if a dealer receives an approval from the NICS to transfer a firearm, the transferee should be allowed to take the firearm at that time, yet should have to wait for a proceed response.

Each time a NICS background check is performed the State of Illinois charges the dealer $2, because the State Police is the point of contact for NICS in Illinois. This may be to satisfy Brady when the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation requiring the waiting periods in Illinois.

If used as Brady would allow, I don't mind the FOID. I also would like to see an endorsement on the FOID for CARRY!

What should be required for a person to be permitted to carry?......that's a topic for another article....