A Growing Debacle

I already feel my second amendment right to own a gun is abused in Illinois because of the requirement I get a Firearm Owners Identification Card. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say I have the right to bear arms ONLY if I possess a FOID card. But now, through classic government mismanagement, thousands of Illinoisans are being denied their rights.

Glenn Rogers, a retired police officer, told a St. Louis television station he has tried to get his FOID car renewed since October of last year to no avail. If you go on-line to do it, there isn’t a renewal button….and good luck if you try to get a live body on the other end of the phone to talk to… Locally, there are incidences where State Representative Darren Bailey has called to get answers for his constituents.

Illinois’ highly restrictive gun laws affect over 2.3 million gun owners who have to get their cards renewed every ten years. Understand, if you don’t have a FOID card you can’t buy a gun, ammo or even legally hunt in the state.

The burden of renewing the cards falls on the state police. They say they are working to upgrade their technology.  But upgrades might be a year off and---in the meantime--- the logjam of requests just gets bigger.

I have a feeling this debacle sits just fine with the anti-gun crowd. They might not be able to disarm the deplorables in Southern Illinois but they sure can make them wait…..and wait….and wait.

As Reagan once said, “Government is not the solution to the problem. Government is the problem.”