Illinois House approves bill requiring gun license applicants to be fingerprinted

5/29/19
Looking to address the broken system that enabled the Aurora shooter to buy a gun and keep it — despite his criminal history — the Illinois House narrowly passed legislation Wednesday that requires residents to provide their fingerprints before obtaining a firearm license. The measure also would create a task force to enforce laws requiring those whose gun licenses have been revoked to surrender their firearms or place them with a legal owner. And the bill would raise the application fee for the license, known as a firearm owner’s identification card, to $20 for a five-year license, up from a $10 fee for a card that was good for 10 years. The 62-52 vote followed about three hours of heated debate on the House floor, with strong opposition mainly from suburban and downstate Republicans. One downstate lawmaker, Rep. Darren Bailey, called the bill “a total and complete infringement of the Second Amendment and the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution.” Within minutes of the measure’s passage, the Illinois Rifle Association issued a statement vowing a court fight and calling it “one of the most onerous regulations for gun owners.” But Rep. Barbara Hernandez, an Aurora Democrat, thinks the bill is fair, saying $20 was a reasonable fee that, along with the fingerprint requirement, would help keep communities safe.

The bill’s House endorsement comes after a Tribune investigation found that more than 34,000 Illinois residents had their FOID cards rescinded during the past four years, but nearly 80% still could be armed because law enforcement has not followed up on their revocations. State records indicate the revoked cardholders have purchased as many as 30,000 guns from federally licensed dealers. The loopholes were exposed when a disgruntled employee opened fire at the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse in Aurora on Feb. 15, killing five co-workers and wounding five officers before dying in a shootout with police. State Rep. Kathleen Willis, a House sponsor and Democrat from Northlake, said she was “thrilled” with the outcome Wednesday. During the debate, she faced repeated and pointed questioning about whether she believes gun ownership is a right. “It is a right that has responsibilities,” she answered several times and again in remarks to the Tribune after the vote. “There has to be restrictions on it.” In all, nearly 27,000 Illinois residents over the past four years have not informed authorities what they did with their guns after state police stripped their licenses, according to the Tribune analysis. That means law enforcement has no idea whether 78% of revoked cardholders since 2015 still possess guns.

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