FOID cards are issued by the Illinois State Police, who first perform a check of the applicant on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), an electronic database maintained by the FBI. Grounds for disqualification include a conviction for a felony or for an act of domestic violence, a conviction for assault or battery within the last five years, or being the subject of an order of protection.
The police also check an Illinois Department of Human Services database, to disqualify any applicant who has been adjudicated as a mental defective, or who has been a patient of a mental institution within the last five years. Mental health professionals are required to inform state authorities about patients who display violent, suicidal or threatening behavior, for inclusion in the Human Services database.
Recently, the Illinois State Police told Illinois Review that if a health professional reports to the DHS a person dangerous to himself or others, the ISP's system is updated hourly, and an effort to confiscate the FOID card and any guns obtained with that card sets into motion.
People with revoked FOID cards are restricted from buying guns from federally licensed firearms dealers. For any gun sale, a store must conduct a background check that will uncover a FOID revocation.
But background checks aren’t required for ammunition. Someone buying bullets must simply show a FOID card. A person with a revoked card probably would still be able to buy bullets because the salesperson wouldn’t know it was revoked, Dart told the Chicago Sun-Times last week.
Dart said he persuaded the General Assembly to include new language in the FOID law that would allow sheriffs and municipal police to obtain search warrants to look for guns in the homes of people with revoked FOID cards. Dart called the provision a “hammer” for police to wield when investigators suspect people with revoked cards have guns — but the people insist they don’t.
Sheriff’s investigators learn from the State Police whether someone with a revoked FOID card was ever approved to buy a gun after going through a background check at a gun store.
If the answer is yes, sheriff’s investigators ask the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for any records of the store selling a firearm to the person.
If a warrant is requested and obtained, Cook County's new enforcement team is sent to the FOID card owners' address to obtain the revoked card and the no longer legally-possessed firearms.
One legal consultant encouraged both the husband and the wife of married couples to obtain FOID cards so he or she would be able to claim ownership of the household firearms if the other's FOID card were to be revoked for any reason.
If a FOID card is revoked, the state provides an administrative appeal system to regain the card, for which legal counsel is highly recommended.
