Saturday, May 24, 2008

Inaccurate Brady letter. Color me shocked.

Brian Malte, State legislation and politics director for the BC, claimed that :

While the Illinois FOID "permit to purchase" card does require a background check before issuance, it is the only background check required for the next 10 years until someone must renew his or her FOID card. This allows people to pass a criminal background check today but fall into a prohibited class tomorrow. In fact, the Illinois State Police have verified that more than 1,000 FOID card holders were able to purchase guns (although) they fell into a prohibited category after issuance of their FOID card.


The problem? From the FOID act:

Sec. 8.1. Circuit Clerk to notify Department of State Police.
(a) The Circuit Clerk shall, in the form and manner required by the Supreme Court, notify the Department of State Police of all final dispositions of cases for which the Department has received information reported to it under Section 2.1 of the Criminal Identification Act.
(b) Upon adjudication of any individual as a mental defective, as defined in Section 1.1, the court shall direct the circuit court clerk to immediately notify the Department of State Police, Firearm Owner's Identification (FOID) department, and shall forward a copy of the court order to the Department.
(Source: P.A. 95‑581, eff. 6‑1‑08.)


So, by law, the ISP get regular updates on the legal disposition of FOID holders and it is their responsibility to revoke it. All Mr. Malte has shown is that the ISP is failing in their duty.

So we have to options. Either the Brady Campaign Director for State Legislation is ignorant of actual state legislation or he deliberately lied in order to mislead the public. I know where I'ld put my money.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Third, it is doubly wrong.

You are missing a second fact in that the FOID is no longer NICS exempt.

... were able to purchase guns (although) they fell into a prohibited category...

That no longer matters since the FOID is now valid for 10 years, so the BATFE took the FOID off of NICS exemption list.

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/bradylaw/permit_chart.htm