Illinois House Democrats are pushing fingerprint requirements and increased fees for the Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) cards that state residents must acquire in order to purchase/possess firearms.
The state House passed the legislation, House Bill 1091, Saturday afternoon, the State Journal-Register noted.
HB 1091 would require to FOID card applicants to submit fingerprints along with their application and would require current card holders to submit fingerprints when they renew their card.
Democrat state Rep. Maura Hirschauer painted the bill as a pursuit of “safety,” but Republican state Rep. Tony McCombie countered, saying, “This is not…about public safety. It’s just another gun grab in Illinois.”
Breitbart News spoke with state Sen. Chapin Rose (R) about the bill. “Law abiding citizens should not be treated like criminals, and that’s exactly what the Democrats are doing by making them get fingerprinted to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” Rose said.
“If Democrats are going to make people who aren’t criminals to get fingerprinted, as if they were criminals, where does this end? Will law-abiding citizens have to get fingerprinted to exercise their other constitutional rights?” he added
HB 1091 also quadruples the fees for a FOID card, raising them from $10 for ten years to $20 for 5 years, Rose explained.
Moreover, HB 1091 would require background checks for all private gun sales. Such checks would create a defacto universal background check system in Illinois, the Pantagraph reported.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.