CHICAGO — On May 19, three plaintiffs brought a new lawsuit in district court challenging the constitutionality of the 1968 Illinois Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) Act.
Laurent et al. v. Kelly was filed in the United States District Court, in the Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division) by plaintiffs Christopher Laurent, Kim Dalton, and Justin Tucker.
The suit is backed by, and will be litigated by, the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which bills itself as “a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State.”
The suit challenges the basic premise of the FOID Act under which possession of any type of firearm or ammunition in Illinois – anywhere, for any length of time – is prohibited, unless an individual first obtains a Firearm Owners Identification (“FOID”) card from the Illinois State Police.
“The FOID Act restricts this core liberty with no due process of law, and it flips the presumption of liberty, placing the burden of proof on citizens to get government permission to exercise their freedom. NCLA is determined to end this injustice and prevent similar licensing restrictions on other constitutional rights,” the NCLA stated in a press release.
The Illinois Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) Card Act (430 ILCS 65) was passed in 1967 and took effect in 1968. It broadly requires most residents to obtain a FOID card from the Illinois State Police before they can legally acquire or possess any firearm or ammunition. It evolved over the years to include concealed carry, but also ballooned in terms of its complexity and the information collected.
The 16-page complaint calls the act, “…the first state law in the nation’s history to require all of a state’s residents to obtain a government permit before possessing any type of firearm for any reason.”
The lawsuit frames the constitutional challenges, stating, “By absolutely prohibiting Illinoisans from exercising a fundamental right unless and until they apply for and receive the state’s approval, the FOID Card Act violates both the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Second Amendment.”
Interestingly, although not part of the complaint, the law was enacted against the background of the civil rights movement, and there are strong indications that the law was meant to disarm Blacks in particular.
In a recorded 1966 conversation with President Lyndon B. Johnson, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley (who was also a proponent of a national gun registry) stated:
Outside the suburbs, in the city, we have control, but what the hell – you go out to all around our suburbs, and you’ve got people out there, especially the non-White, are buying guns right and left.
However, Daley also noted the unabated gang activity that was prevalent at the time, which is similar to the situation in Chicago today.
The Illinois FOID Card Act has been challenged multiple times in court, with the most recent cases still ongoing: People v. Brown, since 2017, and Guns Save Life, Inc. v. Kelly, in 2019.
