FOID Cards Ruled Unconstitutional
SADEC was thrilled to see today’s ruling in Illinois v. Vivian Cluadine Brown. The case concerns a woman who kept a .22 bolt action rifle in her home, but did not have a Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) card. Her ex-husband alerted police to the firearm, and she was charged with violation of 430 ILCS 65/2(a)(1). She has no other criminal history.
In the excellent ruling from Judge T. Scott Webb, the Court first quickly dispensed with the State’s argument that Ms. Brown is not one of “the People” protected by the Second Amendment because she hadn’t gotten a FOID card. As the Court explained, “[t]hat reasoning would exclude every person who fails or refuses to comply with even the most draconian gun legislation from challenging its constitutionality because they would no longer be considered law-abiding citizens… Such reasoning is a fatally flawed attempt to make everyone criminals who refuses to bow their knee to the dictates of the government and kiss its signet ring.”
Things did not get any better for the State as the Court moved to the historical analysis required by Bruen. While the State proposed old laws about disarming dangerous people, the Judge pointed out those applied to people who had already done something to warrant disarming them. Whereas Ms. Brown had committed no crime, besides the nonviolent misdemeanor of not getting a FOID card. “Unfortunately, and to the utter dismay of this Court, the actual reality is that all citizens of the State of Illinois are presumed dangerous, and the burden is on the applicant to prove otherwise.”
The Court also drew a distinction between having a firearm in the home as opposed to in public, reasoning that while a permit may be required for the latter, it should not be for the former. “Quite frankly, it is asinine to think that in this ‘land of the free and home of the brave’, one must petition the government and pay a fee to be able to enjoy the fundamental Constitutional right to protect oneself inside one's home.”
Finally, the Court took issue with the $10 fee for FOID cards, comparing it to the right to vote and noting that even a modest fee like that would not be acceptable when registering to vote.
SADEC will closely follow this case as it moves into appeal, and will consider an amicus brief in support of Ms. Brown.