Attorney General Wants FOID Card Holders Made Public

Posted: Tuesday, March 1st

WSIL TV -- A ruling by the Illinois Attorney General's Office isn't sitting well with many gun owners.

State police issue Firearm Owners Identification, or FOID, cards to anyone who wants to own a gun in Illinois. The list of card holders has always been private, but now Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office says the public has a right to know who's on that list.

Lennie Shelton of Thompsonville, Ill., is one of more than a million Illinois residents who have a FOID card. And while many of those people are up in arms about the ruling, Shelton is not one of them.

"Publicizing this list of who has a FOID card and who doesn't isn't going to make a hill of beans bit of difference," she said.

Shelton points out that just because you are a FOID cardholder does NOT mean you're a gun owner. She sees potential benefits in making the names of cardholders an open record.

"If I'm a criminal, I don't want to break into somebody's house that has a gun that might be ready to just shoot me as I come in the door," she told News Three.

Larry Morse disagrees. He's on the board of the Illinois State Rifle Association and thinks publicizing FOID card holders' names will put gun owner's at risk of being robbed.

"I think you just make yourself a target when you wholesale list names of people who own guns," he explained.

Illinois has required FOID cards for more than 40 years. The law is designed to help state police keep guns out of the hands of criminals, by tracking those who want to buy a firearm.

Morse believes Attorney General Lisa Madigan is taking aim at gun owner's privacy.

"Privacy is a big issue in this country, and most of the liberals in this country value their privacy very highly," he said, "Except when it comes to revealing the names of gun owners."

But Shelton doesn't understand what all the fuss is about, and insists most people won't care if the names are made public.

"That seems to be the American way anymore, to take a hangnail and turn it into a major surgery," she said.

State police say they will not release the information and plan to take this issue to court.

Gun owners are also getting some support in the General Assembly. There are currently bills in both the house and senate to permanently make the names of FOID card holders private.

By: Emily Finnegan

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