Ordinarily when we cover a gun bill introduced by a Chicago-area lawmaker, it means bad news for gun owners. The Second City's hostility towards the Second Amendment, at least among its elected officials, has helped turn Illinois into one of the most restrictive states in the country when it comes to our right to keep and bear arms. But a new proposal by Rep. Justin Slaughter is aimed at helping people legally keep and bear arms, which is worth acknowledging. Unfortunately, despite Slaughter's intentions, his new bill still suffers from a fundamental flaw. 

“Under current law, nonviolent offenders charged with their first offense may be diverted to a divergence program such as the First Time Weapons Offense Program,” said Rep. Justin Slaughter (D-Chicago). “Upon completion, the state’s attorney dismisses the charges. However, the individual cannot apply for a FOID card until after the charges are dismissed.”

House Bill 3496 would allow eligible first time offenders to apply for a FOID card much earlier.

All of the current requirements for legal gun ownership in Illinois would remain the same. Sponsors said the Illinois State Police would also have the ability to deny someone’s application for a FOID card if they are ineligible.

Under Slaughter's bill someone in a diversionary program could apply for (and receive) their FOID card once they've provided proof that they've completed the program, without having to wait for the State's Attorney to formally dismiss the charges against them. That's a small improvement ver the status quo, but Slaughter's legislation does nothing to address the underlying issue: the Firearms Owner ID requirement itself. 

“There are issues with the FOID card system in our state that have consequences, some intended and some unintended,” said Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis). “We see bills like this because we have a FOID card in our state.” 

The FOID mandate has been ruled unconstitutional on multiple occasions by Illinois judges, but the state Supreme Court has invalidated each of those decisions on technical grounds while declining to rule directly on the constitutionality of the statute, so for now anyone who possesses a gun, even in their home, must acquire that Second Amendment permission slip beforehand. 

That's easier said than done in Chicago, where there are no gun ranges in operation and a culture of lawful gun ownership has been marginalized by decades of anti-gun hostility from politicians. The result is that tens of thousands of Chicago residents have become felons over the past couple decades just for possessing a gun without a license.

A Marshall Project analysis found that from 2010 to 2022, the police made more than 38,000 arrests for illegal gun possession. These arrests — almost always a felony — doubled during this timeframe. While illegal possession is the most serious offense in most of the cases we analyzed, the charges often bear misleading names that imply violence, like “aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.”

Recent research shows that most people convicted in Illinois for felony gun possession don’t go on to commit a violent crime, and the majority of those sentenced to prison for gun possession don’t have past convictions for violence. Instead, people who already committed violent crimes are more likely to do so again.

The racial disparities in this enforcement are glaring. Although Black people comprise less than a third of the city’s population, they were more than 8 in 10 of those arrested for unlawful possession in the timeframe we reviewed. The number of Black people arrested could fill every seat at a Chicago Bulls game and then some; the majority are men in their 20s and 30s.

The consequences of these arrests are long-lasting. If convicted, people face a year or more in prison, depending on the charges. Even without time behind bars, those we interviewed faced damning criminal records, time on probation, job loss, legal fees and car impoundments.

Allowing first-time offenders to wipe the charges clean by participating in a diversionary program is all well and good, as is Slaughter's bill allowing them to get right with the law by applying for a FOID card once they've successfully completed that program. It's the FOID requirement itself that's fueling these arrests, clogging up the courts, and wasting taxpayer dollars pursuing criminal charges against non-violent offenders whose only "crime"  is not having the proper paperwork to exercise a civil right. 

I'd like to see Slaughter partner with someone like Windhorst on a bill fully repealing the FOID statute and allowing Illinois residents to at least exercise their right to keep arms without having to first get the pre-approval of the Illinois State Police. I don't think that's gonna happen, but if he's serious about helping those swept up in an unjust law, nibbling around the edges of the statute as HB 3496 does isn't the answer.