Illinois is one of a number of states that require a permit before you can purchase a firearm. The idea is that it somehow adds a layer that prevents criminals from getting guns. Apparently, getting a FOID stops people from making straw buys, selling guns on the black market, or any number of other illegal acts.

Well, it stops them…except when it doesn’t.

A former Springfield, Illinois woman pleaded guilty to making false statements when purchasing multiple firearms.

April Alexandra Soriano, 31, who now lives in Alabama, admitted to lying on Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)forms.

Soriano claimed she was buying the guns for herself when, in fact, she was buying them for someone else.

…

A shooting investigation in Chicago led the ATF to Soriano’s home where she lived with her then-boyfriend.

One of the weapons, a 9mm Taurus handgun, was found inside the home, another she purchased in Springfield was found in Chicago following a shooting.

Soriano told authorities she bought both guns for her boyfriend for protection because drug deals were happening at the home.

So, basically, the FOID does nothing except delay law-abiding citizens who want to exercise their constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.

Especially here lately when the waits have been so insane.

Meanwhile, this requirement–the very requirement many anti-Second Amendment jihadists want to see implemented in every other state in the nation–did nothing to stop Soriano from allegedly arming her criminal boyfriend.

Absolutely brilliant.

Yet people also need to understand that even if the FOID process worked perfectly, it still wouldn’t stop bad people from getting guns. They’ll still find ways to get them.

As such, the only people really slowed down by them are the average citizen. Is it any wonder why so many of us are so vehemently opposed to these things?

Look, a lot of people would deal with something like this if it actually worked. Not your die-hard Second Amendment types–we recognize it for what it is, an infringement on our freedoms–but plenty of other folks would shrug and take it if it actually kept criminals from getting guns, yet here we have a clear example of just how useless the whole FOID thing actually is.

If someone wants a straw buy, they just get someone else to apply for the FOID card, and then they carry out the same straw purchases they were going to make beforehand. Congratulations, Illinois, you’ve accomplished absolutely nothing. Well done, Land of Lincoln.

I can’t say I’m surprised, though. It’s a glaring hole in the entire system, one that is the legal equivalent of trying to hold water with a hula-hoop. I mean, you might get a little bit, but not that much in the grand scheme of things.

Frankly, if Illinois is that worried about crime, maybe they can do something about prosecutors deciding not to press charges due to the claim of mutual combat. I suspect that might do more for crime than a purchase permitting system that’s clearly doing jack squat.