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Illinois gun owners are in for a rough upcoming legislative session. The ISRA (Illinois State Rifle Association) and other pro-2A groups are preparing by getting ready to hold rallies and marches to oppose the draconian legislation headed their way. One of the harshest bills to attack gun rights is SB1966, known as “fix the FOID” or the “BIO bill”. This bill will REQUIRE all FOID (Firearm Owners ID) card holders, which are legal gun owners in the state, to be fingerprinted in order to continue to legally own a firearm. Of course, the cost of fingerprinting will be at the individual’s expense, thus costing anywhere north of $150 just to legally own a gun for a certain number of years until renewal comes up (at the owner‘s expense yet again, as they expire and you need to pay to get a current FOID card).
Naturally, like all politics in Illinois, you need to follow the money. One of the proponents of this bill that is lobbying for it is a biometric company names Accurate Biometrics. Of course they would benefit from it, as millions of legal gun owners would have to use fingerprinting services to apply/renew their FOID and there’s only so many places to get it done (Accurate Biometrics has a bunch of locations across the state). What’s interesting though is the lobbying firm who’s doing some of the work on their behalf. They’re old buddies of Tom Dart, the Sheriff of Cook County. Dart is one of the biggest gun grabbing politicians the state has ever seen. He is a major proponent of the bill as well. More on that whole mess here:
so, why the title of this article?
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said he supports requiring fingerprints for FOID applications.
"It helps, it really does, we've got to be able to identify those FOID cardholders," the governor said in September.
(Video of quote here: https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article235284947.html )
As a legal gun owner in Illinois, you are a target for extortion and harassment on behalf of the current administration and the overwhelming majority of legislators in Springfield. You are a source of income to enrich cronies and they also want you to jump through hoops in order to be able to exercise your rights. Per Pritzker‘s comment, WE are the ones that need to be identified, NOT the ones committing crime with firearms in the areas where it happens most. They are not stupid. They know exactly what they’re doing. They’re targeting the good/legal people and ignoring the problem in order to advance their agenda: an end of legal civilian possession of firearms. These laws have nothing to do with safety.
