Illinois Gun Owners List: Attorney General Lisa Madigan Wants To Publicize Names Of Permit Holders

According to a legal opinion issued by the Illinois Attorney General, the list of people who receive permits to buy firearms should be made public.

To buy a weapon in the state, residents need to apply for a Firearm Owner's Identification (FOID) card. The State Police keep a list of those who are granted FOID cards, but that list has long been kept confidential.

In September of last year, the Associated Press submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for the name of each FOID card-holder and the expiration date of his card. When the police refused to comply, the attorney general's public access counselor decided to investigate the matter.

On Wednesday, the AP published a portion of the decision the office ultimately reached:

"The General Assembly has clearly determined that it is in the public interest to provide a system for identifying those who are qualified to acquire or possess firearms through the issuance of FOID cards," assistant public access counselor Matthew Rogina wrote. "The public, therefore, has a legitimate interest in ISP's enforcement of the FOID card act."

Gun control advocates argue that gun licensing laws require public scrutiny. But gun owners' groups were naturally displeased with the decision.

The Illinois State Rifle Association issued a press release in response to the Attorney General's opinion:

The ISRA strongly opposes release of the FOID database information because the association believes that release of such data puts FOID card holders and their families in grave danger.

"Attorney General Madigan has to understand that the safety of real people is at stake here," commented ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson. "Once this information is released, it will be distributed to street gangs and gun control groups who will use the data to target gun owners for crime and harassment."

Larry Morse, also on the board of the ISRA, had a more pointed opinion on the subject. "Most of the liberals in this country value their privacy very highly," he said to WSIL-TV. "Except when it comes to revealing the names of gun owners."

The State Police also "respectfully disagree" with the decision, the Quad Cities' KWQC reports. They are asking the Attorney General's office to make it a binding opinion so that it can be challenged in court.

Meanwhile, Republican state legislators are rushing to the aid of gun owners, filing bills that would keep the list of FOID cardholders private, according to the Associated Press. But with Democratic majorities in both houses, and the Attorney General's father Michael Madigan serving as the powerful Speaker of the House, those bills could have trouble getting very far.

Comments

[ScorpioTop]

04:05 PM on 03/26/2011

Don't want your name public? Simple, don't own guns.

[OdinsEye]

04:23 PM on 03/26/2011

Let me see, how else can we violate people's right to privacy and encourage descrimination? I know!

Don't want your name made public? Don't be gay. Don't contract HIV or an STD. Don't be a Libertarian. Don't drive an SUV. Don't be overweight. Don't be addicted to Survivor. Don't buy a Korean car. Don't smoke.


Anyone who has a problem with a list of these items being made public should have a big problem with making lists of permit holders public.

[ScorpioTop]

04:41 PM on 03/26/2011

You may think that owning a gun is a disease that should be kept private as you stated. Frankly that is an insult to those that suffer from a real disease.

[SarahCuda2]

03:01 PM on 03/29/2011

Don't want your name public? Simple - just get one like any criminal does.

[Gunslingin Daddy]

05:56 PM on 03/14/2011

How about we ask Ms Madigan to publish ALL her and DEAR OLE' DADDY'S AFFAIRS. We want their addresses, phone numbers and all licenses made public. We also want ALL dealings they may have, who they deal with and ALL bank accounts made public.
What's Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander.
Come on, King and Queen Madigan, the residents of the state of Illinois know that it is the two of you who really run this state. The only stupid people here are the ones who vote for you. The rest of us know this State is a Monarchy, not a Democracy.
Come on, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO HIDE? WELL, DO YOU ROYAL MADIGAN FAMILY? What's fair is fair. We want to see EVERYTHING you do. NEXT, we want to go into YOUR BEDROOM. HOPE YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING HIDING IN YOUR CLOSET.

[ScorpioTop]

04:05 PM on 03/26/2011

The issue is guns, not tawdry gossip.

[ProfessorDuh]

12:14 PM on 03/13/2011

But if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about. Isn't that what right wingers always say when they're trying to justify unlimited police-state spying on American citizens by Republican presidents?

[hifi74]

06:21 PM on 03/17/2011

Have you lost your damn mind. This doesn't have anything to do with "hiding" something. This is about notifying anyone who wants to know who has a firearm or not which places a target on them from those who would break into a home to steal it. Then if you think about it, it places those who are not firearms owners at risk too. It puts that big "hey I'm not protected" moniker over them. This whole bill does nothing but put people at risk and gives this already over reaching government more control. It's bad juju.

[ProfessorDuh]

06:10 AM on 03/18/2011

I see. Paranoia. No wonder you worship guns.

[MaxHeadroom]

10:47 AM on 03/13/2011

And how many children in Illinois go to bed hungry at night?? How many Illinois seniors are living day to day, hand to mouth in their supposed "Golden Years" without support from anyone be it family, or friends??

Can't we spend our time creating policies that would otherwise do more in the short and long term benefit for more important causes than this??

Geesh.

[HisXLNC]

12:25 PM on 03/05/2011

Just one more reason the FOID card is a bad idea.

[Rooster Coburn]

04:00 PM on 03/03/2011

In Vermont, Alaska and Arizona residents enjoy anonymous gun ownership and carry rights.  Also anonymous church attendance, anonymous attendance at public meetings, anonymous letters to the editor of their local newspaper, the secret ballot, medical privacy (HIPA), freedom from warrantless searches of their persons and property.  It's called freedom, liberty, civil rights, civil liberty, the American way.

[jeffbiss]

05:14 PM on 03/03/2011

It also allows criminals to buy guns outright and a lot of them to sell to Mexican drug gangs. That's liberty without responsibility, the American way.

[Rooster Coburn]

05:48 PM on 03/03/2011

Just because a few people misuse a right doesn't justify restricting the right of those who do.

[JWebberPhoto]

03:51 PM on 03/04/2011

What? The ATF doesn't like competition, you say?

Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/03/eveningnews/main20039031.shtml

[ufcfanvt]

05:42 PM on 03/03/2011

The Bible, Koran, Mein Kampf, and Mao's Red book have caused the death of more people than guns ever did. We don't ban religions, books, or speech.
I like America the way it is. And America is going to stay this way :-)

[manicmarkus]

05:02 PM on 03/11/2011

no one is talking about banning guns. They want to know if you have one. Read the story.

[slinkybro]

12:41 PM on 03/03/2011

OK Lisa, let’s have it your way. Release the names of all the people with FOID cards. Because the public has the right to know. And while you are at it, can we release the names of people who have received traffic tickets so we know who the bad drivers are? And how about all the women who have had abortions? I wouldn’t want to associate with those types. Let’s also release everyone’s tax returns to make sure the department of revenue is collect all the taxes they should. Maybe we shouldn’t have secret ballots anymore, so we know who isn’t voting the right way. And finally we need to release all the personal information on the Attorney General and her family to make sure she doesn’t have any conflicts of interest. After all, it is for the good of the public.

[manicmarkus]

05:02 PM on 03/11/2011

way to use your brain. Albeit a small one.

[hifi74]

06:35 PM on 03/17/2011

Actually Slinky is absolutely right! Madigan is putting a very large target of the residents of Illinois because she thinks "firearms are evil" and it doesn't fit her ideology. Lets level the playing field since she feels so compelled to put peoples personal information out their let's do the same for her and her family. Maybe we should make public her licences and other such certifications. This is another over reach by the government.

[JimInHouston]

12:31 PM on 03/03/2011

In a couple of states (OH and VA, as I recall), some zealous anti-gun newspapers decided to publish the names and personal information of CHL holders...for "public safety", and "right to know", and all that.

Gun owner groups then published the personal information of the reporters, editors, and governing boards of said newspapers...for "right to know", and all that.

The newspapers subsequently saw the errors of their ways and removed the databases of CHL holders from public access. IL could learn a lot from this.

[ufcfanvt]

05:45 PM on 03/03/2011

They did. The Roanoke Times was the first among the in VA.
As a result, several women with murderous ex-husbands had to move the night after those papers were published. They had managed to evade those psychos and used their concealed weapons to remain safe and alive until that point.
No remorse was ever shown for this misdeed.

[CriticalDune]

12:27 PM on 03/03/2011

NRA hatin' Chicago liberal here. The AG is wrong. The public dissemination of a gun owner list does invite criminals to target individuals in order to steal guns. The argument that they won't because a gun owner lives there is hooey. A lot of FOID card holders don't own guns for self protection. They are for shooting sports (Olympic events by the way) and hunting, which is also regulated by license. There seems to be a common theme in this thread that conflates saturday night specials with guns used for sport and recreation. The AG's opinion also invites non-compliance with the law. That takes important information out of the hands of law enforcement (which is why they oppose it). Finally, a list would be a data miner's dream. The government doesn't release Driver's License information to protect privacy, I don't see how this is any different. The application is quite similar too: http://www.isp.state.il.us/docs/6-181_non.pdf

[grossmont325]

01:36 PM on 03/05/2011

CD--don't forget that a pump shotgun with a 5 shot magazine and a slug barrel or a lever action carbine in 3030 or 44mag make formidable defensive firearms (I don't know about you, but a hunter using a shotgun the s/he has been hunting with for decade would be devastating)

[Tresco]

10:17 PM on 03/13/2011

A 12 guage goose gun with 30 inch barrel is not too handy indoors. A lever action 30-30 fires a round that's balistically similar to the round fired by the AK-47. Overpenetration could be a problem.

[hifi74]

06:41 PM on 03/17/2011

Now ideologically on most everything else we would probably disagree but on this I whole heartedly agree. I would add though that on the other side of the spectrum it can put non owners could potentially be put at risk. This bill would essentially announce to everyone (who decided to check anyways) who basically does not have the means to protect their homes.

[Mrguitar]

11:57 AM on 03/03/2011

It's time to do away with the FOID card.

[grossmont325]

12:28 PM on 03/03/2011

agreed--after McDonald and Heller--the FOID is on life support

[CelticMajic]

02:18 PM on 03/03/2011

Exactly

[ChiGuy]

11:37 AM on 03/03/2011

"...the [Illinois State Rifle] association believes that release of such data puts FOID card holders and their families in grave danger."
_________________________________________

What utter nonsense.

The minimal fee for a FOID card does not support the entire program of record keeping/maintenance. Taxpayer dollars are used. So, the information should be publicly accessible.

[Thirdpower]

12:55 PM on 03/03/2011

The fee for a FOID is $10. The cost of producing it is a little over $7.

Try again.

[ChiGuy]

08:35 PM on 03/03/2011

And you think that the $3 balance pays the total cost of employees and records maintenance? LOL!! It is you who needs to try again.

[poomplet]

11:37 AM on 03/03/2011

I think the federal government should release the social security, citizenship status and/or income tax records of every person in the USA, along with their addresses.

We have a right to know if our neighbors are committing crimes...

...like living in this country illegally, doing so by using false SSNs/documents, etc.

Cuz if the public has a right to look into EVERYONE's private business under the false pretense that it might help weed out a few lawbreakers...we have a much bigger incentive to do so if it will nail hundreds of thousands of them!!

Right, Lisa?

[poomplet]

11:28 AM on 03/03/2011

Well, I think the state should be forced to publish a list showing how every Illinois citizen votes in every election.

We need to be able to discern if/when someone becomes ineligible to vote, so this is a valid argument...

...or so says the AG.

[ChiGuy]

12:01 PM on 03/03/2011

Voter registries, which are taxpayer funded, are accessible to the public. Canvassing which happens, I believe, every two years, weeds out ineligible registrations.

An individual's decision regarding whom to vote for is not taxpayer funded.

[poomplet]

12:14 PM on 03/03/2011

Voting DECISIONS are tabulated & recorded using taxpayer funds.

Ergo, those results should be 100% accessible to the public. Now, if the machines only record "one vote for Barak Obama, then of course, we won't know who you voted for. But if it records "Bob Smith voted for Barak Obama", then I should have access to that info.

...according to YOU.

[OdinsEye]

06:36 PM on 03/04/2011

Military medical records are tax payer funded. Clearly the "tax payer funded" criteria is far from universal as to what should or should not be publically accessible.

[MilesLong]

12:01 PM on 03/03/2011

You're so precious! (laughing)

The state has whether or not one voted (which IS available), but they do not collect and correlate HOW they voted. Since it's not collected, it's impossible to publish.

Miles "How "Special" Of You" Long

[Arkm00]

11:03 AM on 03/03/2011

This serves no purpose but to make owning a firearm in IL. even more annoying. A kind of public stigma for gun owners. Law enforcement already has this information at its disposal. Making it public make no sense. Lisa M. ought to focus on cleaning up corruption in Chicago......ooops can't beleive i just said that. Going to be a rash of weapons reported stolen and quiet trades making weapons even less secured than before. Maybe if people felt safer and trusted their Govt. more they wouldnt cling to their guns and bibles so much.

[Puck342]

11:01 AM on 03/03/2011

Okay Okay Okay let me get this straight:
The attitude of gun owners is this (I think)
I own a gun, giving me the ability to kill any human being, within at least several hundred yards, if not close to a mile. I should be allowed to have this weapon, own it, posses it, hide it from others in a concealed manner, but NO ONE ELSE, living in close proximity to me, deserves to know?

No one actually fears reprisal over this, because who would take a list of all the people who are armed/dangerous, and mess with THEM. Because when criminals think of who to target, they always pick the best defended adversaries. Because criminals like a challenge, gangs like challenges. I mean, thats why you become a criminal in the first place right? To work hard, take on tough opponents, and systematically target persons whose lethality you would literally have complete cognizance of.

That's like numbingly stupid. Guns are an aberration of urban life and everyone who is forced to live in close proximity to anyone who is stupid enough to bring one into an urban setting should be allowed to know so. If Sex Offenders need to be registered because they are a potential danger to our children, Why Not Gun-owners, who are a danger to EVERYONE (but especially their own children, if you look at gun deaths statistically)

[cne1002]

11:33 AM on 03/03/2011

Your rant makes very little sense. Obviously because you have no idea what the law state regarding gun ownership in Illinois.

I own a gun. Like a car it's property. I do not have to disclose a list of property. Illinois gun owners do not have the ability to carry concealed. Secondly off duty police do this on a daily basis. Are you suggesting they publish their names and addresses so you can feel "safe"?

No one would ever think of targeting a home of a gun owner when their not home?

More liberal garbage. Not because you understand the issue, but obviously your clueless.

[slinkybro]

12:43 PM on 03/03/2011

I would be more worried about the criminals with guns than law abiding citizens.