Illinois has so many requests for Firearm Owner’s Identification cards that state police can’t process them in a timely manner.  In addition, people calling the state police to ask why they haven’t received their FOID cards are put on hold for as long as 35 minutes, if they’re lucky enough to get through to an answering machine that puts them on hold.  I tried the number 12 times, received a busy signal 11 of those times and got the answering machine once.  After 20 minutes on hold, I hung up.

Under law, the state has 30 days to process FOID card requests.  I’ve been waiting 50 days for a response to my application.  …

According to Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the state police department, Illinois had a record number of FOID card applications in the last three years. Last year, 321,437 people applied for FOID cards, 287,552 in 2010 and 326,008 in 2009. … ”There has been a 16 percent increase in FOID cards applicants in Chicago, which Bond attributed to a Supreme Court decision overturning the city’s gun ban.

Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, laughed when I asked if he had heard complaints about the state’s tardiness in responding to FOID card applicants.  “The governor isn’t staffing the FOID processing center of the state police department,” Pearson said. “He’s not replacing people as they retire. And that’s because he’s not enthusiastic about the idea of gun ownership.

via Southtown Star.

Would anyone believe that politics is not playing a role?