Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine announced yesterday that his office submitted an amicus curiae brief on behalf of Madison County, urging the Illinois Supreme Court to conclude that the FOID Act is unconstitutional.
“Madison County citizens value their Second Amendment rights,” Haine stated in a press release. “Chicago and Cook County have filed briefs supporting the FOID Act in an important case, defining Second Amendment rights for Illinois residents, which is currently before the Illinois Supreme Court. Madison County and the rest of Illinois has a very different understanding of our Second Amendment rights than the views of Cook County and Chicago. It is important that the voice of Madison County be heard by the Illinois Supreme Court alongside the restrictive views from Chicago. This amicus brief allows our position to be heard loud and clear before the state’s highest court - the FOID Act is unconstitutional, and must go.”
The amicus brief, or “friend of the court” brief, was filed by Haine, Assistant State’s Attorney Andrew Carruthers and Assistant State’s Attorney John Hanson.
The FOID Act states that “no person may acquire or possess any firearm, stun gun, or taser within this State without having in his or her possession a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card previously issued in his or her name by the Department of State Police under the provisions of this Act.”
Further, Illinoisans who possess a firearm without a FOID card face criminal penalties ranging from a petty offense to a felony depending on the circumstances, according to the brief.
The brief was filed in regards to a case out of White County Circuit Court where judge Mark Stanley ruled that mandatory FOID cards violated the Second Amendment as applied to homes.
Haine urges the Supreme Court to affirm Stanley’s ruling in White County and “make clear that the Constitution protects law-abiding, responsible citizens in Madison County and throughout Illinois from being forced to ask permission before they can simply protect their home.”
Madison County’s amicus brief states that Haine has a “sworn duty to protect and defend the rights of Madison County citizens” and “has an inherent interest in the constitutionality of criminal statutes like the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act (the FOID Act), which it is his office’s duty to enforce in Madison County.”
“Further, after a review of years of data from Madison County and practical experience from his office, it is his opinion that the FOID Act does not in fact advance public safety in Madison County and is an unconstitutional burden on peaceable Madison County citizens,” it continues.
Haine calls FOID card requirements “unhelpful to the core public safety interest regarding firearms preventing lawless gun violence.”
He wrote that after surveying the previous five years of FOID Act prosecutions, violations are “few in number overall and make relatively little impact on combating violent crime.”
According to the brief, the five-year survey revealed that only 200 FOID Act violations had been charged in Madison County since 2016. During that same time period, the State’s Attorney’s Office prosecuted more than 20,000 felonies and “far-more-numerous misdemeanors and traffic citations.” Additionally, of those 200 FOID Act violations, roughly one-third of the charges resulted in convictions and only one was a felony conviction. Probation was imposed on the felony conviction. Haine added that FOID Act violations typically accompany more serious charges.
“We have found that the FOID Act alone has very limited deterrence effect because people are almost never punished solely for a violation of the FOID Act,” the brief states. “And where a law poses no practical deterrent to those who violate it, its public interest justification exists only in theory, not in reality.”
Haine argues that requiring Illinoisans to fill out a form, provide a picture ID and pay a fee to obtain a FOID card before exercising their constitutional right to self-defense with a firearm violates the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.
“Striking down the FOID Act would fit squarely within the Judiciary’s ongoing guardianship of basic constitutional rights,” the brief states.
“Courts have made clear that legislatures cannot legitimately require American citizens to pay a fee and carry documentation before they engage in political speech, assert their right against self-incrimination, or vote in an election,” it continues. “Just as such infringements on citizens’ rights were struck down as unconstitutional, the FOID Act must also be struck down.”
Haine argues that the FOID Act fails heightened scrutiny as the Second Amendment protects “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”
“By hindering the core of the right to keep arms in self-defense, the FOID Act clearly impinges on the Second Amendment, and also triggers higher scrutiny under Illinois precedent,” the brief states. “The state must ‘bear the burden of showing a very strong public interest justification and a close fit between the government’s means and its end.’”
Haine argues that history shows that the FOID Act is unconstitutional.
“The historical record could not be clearer or cleaner on this issue,” the brief states. “In fact, the FOID Act is a national outlier even today. Only three states - Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York - require a license prior to owning firearms, and New York’s law applies only to handguns.”
Haine adds that no FOID-like restrictions were in place when the Second Amendment was founded.
The brief goes on to describe Madison County as having a commitment to “robust Second Amendment protections” after citizens “overwhelmingly” passed a resolution in November 2018 making the county a Second Amendment “Sanctuary.”
“Its residents enjoy hunting and shooting sportsmanship activities,” the brief states, “and value their constitutionally protected ability to defend their homes and persons with firearms when necessary.”
“As the chief law enforcement officer of Madison County, I have a fundamental interest in the preservation of the lawful balance of public safety and Second Amendment rights,” it continues.
Haine also notes that as part of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area, Madison County residents are concerned about violence committed by armed criminals.
“To prevent violence, my office is committed to empower law enforcement to keep weapons out of dangerous hands, and to promote a healthy culture of lawful gun-ownership for self-defense throughout our communities.
“Rather than balance these interests, Illinois’ FOID card requirement sacrifices fidelity to the Constitution for a merely theoretical advantage to public safety that, in the practical experience of Madison County’s State’s Attorney’s Office, makes no measurable impact on our ability to punish lawbreakers and advance the safety of our communities,” the brief states.
The constitutional question arose after Vivian Brown’s estranged husband told White County deputies in March 2017 that she shot a gun in her home near Carmi, Ill. Deputies found a Remington .22 caliber single shot bolt action rifle in her room, but found no evidence that a gun had been fired in the home.
The state’s attorney in that case filed criminal information, and Brown moved to find the statute unconstitutional.