Sheriff Backs Stalled Bill To Close 'Ammunition Loophole' In Illinois FOID Law

CHICAGO — Licensed firearm dealers in Illinois must check that gun buyers have valid firearm owners identification, or FOID, cards. But they are not required to do the same for purchasers of ammunition.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart convened a news conference Monday with state lawmakers to call for the closure of what he described as a "loophole" in state gun law that allows people with revoked FOIDs to continue to buy ammunition by presenting the invalid cards at gun shops.

Joined by State Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago) and State Sen. Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago), Dart said legislation Ford introduced in Springfield earlier this year would objectively help reduce gun violence.

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"I got a newsflash for you: Thoughts and prayers, they don't work, OK? They don't work. They're not going to work," Dart said. "And so we need to come up with substantive things."

In Cook County, there are more than 19,200 people who never turned in their cards after having had their FOIDs revoked, as is required by law, according to the sheriff's office. Dart's office formed a specialized police unit to recover guns from people with revoked or expired FOID cards, which he said had recovered nearly 1,000 guns over the past few years.

"In a sane world, this wouldn't be a blip, but in the insane world we live in, this will be really, really helpful," Dart said.

"Are our streets flooded with guns? Yes, we get it. Are the majority of them coming from out of state? Yeah, we get it. But yet if we were to limit the ability of people who should be nowhere near guns to purchase ammunition, it helps," he said. "And that's what we need right now. Not the rhetoric, not the thoughts and prayers, but things that will legitimately help, and this will do it."

Collins, who sponsored a bill that last month made Illinois the first state in the Midwest to ban privately made, unserialized firearms also known as "ghost guns," said authorities have already filed charges against people accused of violating the new law.

"Now, Illinois must become the first state in the Midwest to also require ammunition sellers to verify that a purchaser has a valid FOID card," Collins said.

"Really, the guns only matters if we also regulate bullets. And together, guns and bullets are responsible for the deaths of over 1,700 children in Illinois in 2020. That's an increase of nearly 28 percent over the preceding year," she said. "And, across the country, firearms are now the leading cause of death for children. The pandemic of violence isn't getting better — It's getting worse."

Ford, who filed the bill in January, said Dart asked him to sponsor the bill. He described it as common-sense legislation that would have no impact on legal gun owners.

"Chris Rock once said something about, 'If you want to stop people from shooting, tax the bullet, and make it so high that people can't afford to buy it,' Well, we're not even doing that. We're not even adding a tax to the bullet," Ford said. "We're just saying that if you're legally able to buy a gun, you're legally able to buy ammunition."

According to the text of the proposed bill, gun buyers "may be required" to pay a fee of up to $25 per firearm or "firearm ammunition sales transaction."

Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, said in a message that the legislation's record-keeping requirement amounted to ammunition registration that would delay background checks for firearm sales and ammunition approvals.

"Federal Firearms dealers (FFLs) would have to make a FTIP [Firearm Transfer Inquiry Program] inquiry to sell a box of ammunition," Pearson said. "They would have to charge you $25.00 on top of the price of the ammunition. A $3.00 box of .22s would cost you $28.00, plus tax."

The legislation, House Bill 5380, has not attracted any other sponsors and has twice been referred to the Rules Committee.

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