Emergency Rule Changes 'Clear And Present Danger' Gun License Reports

CHICAGO — Illinois State Police filed an emergency rule change to the agency's handling of clear and present danger reports, which car can lead to the rejection of Firearm Owners Identification, or FOID, card applications as well as the revocation of gun licenses.

The change will "clarify" the authority of state police to retain and use the reports, which can be made by law enforcement, school administrators, doctors, clinical psychologists and qualified examiners, the office of Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Monday.

“These modifications to administrative law will immediately give the ISP the legal authority to consider more evidence when determining whether to issue or revoke a FOID card and will strengthen the ISP’s ability to keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous individuals,” Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said in a statement.

The new emergency administrative rule amendment scraps a former rule that required state police officials deem that a clear and present danger is “impending”, “imminent”, “substantial” or “significant,” bringing the definition in line with the one used in state law, and allowing state police to consider more information.

It also eliminates the portion of the old rule that said Illinois state Police "shall not maintain a record of those persons who are not determined to present a clear and present danger," instead replacing it with a requirement that the department maintains records of clear and present danger "in accordance with state and federal law."

The state's Firearm Owners Identification Card Act and the Firearm Concealed Carry Act definition of "clear and present danger" is a someone who "communicates a serious threat of physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim or poses a clear and imminent risk of serious physical injury to himself, herself, or another person as determined by a physician, clinical psychologist, or qualified examiner."

It can also be someone who "demonstrates threatening physical or verbal behavior, such as violent, suicidal, or assaultive threats, actions, or other behavior, as determined by a physician, clinical psychologist, qualified examiner, school administrator, or law enforcement official," according to the law.

The man facing seven murder charges in connection with the July 4 parade mass shooting in Highland Park, the state's deadliest in nearly a century, was the subject of a September 2019 clear and present danger report with state police.

Highland Park police filed it after investigating a a report the suspected gunman, then 18, had threatened to "kill everyone." Police confiscated an assortment of knives from the home, which were picked up by his father later that day.

Last week, state police said that the evidence was insufficient to reject the FOID card application filed a few months later by the then-19-year-old suspect. His father signed off on his application because he was under 21.

Authorities said he then legally purchased five guns, including two semiautomatic rifles — one of which fired 83 bullets and was found dropped at the scene of the Highland Park massacre and another found in his car at the time of his arrest eight hours later.

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Clear and present danger reports are separate and distinct from the state's Firearms Restraining Order law, sometimes known as a "red flag law."

While only physicians, clinical psychologists, qualified examiners, school administrators and law enforcement can file clear and present danger reports, anyone — including law enforcement — who alleges under oath that someone with a gun poses an "immediate and present danger of causing personal injury to himself, herself, or another" with a gun can petition for a firearm restraining order.

Illinois' red flag law allows for emergency orders without the participation of the gun owner that must be followed by hearings on requests for 6-month renewable court orders that forbid firearm possession.

State officials said the emergency changes to state police administrative rules for clear and present danger reports will take effect within 10 days of its filing with the Illinois Secretary of State's Office.

Emergency rule changes expire after 150 days if they are not approved by the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, or JCAR. The 12-member committee of state representatives and state senators is due to meet due to next meet Aug. 17.

“For the sake of public safety, any FOID applicant with prior clear and present danger information needs to have that considered when having their application processed,” Pritzker said in a statement announcing the rule change.

“These changes will immediately allow ISP to see a fuller picture of an applicant’s history and keep the people of Illinois safe from those who should not be in possession of firearms," the governor said. "I want to thank the members of the Joint Committee and Director Kelly for taking up this important issue and protecting Illinoisans.”

Related: State Police Say Evidence Was Insufficient To Deny FOID Card To Accused Mass Shooter