The Illinois State Police want MO’ Money!

(GSL/TTAG) – As we’ve reported, the State of Illinois has skimmed off tens of millions in unspent funds from the Illinois State Police Firearms Services Fund. Monies designated to fund enforcement of the Land of Lincoln’s gun licensing schemes. Now, after failing to spend those monies, the empty holster ISP director wants higher gun licensing fees.

As a result of diverting these monies to fund other aspects of our virtually bankrupt state, Prairie State gun owners and carry license holders face ridiculous delays in getting their applications and renewals processed.

It’s so bad that the Second Amendment Foundation, Illinois State Rifle Association and others are suing over the rights-violating delays.

Now, on the Valentine’s Day anniversary of last year’s murder spree at the posted “No Guns” Henry Pratt Company — a crime carried out by a felon to whom the ISP issued a FOID card and approved the purchase of a handgun — Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly has the big brass ones temerity to express support for a bill that would…you guessed it…increase the fees the state charges gun owners for FOID cards and require expensive electronic fingerprints. As if electronic fingerprints will “help” the ISP round up 30,000 existing revoked FOID cards.

As a quick review, in the past few years, the Illinois State Police agency has:

• charged gun owners millions in fees to exercise their Second Amendment rights
• failed to spend half to three-quarters of that revenue to enforce these laws.
• allowed state government to sweep unspent monies for other state government operations utterly unrelated to serving gun owners in any way.
• understaffed the bureaucracy that processes the license applications.
  issued FOID cards to felons while making law-abiding applicants wait months.
• approved the sale of a firearm to a convicted felon (who used it to commit mass murder at the Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, IL).
  when notified of their screw up approving a FOID card for a convicted felon and the approval of the sale of a handgun, failed to seize the FOID card and the firearm from the individual.
• failed to refer the fraudulent FOID application for prosecution.
  failed to refer the purchase and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon for prosecution.
• now makes endless excuses and cries poor as part of advocating implementing still higher fees upon gun owners to exercise a fundamental constitutional right.

So because the Illinois State Police completely failed in their duty in the instance of the Aurora, IL killer, now this political hack director claims that the most law-abiding members of our state need to spend more money for still more burdensome regulation of their fundamental right to self-defense.

As if we, as law-abiding residents, should be fingerprinted like criminals to exercise a fundamental right.

Only in Illinois do the law-abiding get treated like criminals and the criminals too often get a pass.