Insisting that applicants are now being forced to wait four times longer than the time allocated by law to get approval for Firearm Owners Identification cards, the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) has filed suit against Illinois State Police.
"People who have a fundamental right to be able to defend themselves are being denied that right thanks to basically bureaucratic inefficiency," Illinois attorney David Sigale told NBC News.
The suit seeks to speed up the process, which now is also said to take 156 days on average to process concealed and carry licenses or nearly twice the time approved by law.
While insisting they do not comment on pending litigation, Illinois State Police officials added "the Firearms Services Bureau is working diligently to complete all applicants as quickly and completely as possible."
Late last year as the COVID-19 pandemic raged and much of the country was in the throes of growing civil unrest, Illinois residents shopped for more guns and applied for firearm permits more than any other time in the state’s history, according to authorities.
Through November 2020, there were more than 500,000 inquiries about gun purchases, a 45% increase from the year before. At least 445,945 applications for firearm owner’s identification cards were also received, a 167% increase from 2017.
Alerts Sign-up