The Illegal and Racist History of the FOID Card

If you’ve ever talked to a gun owner or heard a conversation about guns in Illinois, you’ve probably heard of the FOID card. This is a Firearm Owner ID card. In order to buy guns or ammunition in Illinois you have to have a FOID. This means that before you can use your 2nd amendment rights you have to be background checked just to get the card (hint, hint: that’s illegal). “So what, isn’t that a good thing?” Every time you go to buy a gun you have to have a new background check done, to make sure you’re not an alcoholic, recently arrested for domestic abuse, under indictment for a felony, etc… so why do I need to be background checked to get a FOID, if every time I go to buy a gun I have to be re-background checked? Does that seem stupid to the rest of you as it does to me?

So why is it illegal?

Idiotic gun grabbers (sorry for the redundance) think that all gun owners should have to pass a background check to get a FOID in order to use their God given 2nd Amendment rights. That’s right, God given, not government given. The government doesn’t give you anything. They take and they take, but they never give. If it was government given, then it would be a privilege, much like a drivers license.

A drivers license is a privilege, one who intends to drive a car on taxpayer built roads must acquire one of these, but not everyone has a drivers license. Why? Because maybe they’re not old enough. Or maybe they have a physical condition that prevents driving. Or maybe they’re epileptic. Does being too young, or disabled, or having a condition like epilepsy prevent you from using any of your other rights? Let me put it like this, does the fact that you’re 15 years old prevent you from using the 1st Amendment in regards to being able to speak freely? Or attend the church of your choosing? Does the fact that you’re 25 but lost an arm in a warzone mean that you surrender your 4th Amendment rights to search and seizure? Or the fact that you’re epileptic mean that you lose your right to vote? No. Because they are rights, not privileges. Rights cannot be taken away.

So, Joe, what are you getting at? Here’s what I’m getting at: You are required to pay the state of Illinois $10 (plus a $1 fee to fight the lawsuit) in order to use your 2nd Amendment right. That means the state of Illinois is breaking the law by charging you that $11 in order to be able to use your rights. Do you have to pay to use your right to vote? Do you have to pay to use your right to free speech, free assembly, freedom of religion? Do you have to pay to use your right to remain silent? NO! So why is it just the 2nd Amendment?

You said it was racist too….

That’s correct, the FOID is rooted in racism. The FOID came about in the 1960’s and anybody care to guess which group the government didn’t want to be armed in the 1960’s? If you said black people you would be correct. The FOID was set up so that the government of Illinois could choose who they wanted to have a gun and who they didn’t want to have a gun. And if you made everyone apply for a card to do that, it would be easy as pie to infringe on the rights of any minority or other person for whatever reason you didn’t want to own a gun.

The irony here is that all democrats are proponents of gun control. Also, all democrats PRETEND TO BE champions of every single racial minority and to say anything against any person of color automatically means you’re a racist. So why are those that continually champion against racism the loudest voices in the quest to disarm the same group of people they claim to be fighting for?

My thoughts

Personally, I don’t care what color you are, what your background is, or whether you worship a different supreme being than I do. I don’t care if you’re black, white, brown, yellow, plaid, polka-dotted, or mauve. I also don’t care if you’re a man or a woman. Everyone has the right to self defense. Everyone has the right to be free of tyranny (this is the real reason the 2nd Amendment was put into the Bill of Rights, and one of the reasons it was put so high up).

What you can do

I get it. You read this post and said, “OK, Joe, I get it. But what can I do?” First, you can talk about it. Have discussions with fellow gun owners or even just people who happen to be anti-gun to spread the word. Maybe they don’t know and maybe you’re informing them can help educate them. Second, and most importantly, stop voting for people who are so eager to take your rights away and sponsor a program founded on the basis of slavery. Call up your reps and ask them why they voted to support such a racist and antiquated way of thinking. Turn the tables on them.

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