In Illinois, you must complete an application and pay $10 for the privilege of owning a firearms identification card (FOID).
In other words, you need to ask the State for permission to enjoy your God-given right to defense.
On Tuesday, White County Judge T. Scott Webb called foul and ruled that the FOID card is blatantly unconstitutional:
"A citizen in the State of Illinois is not born with a Second Amendment right. Nor does that right insure when a citizen turns 18 or 21 years of age. It is a façade. They only gain that right if they pay a $10 fee, complete the proper application, and submit a photograph.
If the right to bear arms and self-defense are truly core rights, there should be no burden on the citizenry to enjoy those rights, especially within the confines and privacy of their own homes. A citizen's Second Amendment rights should not be treated in the same manner as a driver's license."
I don't know about you, but having a non-woke judge pass down a lawful ruling that would honor God and uphold the legacy of John Locke and Thomas Jefferson just feels oh so good.
"Accordingly, if a person does something themselves from being able to exercise being able to exercise that right, like being convicted of a felony or demonstrating mental illness, then and only then may the right be stripped from them."
Webb's ruling involved Vivian Brown, an elderly woman who was charged in 2017 for owning a long-barreled, bolt-action rifle without the proper I.D.
Why is owning a gun that your great-great grandpappy could have owned before the War a grave threat to the Kingdom of Illinois?
The White County Circuit Court threw out the first case, which angered the State and caused them to go whine to the Supreme Court, which said the case needed to be tried again in the county.
Judge Webb took one look at this nonsense – which again, is a four-year war waged by the state government on an old woman and her bolt-action rifle – and tossed out the charges.
The state complained that technically they hadn't banned gun ownership, just erected roadblocks to make it more difficult. I recall the Left being super paranoid about I.D. being weaponized to take away rights, but I guess that was just pretend.
Webb called their bluff right away:
"The State of Illinois, through the FOID Card Act, doesn't recognize a citizen's Second Amendment Right to armed self-defense within the privacy of their home, unless and until they can pay the $10 fee, provide a photograph, and demonstrate that they don't meet any of the litany of disqualifying criteria. In the eyes of this Court, the entire process is inverted. The burden should be on the state."
Again, I have a strange tingling feeling from hearing liberty and justice being upheld here. Could this be joy? I barely remember what it's like to see such things honored in a wokeified country!
The state government is expected to appeal the decision (because of course) and drag this lady through the courts for however many years until their point is made.
The good news is the state has become so backlogged in sending out tens of thousands of FOID cards that they might be facing lawsuits of their own!
