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its been 2 years for FOID appeal


L.C.

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I applied for a foid card knowing I will get denied due to a felony " conspiracy vehicle theft class 2 in 1991 on my record. Its been 29 years since. I filed an appeal October 2018 to the Illinois state police firearms services in Springfield Illinois. I have yet to hear anything back. I sent the request for appeal application and 3 notarized letters one from me and 2 form close friends explaining how i would not be any threat. My question is what do I do now? I was thinking of sending another request for foid appeal. I was told that lawyers were not taking any more cases for foid appeals. Could someone direct me in the direction to get some movement on this? Thanks

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You can try requesting a hearing with the Director of the Illinois State Police .

 

Sec. 10. Appeal to director; hearing; relief from firearm prohibitions.

  1. Whenever an application for a Firearm Owner's Identification Card is denied, whenever the Department fails to act on an application within 30 days of its receipt, or whenever such a Card is revoked or seized as provided for in Section 8 of this Act, the aggrieved party may appeal to the Director of State Police for a hearing upon such denial, revocation or seizure,

You will need to send a letter to the director and request a hearing on the appeal you filed and give the date or approximate date you submitted your appeal the first time. In the letter, give your full legal name, date of birth, FOID number, and the date your FOID card was denied/revoked. Send a complete set of the appeal forms you already filed.

 

If you are granted a hearing, which is usually a meeting with an administrative judge appointed by the ISP, you may be able to do that as a teleconference or may need to travel to Springfield. You can have an attorney with you, if you think you need one.

 

Send this all via a mail service that will provide you with a signed receipt of delivery to:

 

Director Brendan Kelly

Illinois State Police

801 S. 7th Street

Springfield, IL 62703

 

Please keep me posted on your progress.

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I agree with the foregoing. That being said, as there has been no hearing officer since 2016, you will likely still hear nothing.

 

thus, I would suggest after doing the above, wait 30 to 60 days (i.e. into the new year), and then have a lawyer file an action in circuit court, based on "constructive denial"

 

In my experience suing them for untimely FOID and ccW, they might just issue you the card to make the lawsuit go away, and if not, it will likely still be faster than waiting on the ISP to act

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I agree with the foregoing. That being said, as there has been no hearing officer since 2016, you will likely still hear nothing.

 

Members who have had an appeal submitted for a long period of time and requesting an administrative hearing have gotten positive results in that their appeal is then processed and cards are being issued. I can't say if this will remain to be true but seems to be working for now.

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I agree with the foregoing. That being said, as there has been no hearing officer since 2016, you will likely still hear nothing.

 

thus, I would suggest after doing the above, wait 30 to 60 days (i.e. into the new year), and then have a lawyer file an action in circuit court, based on "constructive denial"

 

In my experience suing them for untimely FOID and ccW, they might just issue you the card to make the lawsuit go away, and if not, it will likely still be faster than waiting on the ISP to act

They still have hearings and a hearing officer. What you must be referring to is a change in procedure to assign hearing officers. Prior to 2016, most agencies contracted with outside counsels on their own to be their hearing officers. In 2016, in an attempt to centralize costs and standardize procedures, the State changed procedures for assigning hearing officers by creating a centralized pool/agency of administrative hearing officers, with certain ones assigned to certain agencies.

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I just know that I deposed Jessica Trame (former head of ISP FSB) a couple of times, and in one of the depos, she testified that they were short staffed, including not having a hearing officer since 2016, and that they would like to have one, they are budgeted for one, but cant get approval to actually fill the post, and that what she does is sometimes just make the decision herself, if its obvious, and occasionally, they borrow one from another agency, but she could not remember the last time they actually borrowed one.

 

If sending a letter demanding a hearing works for some people, I am all for it. Even if it doesn't, I'm all for it, as it makes the lawsuit that much better. The idea here is (1) get people their licenses, and (2) maybe make the process such a pain in the rear for the state that maybe, just maybe, we might get rid of it someday.

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  • 4 weeks later...

UPDATE!!!!!!!

 

I mailed off my request for an appeal on Nov. 19, 2020. I sent it Priority Mail with Certified receipt. As of right now December 10, 2020 the USPS Tracking states that my mail has been delivered to Agent in springfield for final delivery on November 23, 2020. This is absolutely crazy. I will be going to the post office today to find out what is going on. Thanks for your input guys.

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I have not been monitoring these threads, but will try to keep up each week. FYI, my own experience in handling a great many Informal Appeals (as this is the topic of the thread and not Formal Appeals), is that all of my appeals are now cleared up, as of this fall. Over the past 5 years, wait times kept increasing until I had at least 2 clients waiting 4 years, a couple at 3 years, and then more at the 2 and 1 year marks. This fall, all of my pending appeals have been reviewed and decided. An FSB re-org, new folks being hired, and possibly a change in focus, all seem to be the reasons. I know that my contact list has some absolutely stellar names added to it and if all goes well, I anticipate much quicker wait times on Informal Appeals. I even had a 30 day turnaround this fall, which I have not seen in a decade - and even then, my last super quick turn around was because we qualified under the expedited appeal process afforded to active law enforcement. Fingers crossed.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It could also be due to the two lawsuits slowly making their way through! Not to mention the publicity of all the delays.

 

Maybe. But I truly doubt it. I've battled state agencies for a decade and my partner has battled them for 30 years, and we've sued state agencies (and won!) ourselves. There was definitely some kind of re-org because I have new names that I'm dealing with. The Director may have waited this long to make changes or it could just be a happy coincidence.

Note that my FOIA requests for the contact details on the entire FSB (and parent division) were denied this fall, and I was literally told by ISP counsel that they'd be happy to fight me in court. They've already won on this issue in the past, so I won't take them up on it. I just don't get the vibe that civil litigation is making an impact on the Department of State Police.

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It could also be due to the two lawsuits slowly making their way through! Not to mention the publicity of all the delays.

 

Maybe. But I truly doubt it. I've battled state agencies for a decade and my partner has battled them for 30 years, and we've sued state agencies (and won!) ourselves. There was definitely some kind of re-org because I have new names that I'm dealing with. The Director may have waited this long to make changes or it could just be a happy coincidence.

Note that my FOIA requests for the contact details on the entire FSB (and parent division) were denied this fall, and I was literally told by ISP counsel that they'd be happy to fight me in court. They've already won on this issue in the past, so I won't take them up on it. I just don't get the vibe that civil litigation is making an impact on the Department of State Police.

 

So if civil litigation won’t make an impact what will? How do we convince the State Of Illinois that they cannot defy the law with impunity?

 

I know the actual answer is to vote out all the liberal anti-gun zealots and replace them with people who understand the US Constitution but I also know that won’t happen in my lifetime.

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I just know that I deposed Jessica Trame (former head of ISP FSB) a couple of times, and in one of the depos, she testified that they were short staffed, including not having a hearing officer since 2016, and that they would like to have one, they are budgeted for one, but cant get approval to actually fill the post, and that what she does is sometimes just make the decision herself, if its obvious, and occasionally, they borrow one from another agency, but she could not remember the last time they actually borrowed one.

 

If sending a letter demanding a hearing works for some people, I am all for it. Even if it doesn't, I'm all for it, as it makes the lawsuit that much better. The idea here is (1) get people their licenses, and (2) maybe make the process such a pain in the rear for the state that maybe, just maybe, we might get rid of it someday.

 

I believe the Chief Administrative Law Judge at IDFPR was taking on ISP admin hearings for FOID in Joliet, at least the last time I brought up the issue with him (2017?). I believe it was the Bureau of Administrative Hearings that arranged for a centralized pool of ALJs to take on cases in agencies either understaffed or without permanent ALJs. https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/AdministrativeHearingsmay have more info (and https://www2.illinois.gov/cms/About/Bureaus/Pages/default.aspx to a lesser extent).

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It could also be due to the two lawsuits slowly making their way through! Not to mention the publicity of all the delays.

 

Maybe. But I truly doubt it. I've battled state agencies for a decade and my partner has battled them for 30 years, and we've sued state agencies (and won!) ourselves. There was definitely some kind of re-org because I have new names that I'm dealing with. The Director may have waited this long to make changes or it could just be a happy coincidence.

Note that my FOIA requests for the contact details on the entire FSB (and parent division) were denied this fall, and I was literally told by ISP counsel that they'd be happy to fight me in court. They've already won on this issue in the past, so I won't take them up on it. I just don't get the vibe that civil litigation is making an impact on the Department of State Police.

Having had some experience with Brendan Kelly when he was the SA in St. Clair county and knowing that the county could be considered "Chicago South" for its political structure, it is likely that Kelly is being the good little democrat lapdog and doing what his "masters" want when they jerk his "chain".

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  • 2 months later...

 

 

Have you gotten proof of delivery yet?

Yes. I found out that when it says delivered to agent means that someone other than who the letter is addressed to signed and received the letter at the location of the particular address.

 

 

 

 

Now you wait.

How long should I give for the waiting process? its now 4 months.

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I was in your same situation it took over three years on my felony appeal. One day I just happened to open my letter from mail box and I didn't even know who it was from and my Foid Card fell out. I just picked up my second firearm and over the weekend sent in for my CCL so another long wait. As for you waiting keep in contact with Molly and keep on track with your state reps other than than that I don't know. I hired a Attorney but ISP wouldn't respond so I dropped him then like a few weeks later my Foid showed up.
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My appeal was sent beginning of December certified mail and it still says it technically has not been delivered but enroute and arriving late but it made it to Springfield it says. Is it normal for them to have them but not signed for? The other half of the appeal was sent by a doctor media mail and delivered but that wasn’t certified. It’s just so unsettling not knowing if it’s in process or lost in the mail and seems you cannot get a status of an appeal in any way. Any advice is appreciated!! it will be going on 4 months now.
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  • 2 months later...

OK, time to take this to another level. I filed for an appeal in 2018 and heard nothing back. i sent a letter after posting on this site requesting for a hearing with resubmitting my original appeal application with all contents needed for the appeal back in November 2021. I still have not heard anything back. How do I go about finding the correct lawyer to obtain to deal with this situation. Thanks in advance.

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OK, time to take this to another level. I filed for an appeal in 2018 and heard nothing back. i sent a letter after posting on this site requesting for a hearing with resubmitting my original appeal application with all contents needed for the appeal back in November 2021. I still have not heard anything back. How do I go about finding the correct lawyer to obtain to deal with this situation. Thanks in advance.

Anecdotally, I believe most FOID informal appeals take between 1-4 years. I try to have my appeals processed by ISP and granted between 2-6 months. Lately I have had a couple of decisions about 6 weeks after my FedEx arrives in Springfield. But it is always hit and miss and the appeal's complexity has to be considered when evaluating timeframes.

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