Stats

The "numbers" definitely worked out for you very well! It took 10 days to process your application. Now for the month of August, 2021 the average application processing time was 197 (196.74) days. So what this would mean that (statistically) there would be another new application that took 384 days (ouch). [10+384= 394 394/2 = 197] The ISP has been working to chip away at the backlog. Congrats on the rapid processing time on the new FOID and quick processing on the address change. Also, and most important, good luck in your pending nuptials.

Bottom line is you should be able to start your FOID renewal in early November, 2021. Under current law, the Illinois State Police are supposed to send out a renewal notification for your FOID 60 days before the expiration of your FOID (that would be the beginning of November for you). Instead of waiting for the letter, I would suggest that you go online on the ISP website and review your account. If the renewal button is available, you can click on the button and start the renewal process. The renewal button should be available in the beginning of November. You might want to check earlier than November as there have been some instances where the renewal process has been opened up early. This should get you on your way to renewal. Now, on January 1st (2022) things are supposed to change. For one, the notification period for FOID renewal goes from 60 days to 180 days. So, theoretically, after 1/1/2022 the ISP should send out renewal notices 180 days before expiration. And although the law does not spell it out, the assumption would be that the renewal "button" would be active be active on an account 180 before expiration. As the change does not go into effect until 1/1/2022, I would not expect the new extended notification period to kick in until after 1/1/2022. Also, where there might be some variability on the process, on 1/1/2022 a new process is rolling out. This is what is supposed to go into effect (430 ILCS 65/7): (https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=1657&ChapterID=39) (c) Beginning January 1, 2022, if the Firearm Owner's Identification Card of a licensee under the Firearm Concealed Carry Act expires during the term of the licensee's concealed carry license, the Firearm Owner's Identification Card and the license remain valid during the validity of the concealed carry license and the licensee does not have to renew his or her Firearm Owner's Identification Card, if the Firearm Owner's Identification Card has not been otherwise renewed as provided in this Act. Unless the Illinois State Police has reason to believe the licensee is no longer eligible for the card, the Illinois State Police may automatically renew the licensee's Firearm Owner's Identification Card. I am not sure how the ISP intends to roll this out or how they will roll out the new process. I am not a lawyer, but it appears that since your FOID expires on 1/1/2022, and your CCL is valid until August, 2024, that you would not need to renew your FOID and it would be valid until August, 2024. So to get back to your original question- You should be able to renew in early November, 2021. The new law looks to give some additional options going forward. Hope that this helps, and I apologize for the extended response, but "things are a changing".

Attached is a link to an article in the Illinois Times on the FOID wait times. https://www.illinoistimes.com/springfield/year-long-waits-for-foid-cards/Content?oid=14110347 It looks as if the Auditor General will be publishing the results of an audit in the last few days of September, 2021 on the performance of the Illinois State Police application processing. As information is available, I will try o keep you informed.

All makes good sense. Looks like a good feature to grow into. Thank you for the information.

On the top navigation bar there is an item called "Support". When you click on support you are taken to a page that shows "Your Support Requests". When I click on the "New Request" button, I receive the message: "The page you are trying to access is not available for your account." My questions are: Is this expected behavior for this option? Would you need to be at a different member participation level for this option to work? Would this be functionality that would be expected to work in the future? Thank you for any insight.

Or how about ("thinking out loud" here for a potential future solution) you go to the local Secretary of State (SoS) office. No better verification than there-the SoS is the source of the FOID card picture and used to verify identities. Even better yet- When you go to apply/ renew your drivers license or state id, you are given the choice to apply or renew your FOID. This would be just like registering to vote. Just like voter registration, they ask you a few questions and you are done. No need for a photo, as the SoS representative can verify right there on the spot. The application is then forwarded to the Illinois State Police for processing. Or, even easier, the SoS could process. The implementation of this would not be too bad. The FOID "systems" and SoS "systems" are already integrated for not only identity verification but also for LEADS (Law Enforcement Automated Data System). This could be called Motor Firearm Owner Application.

Congrats on the card activation! There is an application available from the United States Postal Service that can allow you to track regular mail that is to be delivered to your residence. It is called informed delivery, and is available here https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action. With my renewal, the card was "scheduled" to be delivered on a Wednesday, and I got in on a Friday. If I did not get it on Friday, I had enough information (including a picture of the envelope) to initiate a claim with the USPS, as well as (if it was lost), documentation for the Illinois State Police to show that it was lost in the mail.

Congrats on taking the plunge! I would defer to someone more knowledgeable on the effect of adding fingerprints to an application in process. I do have some information on the trending of average processing days (history) since February, 2021. (The information is posted only for the most recent reporting period on the website) Processing Statistics Source- https://isp.illinois.gov/Foid Month/ Year New FOID application Average Processing Time (Days) Renewal FOID application Average Processing Time (Days) New Non-Fingerprint CCL Average Processing Time (Days) New Fingerprint CCL Average Processing Time (Days) FTIP Average Processing Time (Hours) 02/2021 118.89 n/a 166.02 156.55 71 03/2021 126.35 176.54 160.04 136.91 50 04/2021 140.39 187.69 162.49 142.79 48.75 05/2021 206.84 218.20 152.10 182.63 13 06/2021 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 07/2021 188.95 143.82 143.74 131.79 23.3 08/2021 196.74 258.16 167 136.44 7.75 Please note that these are just averages and (as the Illinois State Police notes) "not all applications are processed in the order that they are received". Also, to give you some context, I recently renewed my CCL and my prints were on file. The process took almost 230 days- from renewal submission to license receipt. I submitted my renewal in January. The Illinois State Police does not publish CCL renewal statistics. Good luck!

CCL renewal card received 229 days after renewal submitted. Here are some of the demographics of my case: Original card expiration date: 5/3/2021 Renewal submitted: 1/3/2021 (120 days before expiration) Fingerprints on file: Yes Training certificate submitted with renewal: Yes (Under "COVID rules" the proof of training was not required) Renewal card "issued": 8/13/2021 (222 days after renewal submitted) Renewal card received: 8/20/2021 (229 day after renewal submission and 109 days after original card expiration) Per Illinois Statute, renewals with fingerprints shall be issued 90 days after submission. (https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=3497&ChapterID=39) If you are waiting, please hang in there. ⏲️🐌

The average delay for new FOID cards is published on the Illinois State Police website (https://isp.illinois.gov/Foid). This information is published for the prior months’ activity. Month/ Year New FOID Application Ave. Processing Time (Days) Statutory "Requirement" Days in Excess of "Requirement" % Of Excess days over Statutory "Requirement" Notes 02/2021 118.89 30 88.89 296.3 03/2021 126.35 30 96.35 321.2 04/2021 140.39 30 110.39 368.0 05/2021 206.84 30 176.84 589.5 06/2021 n/a 30 - - Not published 07/2021 188.95 30 158.95 529.8 08/2021 196.74 30 166.74 555.8 Please note that that the calculation of average processing time is the time from submission to the time that the application has been approved (or denied). Also, the calculation is an average. So, if there are two applications processed, one application takes 20 days, and the other application takes 100 days, the average application processing time would be 60 days. For reference, here are the snippets from the Illinois Revised Statues (https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=1657&ChapterID=39) (430 ILCS 65/5) (from Ch. 38, par. 83-5) Sec. 5. Application and renewal. (a) The Department of State Police shall either approve or deny all applications within 30 days from the date they are received, except as provided in subsection (b) of this Section… (b) Renewal applications shall be approved or denied within 60 business days, provided the applicant submitted his or her renewal application prior to the expiration of his or her Firearm Owner's Identification Card…

I think that the complacency/ saturation (or even frustration) alignment would be your commentary. I am not currently aware of any polls in Illinois for prospective gunowners that would measure complacency or saturation. We know that since January, 2020 the Illinois State Police have processed about 380,000 new FOID applications. The media has also noted an increase in first time gun buyers do to “civil unrest” and/or “COVID19”. We do know that approximately 18% of Illinoisans have a FOID card whereas some polls indicate that about 30% of all Americans are gun owners. We also know that the average processing time for new FOID applications has been steadily increasing from level defined by some administrators as “unacceptable” in December, 2020. I am not sure if any of the statistics provided by the Illinois State Police would point to any single correlation of complacency or saturation (or frustration). Month/ Year New FOID Application Ave. Processing Time (Days) Statutory "Requirement" Days in Excess of "Requirement" % of Excess days over Statutory "Requirement" Notes 02/2021 118.89 30 88.89 296.3 03/2021 126.35 30 96.35 321.2 04/2021 140.39 30 110.39 368.0 05/2021 206.84 30 176.84 589.5 06/2021 n/a 30 - - Not published 07/2021 188.95 30 158.95 529.8 08/2021 196.74 30 166.74 555.8