In Illinois, possessing so much as a single round of ammunition without a Firearms Owner ID (or FOID) card is a serious crime.
How serious?
Well, residents of Lake in the Hills, Illinois got a first hand view of that law being enforced last Thursday, when a SWAT unit rolled up on a house where a 20-year-old man was believed to be possessing ammunition without a permit.
“The search warrant was part of a joint investigation into illegal activity,” the Lake in the Hills Police Department said in a news release.
A criminal complaint filed in McHenry County Circuit Court alleges that [Joel] Fernandez knowingly possessed – without a valid FOID card – 20 cartridges of .45 Auto Sellier & Bellot branded full metal jacket (FMJ), 13 cartridges of .223 Remington branded steel core FMJ, one cartridge of 9mm Blazer Brass branded FMJ, one cartridge of 9mm Remington-Peters branded FMJ, one cartridge of 9mm Speer branded jacketed hollow point (JHP), and two cartridges of 9mm Sig Sauer branded JHP.
This means that Fernandez was allegedly possessing 25 cartridges of pistol ammunition and 13 cartridges of rifle ammunition, totaling 38.
The complaint did not mention whether Fernandez possessed firearms.
Police even issued a stay-in-place alert for the area, which caused a nearby preschool to go on lockdown. After Fernandez was arrested, police announced that there was “no longer” a threat to public safety… but was there really one to begin with?
For all I know, Fernandez is going to be charged with some serious, violent offenses in the coming days. At the moment, though he’s only charged with a possessory crime, and even the Lake in the Hills PD’s description of “illegal activity” doesn’t specifically mention any crime of violence.
So, for the moment, all we have to go on is that police thought Fernandez possessed ammo without a FOID card, assumed he might have a gun as well, and then moved in with the SWAT team to take him down.
In most of the country this wouldn’t be a crime at all. Illinois, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey are the only states where a permit or license is required to purchase or possess ammunition, and California and New York require background checks on the sale of ammunition.
There’s a reason why some of the states with the most restrictive gun laws on the books have expanded their efforts to encompass ammunition. Ostensibly, it’s to prevent violent criminals from getting their hands on ammo. But an added bonus is that it adds another layer of red tape to residents who simply want to exercise their Second Amendment rights, as well as a layer of legal dangerousness to even associate with individuals exercising their right to keep and bear arms.
A non-gun owner who drives his gun-owning buddy to the range so he can learn the basics of firearm safety could face criminal charges if an errant round of 9mm fell out of his friend’s range bag and ended up in the back seat of his car. A child driving their gun-owning parent’s car or truck could be arrested if mom or dad accidentally left a half-filled box of ammo behind the last time they went shooting.
Illinois’ FOID card requirement has been ruled unconstitutional more than once, but each time the state Supreme Court has reversed those decisions on technical grounds while avoiding the underlying constitutional question. My hope is that Illinois residents will one day not have to worry about the FOID card, but for now be aware that any bullets you might possess without the proper paperwork could lead to a very loud, chaotic, and potentially deadly visit by the police.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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