April NICS checks up 20% over April, 2012

[GreenStormCloud]

April, 2013---1,714,433
April, 2012---1,427,343

Increase of 387,090

No comment needed. The numbers speak for themselves.

[rdharma]

1. Fear works on paranoid morons!

[Pholus]

2. More "cows"

or longhorns. Whatever.

[DonP]

3. Over 250,000 new FOID cards in Illinois since January

That's close to a 20% total increase in new gun/ammo buyers in just the first quarter of the year. Probably driven to a large degree by the prospect of concealed carry finally coming to Illinois June 9th or sooner.

It's now a 4 month delay to get one. The law says no more than a 6 week wait. Blago got in trouble with the Feds for purposeful delays in issuing them. Of course he has bigger issues now, like making sure the toilets at Club Fed in Colorado are really clean.

Of course we all know there are very few, if any "first time gun buyers" right? Just the same "gun nuts" buying more for their arsenal/armory/weapons cache et. al.

[truebrit71]

7. On the State Police website it says don't even bother calling to get a status update...

..unless it has been at least 30 days since they cashed your check..

I got mine last year and sent a politely worded e-mail at day 42 and received my FOID 3 days later...

[DonP]

8. Yup, the state cops have been totally slammed for the last 6+ months.

And all of those people are "potential" new gun purchasers.

One woman I work with mailed her FOID app in January 3rd and just got her card last Thursday.

I don't know why they can't just let people apply online? You can access and download the app form online, but then you have to print it out and mail it in with a new picture/ Then they use your drivers license picture anyway.

You can always get a FOID card and not necessarily buy a gun, but ... why go through all that bother if you aren't planning on buying one or getting into shooting in some way?

But that's about a 16% increase in new gun owners in Illinois in the first quarter of 2013 alone.

Nah! We've been assured, by a lot of people that never bought a firearm in their lives, that it's just the same guys just buying more guns, right? LoL!

[Bazinga]

9. Is this an infringement on the RKBA?

I'm not totally averse to the idea of FOIDs, but it seems to me like a 6 month back log means people are being denied the opportunity to purchase firearms for no better reason than " we're working on it." For that reason I'm inclined to say yes.

I'd like to know if the state can be held accountable for a violent crime that may have been prevented had the victim been armed. We know that they can't be held responsible for failing to prevent a crime, but what if they actively prevent the victim from defending himself/ herself, in this case by denying them arms?

[DonP]

10. That's the angle they used in court when Blago got too cute

They promised an average 6 week turnaround on applications for new cards or renewals.

When Blago cut the team working on it to 2 "about to retire" state troopers in a "budget move" it shot up to over 4+ months on average.

IIRC, The Illinois State Rifle Assn (ISRA) took the state to court about it on a violation of the 2nd amendment and got an injunction demanding the state staff the office to achieve the 6 week average or be held in contempt.

They added troopers and got things straightened out again.

I don't know if you have 2A grounds ... yet. Since there won't be concealed carry, at least for a few more weeks, it's only about defending your home for now. You can be sure if it keeps up, they'll be in court again sooner rather than later.

But Illinois, Chicago and Cook County have had their ass handed to them several times over the past few years, starting with Otis McDonald and Rhonda Ezell and have been writing big checks to cover NRA, SAF and ISRA legal fees ever since.

Rahm's checks alone probably paid for a nice Summer Home for Alan Gura.

[jeepnstein]

4. The number would be higher...

but supply is really tight right now. I know quite a few people who simply cannot find the firearm they are trying to buy. Everything is being bought up as fast as it hits the stores.

[Pullo]

5. But but they are just repeat sales to people who already own guns

No new firearm owners at all

#GunBannerTalkingPoints

[ileus]

6. I want a P227...