Daily Herald opinion: Rule change will make it harder for people who shouldn't have weapons to get them

This editorial is the consensus opinon of the Daily Herald Editorial Board

When the man whom authorities have charged with the murder of seven people and the wounding of more than two dozen others at Highland Park's Fourth of July parade applied for a Firearm Owner's Identification card in late 2019, there was “insufficient” evidence that he was a danger to himself or others to deny his request, the head of the Illinois State Police said days after the mass shooting.

The Highland Park police were called by a family member twice that year — once claiming the man threatened suicide and later that he threatened to “kill everyone” — but both he and his mother denied he'd done so. Police did confiscate 17 knives and a sword, until his father told police they were his and reclaimed them.

That all of this is alleged to have happened within months of his application for a FOID card (because he wasn't yet 21, his father sponsored him) tells us there is a problem with the type of information state police can use to determine whether a FOID applicant can handle the responsibility of owning a gun.

This week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a change in procedure that would give state police the ability to look at a broader range of information to determine whether an applicant poses a “clear and present danger” of suicide or violence toward others that could result in denial of a FOID card or even revocation of an existing one.

Pritzker said the change will allow state police to “see a fuller picture of an applicant's history and keep the people of Illinois safe from those who should not be in possession of firearms.”

It's a bit of a semantic issue, but in the past the rule, was that a clear and present danger was defined by an “impending,” “imminent,” “substantial” or “significant” threat. Modifying that definition gives authorities more latitude in deciding whether to issue a firearms permit.

We've had to go through some uncomfortable and often unpopular restrictions over two years to try to halt a worldwide pandemic, so it follows that we might have to deal with some uncomfortable measures to get the issue of gun violence under control. And, out of control the issue is. We have an epidemic of gun violence from young men in this country.

We'll restate here our long-held belief that the type of high-capacity rapid-fire rifle the suspect is alleged to have used to fire more than 80 rounds onto a festive crowd has no business being in the hands of civilians. We've advocated that in the absence of a federal or state law banning such laws that municipalities take it upon themselves to do so through local legislation.

Highland Park did just that. The town where the suspect had been living — Highwood — has not. The safety net is extraordinarily leaky.

Until we as a nation or state wisen up and put an end to the legal purchase of such unnecessary killing machines, we will have disenfranchised young men who will use them to wreak carnage.

Giving the state police more leeway to stop people likely to abuse guns from buying one legally is a small but important step.