ilpsychlaw.com
Philip Pan, M.D.

Image by Art Bromage provided by Pixabay

Image by Art Bromage provided by Pixabay

Guns, Firearms Owners Identification (FOID) and Concealed Carry

Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) Mental Health Reporting System

Regarding individuals who have been adjudicated mentally disabled, voluntarily admitted to a psychiatric unit, determined to be a "clear and present danger" or determined developmentally / intellectually disabled

DHS FOID Mental Health Reporting System Qualified Examiners Users Manual

“‘Clear and Present Danger’ means a person who:
(1) communicates a serious threat of physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim or poses a clear and imminent risk of serious physical injury to himself, herself, or another person, as determine by a physician, clinical psychologist, or qualified examiner; or
(2) demonstrates threatening physical or verbal behavior, such as violent, suicidal, or assaultive threats, actions or other behavior, as determined by a physician, clinical psychologist, qualified examiner, school administrator, or law enforcement official.”
430 ILCS 65/1.1

FOID Mental Health Reporting System

Clear and Present Danger Request for Law Enforcement and School Officials

Clear and Present Danger Emergency Rule Change, eff. 18 July 2022

Frequently Asked Questions as to FOID Mental Health Reporting

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can you help me get my FOID card back?

A: This is probably the most common inquiry I get asked on the website. My apologies for being a bit long-winded here, but this is what I think is going on with FOID / CCL revocation appeals, although I don't have any particular relationship or insight into the Illinois State Police Firearms Services Bureau. Generally speaking, a voluntary psychiatric hospitalization disqualifies someone from having a FOID card for 5 years, while an involuntary hospitalization disqualifies someone permanently. There is an appeals process, but I suspect that in the best of times, processing appeals is not the highest priority. Per the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act (430-ILCS 65/), initial applications must be processed within 30 days and renewals must be processed within 60 days. In the best of times (i.e., pre-COVID) it is my understanding that FSB was understaffed. With COVID, a flood of applications and complications with ISP employees working from home, the back log has expanded greatly. You can actually go here: https://isp.illinois.gov/Foid to see what the current backlog is. In the fall of 2021, FOID and CCL’s renewals had been automatically renewed 18 months because FSB didn’t have time to process them, and per Capitol News, Illinois (4/13/21), renewals were automatically pushed back ANOTHER 15 months. By now, FSB is probably catching up some, but I don’t imagine that appeals are necessarily a priority or speedy.

The way I interpret the process, the psychiatrist giving the opinion — if they are doing a thorough job — has to attest that they have reviewed EVERYTHING in a person’s mental health treatment history. Unfortunately, a lot of times, once you start digging, other things pop up. In the few cases I have done, I’ve had people swear they only had one brief course of treatment, but once you get those records, if it refers to treatment or evaluation by another mental health provider, you then have to chase down and review those records too. Getting records is usually what takes the longest in any forensic evaluation and of course, it can take a long time to review the documentation if it is extensive.

I think the statute assumes that a person has continuously been in some treatment and that the current treating psychiatrist has already had access to all the records, which would of course be ideal, but it just doesn’t always work out that way. I would recommend that you have the psychiatrist currently treating you to fill out the appeals paperwork, because they should know all this to be optimally treating you. However, you should consider that you might be asking your treating psychiatrist to do a LOT of extra work, that might not completely fall under actual treatment and is time that probably won’t be covered by your health insurance. If you hire a forensic psychiatrist, you’re going to be paying someone several hundred dollars an hour to do this, and they will likely request payment upfront in the form of a retainer, which they will bill off of.

If your psychiatrist wants any advice, please feel free to refer them to this website. The letter itself is not all that complicated, but it does say they’ve reviewed EVERYTHING or at least tried to. At any rate, I don’t think anyone should realistically think that this is a quick and easy process.