Civil liberty advocates sue blue state over 'show your papers' gun law

The civil complaint, which Fox News Digital obtained exclusively, challenges the law as unconstitutional, arguing it "entirely deprives everyone of the right to keep and bear arms - including the basic right to possess a firearm for self-defense in the home - unless and until they seek and receive the State's permission." 

The other, Justin Tucker, did obtain a FOID card but doesn't want to have to continue to renew it or to carry it with him at all times, which state law requires if one wants to retain their right to bear arms in Illinois.

"The police can approach you and demand you 'show your papers' to prove you're allowed to exercise this right, otherwise, you are committing a crime," NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel Jacob Huebert, the lead attorney on the lawsuit, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.

"At every step of the way, the burden of proof is on the citizen to be allowed to exercise their rights. You go through the first round, and if they deny you, you can do an internal appeal within the Illinois State Police, which has a review board. If you lose at all those stages, you can go to court, but even then, the burden of proof remains on you to show that you're entitled to exercise your Second Amendment rights," he continued. 

Illinois enacted the FOID law in 1967, and the constitutional legitimacy of the statute has been challenged multiple times in the decades since. In the 2020 decision People v. Vivian Brown, an Illinois state trial court ruled the law unconstitutional. However, state trial court decisions apply only to individual plaintiffs and don't serve as precedent. 

"Once the federal courts weigh in, that will be the definitive law," he told Fox News Digital. "If a federal court orders the Illinois State Police, the Illinois Attorney General, and the Cook County State's Attorney not to enforce this law anymore, then they can no longer enforce it," Huebert said. 

Fox News Digital contacted the Illinois State Police, the Illinois Attorney General's Office and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office for comment on the lawsuit.