SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - The Illinois State Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation have filed a lawsuit against the Illinois State Police.   

The executive director of the State Rifle Association, Richard Pearson, claims State Police are denying citizens their second amendment rights by not acting in a timely manner on FOID card applications.

"State law originally required 30 days. Then, they extended it to 60 days because there were problems. Now, it's going 160 days. There are some people who have been waiting a couple years," Pearson said. "The purpose of the lawsuit is to have the State Police hire people and get the equipment they need to process FOID cards and conceal carry permits rapidly."

The lawsuit claims Illinois Governors have swept or transferred funds totaling more then $29 million dollars from the State Police Firearms Service Funds into other accounts.

"We just found out [ISP] didn't spend the money they were supposed to. The money was taken and put into the general fund," Pearson said.

A spokesperson for ISP said the organization does not have the authority to sweep funds. They went on to say in 2015 and 2018, more then $13 million was swept from the Firearms Service Fund into the General Fund during the budget crisis, but under the current fiscal year, funds have not been swept.

"The money should go to processing FOID cards, hiring people, processing conceal carry permits," Pearson said. "We're talking about lots of money here. That was really private people's money. Remember, these are not tax funds; these are fees people paid to get service in the state."

According to ISP, in 2019, 90 percent of FOID applications, on average, were processed in less than 30 days.

"I have personally not found that to be true, or at least suspect. But here's the problem, all the people that are 60 days, 100 days 160 days, those are people who deserve their rights," Pearson said. "Because they didn't issue these FOID cards, they are taking people's rights away from them."