Illinois Sheriff's Association opposed to releasing the names of FOID card holders

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Illinois Sheriff's Association is opposed to releasing the names of FOID card holders.

The Illinois Sheriff's Association (ISA) which represents the 102 Sheriffs of Illinois has grave concerns about releasing this information.

"You would be providing a virtual menu of opportunities to would-be-burlers, home invaders or others looking to take advantage of our citizens," said Sheriff Robert J.?Hertz, Current President of the ISA.

Releasing the personal information of holders of a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card is of no value to government or the citizens of our state.

For what reason would someone need this information?" asked Executive Director Greg Sullivan. "The any ones to benefit would be commercial enterprises or the criminal."

There are over 1 million FOID holders in Illinois.

Sheriff Hertz also noted, The Freedom of Information Act states the intention clearly in the first paragraph ".....Such access is necessary to enable the people to fulfill their duties of discussing public issues fully and freely, making informed political judgements and monitoring government to ensure that it is being conducted in the public interest."

The Act also states "...This Act is not intended to cause an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy..."

How does this disclosure fit into the intent of the act? We need to protect the privacy of over one million FOID?card holders.