Revoked gun licenses slipping past system
Thousands of illegal firearms, like one that shot toddler, still owned
By the time Christopher Miller showed up at his estranged wife’s backdoor in September 2019 with a pistol in his waistband, state authorities already had declared him too dangerous to own firearms.
He had lost his gun license 20 months earlier after being charged with aggravated battery for brutally beating a man in a Naperville parking lot. He disregarded orders to relinquish any weapons, and no one made sure he complied.
Miller startled his wife that autumn afternoon as she moved around the kitchen making a snack for her daughter. With cocaine and alcohol in his system, he stared at Cassandra Tanner Miller with hazel eyes so dilated they appeared black.
“Are you all ready to die today?” he asked as he suddenly burst into the Joliet house.
Within minutes, Miller had choked his wife until she lost consciousness and fatally shot his 18-month-old son, Colton, with a .22-caliber Ruger — one of at least three handguns in his possession despite orders from the Illinois State Police to relinquish any firearms in January 2018. Miller fired that illicit gun so many times, at least 10, the coroner could not definitively track the bullets that shattered the toddler’s skull.
With his son dead, Miller, a captain in the Illinois National Guard, put the Ruger to his head and pulled the trigger.
The Miller murder-suicide serves as yet another indictment of the system’s failure to effectively reduce the growing backlog of people deemed too dangerous to possess firearms. The issue first came to light on Feb. 15, 2019, after a convicted felon fatally shot five co-workers and wounded several others, including five police officers, at the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse in Aurora with a pistol he never should have been allowed to keep.
Disgruntled employee Gary Martin had been ordered to relinquish that handgun five years earlier, after authorities discovered he erroneously had been issued a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card and purchased the Smith & Wesson despite a felony conviction for beating his girlfriend with a baseball bat. He never complied, and authorities never followed through, leaving the weapon available for him to kill his colleagues before dying in a shootout with police.
The tragedy prompted frightening admissions from police about the depth of the revocation problem and their difficulty addressing it without additional resources. A Tribune investigation in the months that followed found their warnings justified, with about 80% of revoked cardholders failing to account for their guns with local law enforcement.
Since the Aurora shooting and a year after officials sounded the alarms, the number of revoked FOID cardholders who have not accounted for their guns rose 14%, from 26,797 in February 2019 to 30,602 people in December.
This increase means an additional 5,800 firearms may still be in the possession of people ineligible to possess them — a nearly 20% jump over the same time period. All told, at least 36,600 guns remain unaccounted for in Illinois, according to state records.
“We’ve made minimal progress at best,” said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, an early proponent for revocation reforms. “We need to get very serious about this. ... When you see the numbers we are looking at, the public would be rightfully scratching their heads.”
Just as Martin and Miller ignored orders to relinquish their weapons, the Illinois Senate ignored law enforcement’s pleas for help enforcing rescinded FOID cards.
And in doing so, those legislators ignored the risk posed to people such as Colton Miller, a little boy who loved monster trucks, Batman and his big sister.
When his mother held his body for the last time at the funeral home, Colton had a prosthetic skull to replace the one his father destroyed with bullets. It’s a fate no mother should have to endure, but one that seemed particularly cruel to Tanner Miller, who left her husband a year before so her children could grow up in a home free from domestic violence and drug use.
Five months after Colton’s death, Tanner Miller struggles to understand how a system that legally declares people too menacing to possess firearms does so little to ensure that they actually relinquish their weapons.
“A gun didn’t kill my son,” Tanner Miller said. “A criminal who was not supposed to have a gun anymore killed him.”
‘It’s not all hopeless’
In the wake of the Pratt shooting, Illinois State Police made major changes to how FOID card revocation details are shared among law enforcement, taking the unprecedented step of creating a portal listing every revoked cardholder statewide.
The database, which is accessible to most police departments, includes crucial details about firearms purchasing history for each revoked cardholder and the reason for the revocation. It also states whether revoked FOID holders have turned in their cards and legally transferred their guns to someone else’s possession.
The new database has been accessed 13,000 times by some 600 law enforcement agencies, according to Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly, who has made revocation compliance a top priority since taking office shortly before the Pratt shooting.
The state also has led 200 revocation missions since May, Kelly said. The number of returned firearm disposition records — paperwork confirming revoked cardholders have legally transferred any weapons — has doubled in the past year from 2,039 in 2018 to 4,219 in 2019.
The Tribune found the compliance rate among revoked FOID holders improved from to 22% to 27% since the newspaper first reported on the state’s backlog in May. The updated records span nearly five years, from March 2015 to the end of 2019.
“It’s not all hopeless,” Kelly said. “Since the tragedy in Aurora, there has been real progress made.”
While police agencies improved compliance rates on new revocations, there has been little progress on those that existed prior to the Pratt shooting. The Tribune’s analysis of once closely held Illinois State Police data — including how often each rescinded cardholder made a serious inquiry about purchasing a gun from a licensed dealer — shows that the ballooning backlog poses a public safety threat to every county in Illinois.
Statewide, about 7 of every 10 revoked FOID cardholders still failed to account for their firearms, the data shows. In some communities, that rate exceeded 90%.
The backlog changes almost daily, but there has never been time when those compliant with their revocation orders outpaced those who flouted them.
Among other findings in the Tribune’s investigation: ■ Domestic violence-related infractions are still the most common reason for a resident’s card to be revoked, followed by mental health concerns and felony convictions.
■ The state rescinded more than 3,400 FOID cards for domestic violence-related reasons since the Pratt shooting. Of those former cardholders, 73% have not accounted for any guns.
“The fact is without additional resources to be able to remove illegally possessed (firearms) ... the odds still remain too high that another tragedy will occur,” Kelly said. “We have been able to cobble this together but that means we have to sacrifice in other areas. But if we are going to have any chance of reaching anything close to 100% compliance then we have to have additional resources.”
To reduce the backlog, state Rep. Kathleen Willis, D-Addison, proposed legislation that, among other things, would have raised the FOID application fee from $10 for a 10-year FOID card to $20 for five years. Some of the additional revenue would have funded law enforcement teams to track down revoked cardholders and account for their weapons.
The legislation — which also included a fingerprint requirement for more thorough criminal background checks before applicants obtain a FOID card — sparked heated debate as members of the gun rights community objected to the fee increase as a Second Amendment infringement and vowed to sue if it passed. Many gun advocates told the Tribune they support keeping firearms away from those barred by law, but they object to FOID cardholders bearing the cost alone.
The Illinois House ultimately approved the bill in a 62-52 vote that followed about three hours of impassioned speeches on the House floor.
Despite optimism that it would move through the Senate, it stalled there with Democratic sponsors acknowledging they ran out of time to sway lawmakers who feared curtailing Second Amendment rights.
“I was disappointed it didn’t pass in the Senate,” said Rep. John Connor, DLockport. “There’s no guarantee that the legislation would have prevented Colton’s murder. But it sure would have put some things in place that could have.”
‘It’s not about taking away anyone’s rights’
Two weeks after Miller’s arrest in 2018, Illinois State Police sent a letter to Miller, Joliet police and the Will County sheriff’s office informing them that Miller’s FOID card was revoked, an ISP spokeswoman said. Joliet police say they have no record of receiving the notification, and Will County had no jurisdiction over the matter because Miller lived in neighboring Kendall County.
Miller told his wife about the revocation notice and promised to take care of it. Tanner Miller, who was eight months pregnant with Colton and struggling in the abusive marriage, assumed police would ensure he complied or arrest him again.
The Joliet Police Department had one of the state’s few dedicated revocation compliance teams before the Pratt shooting, but the four-member task force only works on FOID cases about once a week. The bulk of the team’s investigations focus on burglaries, robberies and home invasions.
With a current backlog of about 600 rescinded cardholders who haven’t accounted for their guns, Joliet currently does not have the money or the personnel needed to clear the list and handle the incoming revocations, a department spokesman said. Most communities wouldn’t be able to do it either.
“Having funding for a dedicated multijurisdictional task force — state, county and city — that exclusively focuses on FOID revocations could help address the backlog and address new revocations within a given area,” Joliet police Sgt. Christopher Botzum said. “Most departments do not have the manpower to dedicate a person to address the issue.”
And that’s how Miller ended up armed with a pistol at his wife’s backdoor on that warm Saturday afternoon in September.
After barging into the home, he punched Tanner Miller repeatedly in the face, hit her with a 3-foot candleholder and then choked her until she lost consciousness. He also attacked his 9-year-old stepdaughter, biting and pinning her down until she managed to break his hold and pull her mother outside the house to safety.
Tanner Miller and her daughter, Camryn, made it as far as the next door neighbor’s garage when they heard gunshots coming from the second story of her home.
“Colton just didn’t die that day,” she said with a sob that sounded closer to a howl. “We all died in that house.”
Tanner Miller, who has a FOID card but does not own firearms, has not read the pending revocation legislation. But she says something has to change, and it need not devolve into a debate over the Second Amendment.
“It’s not taking away anyone’s rights. It’s taking guns away from people who legally shouldn’t have them,” she said. “It’s about addressing the crime of (not complying with) a revoked license before it turns into a crime scene.”
The Senate could vote on the so-called Fix the FOID legislation during the current session, with the support of Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Senate President Don
Harmon, D-Oak Park. Pritzker went to Aurora hours after the Pratt shooting and publicly promised change, but instead saw the revocation backlog significantly increase in his first year.
“As we mourn,” the governor said in a statement Wednesday, “we must honor the memories of our fellow Illinoisans and do everything in our power to prevent future tragedies and enact common sense reform.”
Even still, the legislation likely will face even stronger opposition from gun rights advocates, who are currently suing state police over a backlog of the more than 60,000 FOID applicants who are waiting for approval.
The Second Amendment lobby also questions whether the extra money would go directly to revocation teams. They’re skeptical of any additional funding following the release of a Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability document showing that between 2015 and 2018, $13.2 million had been swept from the State Police Firearms Services Fund and into the general fund.
Illinois State Police acknowledge the money was moved under the previous administration to fill budget holes but pledged the FOID fee increase would be used for its intended purpose. The gun advocates remain unmoved.
“You’re talking about a fundamental constitutional right,” longtime gun rights lobbyist Todd Vandermyde said. “If it’s a public safety issue then the state needs to fund it on its own . ... We’re not going to pay more for our rights.”
Senate sponsor Julie Morrison, D-Deerfield, says the bill remains a top priority, though there is no timetable for its potential passage.
“Sitting around and wringing our hands doesn’t do anything,” Morrison said. “Feeling sorry for the victims’ families doesn’t get us anywhere. We need to take action and that’s what this bill does. It fixes a major flaw that we have recognized due to that tragedy.”
Meanwhile, families of Pratt victims are seeking their own relief, filing lawsuits against the ISP.
The state currently faces two complaints from victims’ families and four others from survivors of the Pratt shooting for issuing Martin a FOID card and then failing to enforce its subsequent revocation. The pending suits allege Illinois State Police knowingly created a public safety risk by allowing the revocation backlog to grow so large.
Those killed were union chairman Russell Beyer; human resources manager Clayton Parks; plant manager Josh Pinkard, forklift operator Vicente Juarez and college student Trevor Wehner, who had started his internship that day.
Juarez’s family said it would mean a lot to the family to see lawmakers take action.
“Other families wouldn’t have to go through what we went through if they (do) this faster and get that settled,” Juarez’s son, Christian, said.
Several missed opportunities
ISP Director Kelly says the agency has been looking at how other states handle revocations, including California, which resolved 53,000 cases in five years. The effort came after the state legislature earmarked $24 million for the state attorney general’s office to manage the list of prohibited gun owners and train law enforcement teams to locate them and account for any weapons.
Dr. Garen Wintemute, an emergency room doctor by training who also researches gun violence at University of California at Davis, said the California approach is the only one of its kind in the country.
But Wintemute said there is no reason Illinois can’t take a similar tack.
“It’s a big investment, but, yes, it can be done,” he said. “They key question is what will it take for Illinois leadership and Illinois citizens to develop a sense of imperative to make this happen?”
Even without the changes to state law, there were several opportunities to force Miller to relinquish his guns. The Tribune could find no record of any public servant trying.
Tanner Miller says she contacted the Illinois National Guard for help after leaving her husband and told them about his arrest, which should have disqualified him from service. Miller, who served for a decade and never deployed, remained with his unit. An Illinois National Guard spokesman declined to comment, citing an ongoing internal investigation into the matter.
When Miller surrendered to the Naperville Police Department on Jan. 10, 2018, following the battery charge, he posted $5,000 and was released with an order to go to the DuPage County courthouse for his arraignment six weeks later.
That less common circumstance — his posting his bond immediately — meant Miller did not appear before a judge at a bond hearing, so no conditions of his release were set. Facing a felony charge, Miller, per the longstanding practice in DuPage, likely would have received an order to turn in his FOID card and account for any weapons.
When Miller appeared for his arraignment, prosecutors did not ask to revisit his bail or consider his revoked status.
More than a year after his arrest, and months after the Pratt shooting, Tanner Miller says she called DuPage County prosecutors as they were prepping for the trial and told them her estranged husband still owned guns despite having a revoked FOID card. She had been listed as a possible
witness and was concerned for her safety if she testified against him.
DuPage County State’s Attorney’s spokesman Paul Darrah confirmed that Tanner Miller raised this concern, and said prosecutors instructed her to get an order of protection. Darrah said he couldn’t “speculate” whether prosecutors should have notified the judge or local law enforcement about Miller’s illegal gun possession.
In August 2019, while still out on bail, Miller was arrested for felony cocaine possession in Stickney and booked into Cook County Jail. Police reports do not mention his FOID revocation.
Cook County prosecutors made no mention of possible firearms at his bond hearing — even though every state’s attorney’s office in Illinois has been given access to the revocation database as part of ISP reforms last year.
A representative of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said in an email that prosecutors look at FOID revocation status “where it is relevant to the case,” including charges that involve guns or violent crimes. Prosecutors knew Miller was facing trial for felony battery in DuPage, but they determined his FOID status was not germane to his drug case and did not check.
Miller was released on a personal recognizance bond and walked out of Cook County Jail, where a defendant’s revocation status is not part of the background check conducted prior to release.
In the fierce debate over gun rights, the courts seem to be one of the few places where both sides find common ground. Most agree prosecutors and judges need to be doing more to address FOID revocations, so the burden doesn’t rest solely with law enforcement.
“When they’re brought into the system with a disqualifying factor, that’s the chokepoint,” the gun lobbyist Vandermyde said.
“The prosecutors in the courtroom and the judges should be cognizant of the role they play.”
‘A reminder of when my life stopped’
In the five months since the murder-suicide, Cassandra Tanner Miller has become an advocate for both stronger FOID revocation enforcement and domestic violence awareness. She is currently working with state lawmakers on the passage of “Colton’s Law,” which would create a task force to examine gaps in existing domestic abuse laws.
The work offers a muchneeded distraction from the relentless grief she fights. She and her daughter have moved to a different suburb, and she’s in the process of selling her Joliet home. It’s a necessary part of their healing process, but bittersweet because it means giving up the place where Colton played, sang and gardened alongside her in the final year of his life.
His Halloween costume — a full Batman suit — still hangs, never worn, in the laundry room. He had picked it out at Costco during a regular Monday trip there with his mom a few days before the shooting.
“It hangs there as a reminder of when my life stopped,” Tanner Miller said. “We had 56,400 beautiful minutes in this house and 30 minutes destroyed the rest of my life.”
Still, she pushes on, advocating for reforms and calling attention to shortcomings in the law. She does it partly to prevent future tragedies and partly to make sure Colton isn’t forgotten.
“He doesn’t have a voice anymore. The victims of the Aurora shooting don’t have a voice anymore,” she said. “But I still have a voice, and I need to use it.”