Saturday, February 1, 2014

Illinois Concealed Carry Permit Applications

Dr. John Lott points to an article in the January 31, 2014 Peoria Journal-Star concerning concealed carry permit applications under Illinois' new shall-issue law:
CHICAGO — Police across Illinois have objected to just 236 applications from people seeking to carry concealed weapons out of 33,631 submitted to the state police.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday that a state licensing board will consider objections within 30 days of a police department filing one. The board has a former judge, two former prosecutors, three former FBI agents and a psychiatry professor....
The Cook County Sheriff's office has filed the most objections in the state, with 120. The Chicago Police Department has only filed seven.
The new law allows police departments to object to permit issuance for people who are otherwise legally qualified for a permit.  I would expect (or at least hope) that the 236 objections are people with long arrest records who have not been convicted, or people with histories of mental problems who have never been hospitalized.  Nor is this a peculiarity of Illinois law; Oregon has a provision as well that allows the sheriff to refuse issuance if there is particular information about an applicant that gives reason to believe the applicant would be a danger to self or others.  What surprises me is how few applicants Chicago PD is trying to block.

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