In a Rush for a Concealed-Carry Permit? Hurry Up and Wait

As a practical matter, if you are in a rush to get a permit to carry a concealed handgun under Illinois’ new law, you’ve got at least a six-month wait ahead of you.

That’s because Illinois has no procedures in place to begin issuing the permits and must set up a process from scratch. St. Charles Police Chief Jim Lamkin said the new law gives Illinois State 180 days to complete a laundry list of things that need to be in place before the first application is filed.

Lamkin describes that 180-day tlmeline as “aggressive.”

At the very least, the State Police will have to establish an application process, which would include determining the information applicants must provide and the procedures the state must follow in vetting each applicant.

The law also requires a statewide database that is accessible to local law enforcement agencies. The database would include information about those who are granted permits, as well as information about those who are applying.

During a St. Charles City Council meeting in late June, Lamkin told aldermen that local police are supposed to have some input in the vetting process for local applicants. That input might be limited, but Lamkin told aldermen that local departments might recommend an applicant be denied if he or she has a history of unstable or violent behavior that does not show up as a criminal record. For example, a man who abuses his spouse might be well-known to local police but have no criminal record if his spouse never pursued charges against him.

Regardless, local police would need to have some way of accessing the state database on applicants, and Lamkin said that database has not even been developed yet.

In conjunction with the application process, the State Police must establish a curriculum for the training that the new law requires applicants to receive before they are issued a concealed-carry permit.

The law spells out the basics of what that training will require, Lamkin said, but State Police will have to figure out what that curriculum will be.

That brings up another wrinkle that has yet to be considered, he added. The State Police has no personnel to train applicants.

Lamkin said he believes that means vendors would be hired to administer the training, which has its own difficulties — establishing who could be certified to provide the training. He has no doubt that, in a free market economy, there will be individuals or businesses ready to provide that service, but that’s just one more items on the list that in some respects is not yet complete.

Finally, should State Police meet the 180-day deadline set in the new law, it will take time to process the applications, especially if the volume of concealed-carry permit applicants is large.

For those who fear the new law, the delay may offer some relief, but Lamkin said concealed-carry is now the law, and it’s arrival seems inevitable.

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