St. Charles Chief: Police Will Adjust to Concealed Carry

It’s only a matter of months when some gun owners will be able to carry concealed guns, and St. Charles Police Chief Jim Lamkin said there will be a period during which police officers and civilians will learn to adjust to the idea.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have concerns about more people carrying guns, but “basically, for me, a few years ago I accepted that we were going to have a law like this in Illinois. …”

“My concerns are just more that we’re going to have more encounters with the public that have the ability to legally carry a gun,” Lamkin said.

Still, the fact of concealed carry is still months away — the state first must develop an application process and other procedures related to the new law — and police will use that time to prepare.

“Traditionally, in Illinois because we haven’t had this, we train officers that a ... person with a loaded handgun is the exception, rather than the norm,” Lamkin told St. Charles Patch on Wednesday. “I think the way we will have to look at it will be that it’s becoming more the norm than the exception because the law is there.”

Domestic violence calls and traffic stops will continue to be the most potentially dangerous situations for police officers — the concealed-carry law will not change that, Lamkin said. But he did acknowledge that some changes in procedures likely will be needed.

St. Charles police will be watching in the intervening months, as more details of the new concealed-carry law become better understood, for opportunities to adjust their training. Still, in many ways, that is business as usual for a department that is always looking to improve training for its officers.

Some Owners Will Be Responsible

Police hope gun owners also will pursue the kind of training and discipline to not take a firearm for granted.

“I think the way I look at it is there will be some people who are probably going to have the permit and carry the gun who are going to be way more responsible than others,” he said. Lamkin said police are concerned any time they encounter someone with a gun, but that concern likely will be less when officers encounter those who “respect a handgun for what it can be used for and treat it safely” as a result.

“The other concern to me, and I think in some respect an even greater concern, is the proper securing of a gun when people are going into prohibited places.”

That later concern is premised upon the law stipulating there are some public venues where concealed guns will not be allowed, and the chief noted that private interests — a restaurant or other business, for example, has the right to prohibit visitors from carrying concealed weapons on their premises.

Bars are another business that might want to consider barring patrons from carrying concealed weapons inside. “... Mixing guns with alcohol — probably not the best decision in the world,” he said. “I would hope a lot of places that fall into that ability to restrict that would take a good, hard look at it.”

Lamkin said gun owners will have to anticipate those kinds of situations and what he or she will do to safely store the gun and “making sure we don’t have guns left unsecured in a vehicle, for example,“ where it might become accessible to someone who shouldn’t have that access.

“We just need people to be taking the best measures that they can,” he said.

Responsibility, Safety Are Crucial

“We in law enforcement, it become a way of life holstering a gun we carry on our side on … a daily basis,” Lamkin said.  That’s not say civilians unused to that can’t learn, but “accidental discharges do occur.”

He said repetitive kinds of activities — getting in the habit of checking the belt to ensure nothing on it might contribute to a misfire, or consistently following a gun-cleaning regimen that includes, for example, several steps to ensure the gun is completely unloaded — help train owners to be safer.

“Over time, I think that will develop,” he said. “But it’s brand new.

Ultimately, he said, both police and civilians have adjustments to make as the new law is implemented. One provision, for example, requires that gun owners communicate clearly to police they may encounter — say during a traffic stop — that there is a concealed weapon present.

“I think we’re probably going to go through some awareness training with our officers in terms of how that engagement will go, and what the processes are in terms of how we approach that,” he said.

Ultimately, the individual’s ability to be responsible will play a key role in ensuring that the concealed-carry law is safety administered, Lamkin said.

“If you choose to carry a gun, there is a responsibility that goes with that,” Lamkin said, adding this is true for police officers as well. “Our hope is that people will be making good decisions.”

Related:

• July 12, 2013: In a Rush for a Concealed-Carry Permit? Hurry Up and Wait
• July 12, 2013: St. Charles Unlikely to Pursue Assault Weapon Ban
• July 9, 2013: General Assembly Overrides Veto, Legalizing Concealed Carry in Illinois
• July 9, 2013: Local Lawmakers Help Override Veto of Concealed Carry Bill
• June 25, 2013: St. Charles Readies for Concealed Carry Law

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