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No problems from concealed carry in Illinois counties

No problems from concealed carry in Illinois counties

So, about that expected wave of new gun violence in concealed-carry counties in Illinois. This is a good question.

https://twitter.com/Watchdogorg/status/363734808179916800

From Watchdog.org:

“There haven’t been any problems,” Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons said. “I suspect that no one is even aware when someone around them is carrying.  Responsible citizens continue to act responsibly, so there is no problem.”

Prosecutors in Madison County, along with Macon, Randolph, Tazewell, and handful of other counties have either announced they will not take cases against law-abiding citizens who are simply carrying a gun, as long as they have a valid Illinois firearms owner identification card.

“We continue to prosecute criminals who carry firearms while engaged in criminal behavior as we have always done,” Gibbons said.

The Illinois general assembly voted last month to override Gov. Pat Quinn’s veto on the legislature’s concealed carry bill, making it the last state to allow some form of concealed carry of firearms.  A prior ban on doing so in the state was ruled unconstitutional last year by an appeals court.

It’s only been a month so far, but perhaps allowing municipalities to permit citizens the extra measures to defend themselves in Illinois isn’t turning out to be such a bad idea after all, Governor.

 

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Comments

The ones who should fear conceal carry are the gang members & the Al Qaeda wannabes

“Narrative in Danger! Narrative in Danger! All MSM instructed to ignore story.”

Thank God I live in Arizona. No FOID card, no firearms registration and no license needed to carry a weapon concealed or openly.
It you have to beg your government masters for permission to exercise a fundamental right it is no longer a right but a privilege.

Before the CC bill was passed, I talked with the village police chief about my options for personal protection while out and about … moving to rural north central IL from Seattle years ago, I was shocked by the anti-gun laws here which leave law-abiding citizens at the mercy of criminals. The chief advised me to get a firearm for home protection and told me I was free to carry it on my property, but if ever I ventured out, I’d be held to the law which requires firearms to be unloaded and cased. He went on to say when my wife and I are out and about, he’s responsible to protect us – at least – that’s the view of IL law. So I asked him if now that we’re retired, he intended to go hiking with my wife and I, when we are sometimes miles from civilization on walking trails along the Hennepin and I&M canals?

Bringing a dose of reality to the conversation, I asked what my legal protection options were. He knew some residents were pushing the envelope with fanny-pack type gun cases, claiming they were a legal means of carrying a pistol in IL, but he maintained the interpretation that it was not legal. Firearm transportation was viewed as more to do with moving a gun from where it is normally stored in the home to where the owner intended to shoot or hunt with it. The chief was of the opinion that the firearm-case law was not intended to allow an owner to carry a gun while out and about.

The only legal means of self protection, was pepper spray “and even then you will be held accountable for disabling someone with it” …

After our conversation, I decided that I was going to carry a pocket pistol when out and about in remote areas, whether it was legal or not. I think somewhere between the 2nd Amendment and my FOID card, CC in downstate IL is mostly tolerated, even if not explicitly legal now.

The police chief did note that “south of Interstate 80, we’re mostly pro-gun / pro-concealed carry” … nevertheless, after the new law was passed, the ISP published a letter in our local paper and others throughout the state, that they would continue to arrest citizens who were caught carrying a concealed weapon if they did not have a CCW permit. Doubtful anyone will have a CCW permit before 2014 …

It sucks to be here …

    ConradCA in reply to MrE. | August 4, 2013 at 12:07 am

    You have to be constantly on the way to the range or gunsmith in order to have your pistol with you.

    If the police are responsible for your safety then does that mean if the fail to perform you can sue them? The answer it no, you are responsible for your own safety.

    Rick the Curmudgeon in reply to MrE. | August 4, 2013 at 12:33 am

    “He went on to say when my wife and I are out and about, he’s responsible to protect us…”

    This conversation must have taken place several years ago, before the Supreme Court ruled that police have “no special duty” to protect you.

    But there have been no problems with CC in Illinois because (the pessimist in me says) they’re at least two years and another trip to Federal Court before the first CCW is issued there.

      Two years ago, Rick. :^/ It’s a remote rural village of 1400 … an occasional drug related arrest, dui, barking dogs. Until there’s a serious crime, I suppose they’re all too eager to take credit for a safe community.

Illinois government bureaucrats appear to be taking a “let them come enforce it” attitude.

Some of my associates indicate that the State is significantly (3-6 months) behind at processing FOID applications, including renewals. State law says they have 30 days.

Note, these are standard FOID applications and renewals, not CCWs.

One imagines that this won’t change until the administration in Springfield changes.. and that it could be an issue in the 2014 gubernatorial race.

Mew

    Rick the Curmudgeon in reply to acat. | August 4, 2013 at 12:35 am

    I think you’re going to see some truly epic examples of bureaucratic foot-dragging on this.

    jog267 in reply to acat. | August 4, 2013 at 11:11 am

    I applied for my FOID card the first week of Jan this year. By the middle of Mar, having heard nothing from the state police, I called and inquired as to the status of my application. I was told that the zip code of my residence didn’t match what was on file for my village and my application was flagged for review – a line of BS. The clerk with whom I spoke implied that situations like this are a common occurrence; it was good that I called and that I needn’t worry. I received my card 3 days later.

      frankns in reply to jog267. | August 4, 2013 at 12:54 pm

      Slightly off topic – Sheriff Tom Dart last week announced that his office would be reviewing gun ownership by individuals whose FOID cards had expired or who were no longer “eligible” to hold a FOID. In these cases, individual’s firearms would be confiscated.

      Little has been said about the process. Will warrants be obtained? Will individual’s homes be searched? How will these confiscations take place … under an assumption that resistance is likely/possible? This process certainly raises some unpleasant prospects.

      On the other side of the process, when FOID eligibility is restored, will an individual’s firearms be restored? How, by what process? Who will judge a re-application and within what framework of authority and review? Or are we simply looking at a means of confiscating property that Illinois finds “inappropriate”?

      My sense is that FOID eligibility will be – perhaps already is – an expression of Illinois politics and a tool to realize the goals of a given Mayor or Governor. Dart has fired the first shot in the next round – pun intended.

        MrE in reply to frankns. | August 4, 2013 at 1:45 pm

        FROM: http://www.isp.state.il.us/foid/

        The ISP reminds Illinois residents:

        If your FOID card expired, you may not purchase ammunition until your new FOID card is issued; and

        It is a petty offense to possess weapons when the FOID card is expired for less than 6 months and the applicant is not otherwise disqualified from owning, purchasing, or possessing weapons. However, if the FOID card is expired for more than 6 months or the applicant is disqualified from owning, purchasing, or possessing weapons, the class of offense and penalties are increased. Law enforcement officers have the ability to check the status of a FOID card holder’s application before taking enforcement action.

        The ISP encourages Illinois residents to lawfully store their weapons, especially during times when their FOID cards are expired.

9thDistrictNeighbor | August 3, 2013 at 10:09 pm

The whole FOID card issue is a deterrent inasmuch as the hassle factor makes it difficult to even contemplate firearm ownership by law-abiding citizens. An FOID card is required to even shoot trap or skeet with a borrowed gun at a range or club. In March, the State Police received 70,000 applications; wait times run between 60 and 90 days (and sometimes longer). If you already have an FOID card and need to renew, the process and wait time is the same.

Word here in “Cornville” has it the crooks in Springfield are planning a “FSID” card (Freedom of Speech) …

Unfortunately, as a resident of Cook County, home of Chicago, we aren’t as lucky as some of those down in the southern part of the state. We won’t be able to legally carry until the state works out the application process (slated for us “citizens” sometime in early 2014). No carry in places where we need it without the real prospect of jail time.

    ConradCA in reply to itdesigner. | August 4, 2013 at 12:10 am

    I thought that they court ordered that they allow CCW and that if they didn’t do it then the people were free to ignore their violations of the constitution and carry concealed anyway.

You can’t actually concealed carry yet in Illinois, the law gives the state police something like 180 days to develop implementing regulations, forms, and procedures. You will note, however, there is no penalty for violating that 180 day timeframe, or any other timeframe in the new CCW law.

I hope the bureaucrats will be as law abiding as those who apply and get the CCW