CHICAGO (WLS) —-(Ammoland.com)- Crimes committed by concealed-carry gun owners are rare in Illinois, which has been issuing concealed weapons permits for less than two years.
When the first concealed-carry permit was issued in the state on December 18, 2013, there were predictions that Illinois would turn into the Wild West.
That, of course, hasn’t happened. Friday’s apparent murder-suicide involving a licensed concealed weapon owner is unusual.
There are now more than 120,000 concealed-carry licensees in Illinois and it is extremely rare to hear about a permit holder being involved in any violent crime, much less a murder. Friday’s was the first of 2015 according to police officials, if not the first at all here since Illinois passed concealed carry.
The Illinois standards and requirements are rigorous.
- Among them:
- No violent criminal history, not even a misdemeanor.
- No pending warrants.
- No objections by local law enforcement.
- Full background check.
- 16 hours of firearms training by a state police-approved instructor.
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So far, Illinois has revoked only a couple hundred concealed weapons permits for various infractions, 80 in Cook County.
And there hasn’t been a notorious case here, such as the infamous George Zimmerman in Florida, one of the original concealed carry states.
In 2017 Zimmerman, with a legally-carried pistol, fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin while on a neighborhood watch.
The number of concealed gun permits in Illinois is actually far short of what had been predicted. With many experts saying 300,000 licenses would be likely, only about a third of that number has been granted permits. Nationally, more than 11 million people currently hold concealed carry permits.
Illinois has 120,000 licenses in a state with 11 million people because NRA contract lobbyist Todd Vandermyde wrote Rep. Brandon Phelps “good” “NRA backed” HB183 carry bill with criminal penalties of 6 MONTHS or 1 YEAR in jail for all gun-free zones, plus the new “crime” of Duty to Inform. Since ALL violations of the carry bill are criminal, cops have the excuse to use force with armed citizens, and legal cover to kill them when they “resist.” Vandermyde learned some great lobbying techniques when he worked for William Dugan at the Intl. Union of Operating Engineers local 150 in… Read more »
Concealed carry permit holders commit very few crimes EVERYWHERE, not just in Illinois.
Furthermore, according to federal crime statistics, they commit far fewer crimes than police officers, and 3 times fewer murders.