Illinois authorities overwhelmed by concealed carry gun applications
M. SPENCER GREEN/APChicago Police Department officials appear at a news conference in Chicago last year with a display of guns seized as a result of the city ordinances that aim to reduce gun violence by banning gun sales within the city's limits. Many of these same officials are now concerned about the growing number of concealed carry gun permits pouring in.
More than 1,000 requests for concealed carry gun permits are pouring in each day in the nation's last state to allow the practice, sparking concerns among Illinois law enforcement officials that they might fall behind on weeding out applicants with a history of violence.
The Cook County Sheriff's office says it already has identified about 120 applications it plans to contest since the online application process was opened to most state residents Jan. 5. Chicago Police Department officials, locked in a battle to control high-profile gang violence, say they, too, are worried about keeping up with the flood of applications, while downstate sheriff's departments said they might not have the capacity to meet the new law's vetting requirement in the time allowed.
Illinois State Police officials insist a full state review will assure that permits don't land in the hands of those who shouldn't have them. And with 90 days to do the job after the 30-day window closes for local law enforcement agencies to make their objections, the agency has far more time than its counterparts in some other states, including Pennsylvania, where law enforcement has 45 days to investigate, and Wisconsin, where the state has 21 days.
But local law enforcement officials say they were not given the resources for a task that was supposed to provide an extra safeguard: a 30-day window to ferret out applicants who might meet the state standards but have something in their backgrounds that could render their applications too risky to approve.
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