More Than 91,000 Applied For Concealed Carry Permits In 2014
CHICAGO (CBS) -- More than 91,000 people applied for permits to carry concealed weapons last year in Illinois, the first year the state allowed people to carry guns in public.
A sizeable chunk of the 91,651 applications were submitted last January, when the concealed carry law went into effect. Illinois State Police said more than 34,000 people applied last January. In all, nearly 2,400 people were turned down for concealed carry permits.
"A year into it, I think we found out that the sky isn't falling, and we're all continuing our day-to-day lives unaffected for the most part," said State Rep. Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove), a sponsor of the legislation.
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State police spokeswoman Monique Bond said there have not been any issues with the new law from the state police standpoint.
Gun safety instructor Earl Filskov said he believes the law might be too restrictive. He said he and other instructors had thought many more people would have applied for concealed carry permits; business was busy early on, but dropped off dramatically by June.
Filskov said he's taught gun safety to hundreds of people, many of whom have never before held a gun, but wanted one for safety reasons.
"They come into the class, and they're scared to death, and they're like, 'I don't know what I'm doing,' and it's our job during the class … to acclimate them and get them comfortable with real firearms," he said.
However, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has said the law was "slapped together" without much thought. He said it has cost him manpower and money, because his office checks each and every application to make sure there's no reason for law enforcement to object to a permit for a specific person. He believes most other counties don't bother checking very well.
