Illinois State Police are printing and mailing the first batch of concealed carry licenses — about 5,000 of them — today, state police announced this morning.
The new law allowing for concealed carry in public was passed in December 2012 after an appellate court overturned the ban, and finalized in the summer of 2013.
Illinois residents eligible for concealed carry can apply online at the Illinois State Police website — functionality that launched last month. Applicants can still apply the old fashion way, however, by submitting paper applications, but the process to review those takes a bit more time.
Once submitted, state police either approve or deny applicants, and if approved, local and state law enforcement are allowed to review the applicant as well.
To ensure applicants are not denied unjustly, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has appointed a seven-member panel made up of federal prosecutors, FBI agents and judges to review objections raised by law enforcement, the Chicago Tribune reports.
As of now, authorities have objected to less than 1 percent of the applications. To look at the exact figures, of the 33,631 applications, just 236 have had objections filed against them, as we reported Feb. 3.
The board has 30 days to review the rejected applications.
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