This day has been a long time coming. Illinois is the last state in the union to recognize the right of its citizens to keep and bear arms. And rather than face a judicial mandate that would have made the Land of Lincoln a no-permit, shall-issue 2A heaven, legislators instead conjured a permitting process that’s about as painful and tedious as possible. Even so, around 46,000 people have applied and been approved for a concealed carry permit so far. And now word comes that the first 5,000 concealed carry licenses have arrived in the mailboxes of applicants . . .
At 12:46 PM local time on Saturday, the first post of someone unwrapping his concealed carry license appeared on an Illinois-based forum. From what the local papers are reporting, the state police are cranking out the licenses as fast as they can and the first wave should be appearing Monday in mailboxes across the state. From the Sun Times:
Illinois’ first concealed carry licenses were being sent out Friday and could arrive in mailboxes as early as Monday, Illinois State Police officials said.
[…]
The blue-and-red licenses — about the same size as a driver’s license — are good for five years.
All approved applicants passed both criminal background and mental health checks, Maton said.
State police have so far rejected some 300 applications from people who are prohibited by statute from having one of the new cards, including, for example, people who have two or more DUIs or a domestic violence arrest within the last five years, Maton said. Another 2,800 applicants submitted either incomplete or inaccurate information, and officials are delaying approval until they can check out that information, Maton said.
If the gun control advocates are right, Illinois streets will be running red with blood any second now. Then again, since the former gun control utopia is home to some of the worst gang violence in the United States, if the war zone predictions come to pass, would they even notice?
No matter — every other state that has made this transition has had the wild west scaremongering pronouncements proven to be as fictional as the movies on which they were based. Illinois will be no different.