Not even gun-hating politicians and an anti-gun Cook County sheriff can tame the public’s demand for guns in Chicago. After all, a spike in gun license applications seems a common sense reaction to sharply increasing violent crime. Criminals run the streets. Police can’t protect the law-abiding. Increasingly, good guys and gals want guns to protect themselves and their families. They know a gun in the hand beats the one parked at the donut shop.
Indeed, statistics show a huge increase in Windy City residents embracing the proven benefits of firearms ownership. In 2016, Rahm’s residents sought out and received 62% more concealed carry licenses than in 2015.
Plenty more from Rahm’s paradise sought out the reviled Illinois Firearms Owners Identification Card. The license costs $10 for a 10-year term and permits Illinois FOID-holding residents to purchase and possess firearms and ammunition. The Illinois State Police also issued 62% more new FOID cards to Chicago residents in 2016 compared to 2015’s numbers.
Because of the surge in applications, the Illinois State Police tells residents to have patience with their FOID applications on their website:
“Currently the Illinois State Police Firearms Services Bureau is experiencing a record number of Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) card applications each month.”
Americans understand the proven benefits of firearm ownership. Not surprisingly, Chicago residents see the Windy City’s violent crime problem. They know about difficulties overwhelmed cops have identifying and arresting suspects. Understandably, people want the safety and security that firearm ownership provides.
Shockingly enough, even the liberal local blogs reported on this surge in gun ownership among the good guys. DNAInfo has the story:
Gun Permit Demand Surges In City: ‘People Are Worried About Crime’
CHICAGO — A spike in demand by city residents saw the state issue 63 percent more permits to Chicagoans to own a gun in 2016 than in 2015, according to data obtained by DNAinfo from State Police.
In 2016, some 38,712 Chicagoans got a state-issued Firearm Owners Identification card compared to 23,725 in 2015.
About 212,000 people are licensed to own a gun in Chicago, according to State Police.
The number of Chicagoans allowed to own a gun has been on the rise since 2015, when it jumped 21 percent from 2014, according to the State Police.
In addition, there has been a surge in the number of Chicagoans who obtained a permit to carry a concealed gun under a 3-year-old law, jumping 50 percent — from 13,948 in 2015 to 22,517 in 2016, according to State Police data.
Imagine that.