Some Illinois Concealed Carry instructors simply cannot abide by Illinois’ relatively simple and straight-forward requirements in CCW classes. What does that mean for the students who paid for their sub-standard training?
One Canton man says his concealed carry license was revoked at no fault of his own. It turns out, he’s not alone. People in Illinois are receiving similar letters warning them to turn in their CCL, or risk being arrested.
The Canton man and some of the others might not have had any fault in this. The instructor might have fulfilled the legal requirements for the man’s class. However instructors who cut corners often cut corners in more than a single class.
What’s more, Illinois’ concealed carry law says failure to surrender a suspended or revoked license is a misdemeanor charge in and of itself.
After months of struggle to get his CCL back legally, Ken Cook says he’s frustrated with Illinois State Police.
“The letter stated you have to surrender your conceal carry license within 48 hours or risk the possibility of a warrant being issued for an arrest,” said Cook.
“All of a sudden it’s revoked because my instructor was audited and they revoked his certification and therefore a chain reaction, everyone he taught was revoked because the training deemed insufficient by the state of Illinois,” said Cook.
Our own John Boch, an Illinois State Police-approved concealed carry instructor, tells us this happens from time to time. And revoking some or all of a faulty instructor’s students has become pretty much standard operating procedure for the ISP.
Usually, Boch says, the ISP tells them to get re-trained by an approved instructor within a certain time frame or they will forfeit their $153 application fee and become permanently revoked. Anyone permanently revoked can reapply, of course, after paying another $153 application fee.
So, in this case, what did the Tazewell County State Attorney have to say about it? A whole lot of nothing…
“It seems as if the revocation letters were pretty harsh, and would be the type of letter you would expect to be sent from a violator when in fact these were victims,” said [Tazewell County State’s Attorney Stewart] Umholtz.
– Jenise Rebholz for HOIABC.com, Troubleshooters: Gun Owners Losing Concealed Carry Licenses at Fault of Instructors
The Illinois State Police have issued revised certificates of completion for instructors to issue to their students. Those certificates include the minimum amount of time for instruction along with the minimum topics to be covered. This has helped students to understand what’s required… and to notice if and when a course falls short.
Boch notes that those taking classes that fail to achieve the minimums should not be surprised if they later receive notice that their license has been revoked, as Mr. Cook did.