We talked to someone in Illinois — someone who’s in a good position to know — who told us that despite the huge backlog of gun sales background checks due to the current gun sales surge, the Illinois State Police has cut back their hours. They’re working only one shift a day and the current backlog is running about a week. This despite a 72 hour statutory processing requirement.
And that was before Governor J.B. Pritzker issued a shelter-in-place order for the entire state today that could result in the closure of all Illinois gun stores.
In Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Police Department as well as law enforcement agencies in other counties around the state have let it be known they’re not processing concealed carry permits any more.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer . . .
[T]he Philadelphia Police Department has shut down its gun-permits unit. Firearm owners without a license-to-carry permit will, in almost all circumstances, not be able to carry the weapons on them without risking arrest.
Sheriffs offices in Montgomery County, Allegheny County and at least five Pennsylvania other counties have done the same, according to gun-rights groups who have been tracking the shutdowns.
Given the current coronavirus national emergency, look for more of these shut-downs to take place in other jurisdictions around the country.
That means that tens of thousands of new gun owners who have rushed out in recent days to buy their first firearm won’t, in many cases, be able to carry them legally any time soon unless they happen to live in a constitutional carry state.
As has always been the case, laws in nearly every state allow gun owners to carry a firearm on their own property (with a few notable exceptions). Check your state and local laws to see how you may be affected both on your own property and when you venture out to the grocery store of pharmacy.