Illinois Concealed Carry License Applications open 1/5/2014

Starting January 5, 2014, the Illinois State Police will be issuing applications for Illinois residents to obtain a concealed carry gun license. These licenses will be issued by the State Police. If you want to apply for a concealed carry license, you must have a valid firearm owner’s identification card (FOID), must be at least 21 years old, and must have completed a required training course. There are also many disqualifying factors that would prevent a person from being eligible to obtain a concealed carry license this includes the inability to obtain a FOID card. FOID cards will not be issued to persons who have a felony conviction, are addicted to narcotics, are undocumented immigrant, who have an order of protection filed against them, or who have a domestic battery conviction, for example. Additionally, the concealed carry application requires that the person not have been convicted of a misdemeanor involving the use or threat of force, two or more DUI’s within five years, no pending arrest warrants, or criminal cases, or proceeding that could lead to disqualification, or not have been in residential or court ordered treatment for drugs or alcohol addiction in the previous five years. (Please see the actual statute for a complete list of qualifications and disqualifications. The Illinois Firearm Concealed Carry Act, 430 ILCS 66/1 et seq.)

If you want to obtain a concealed carry permit, in addition to being over 21 and having a valid FOID card, you also need to take a training course from an instructor listed on the State Police website, which can be found by clicking here. You must have 16 hours of training, which includes hitting a target 70% of the time. If you are active, retired or honorably discharged from the military the State Police will grant you 8 hours of training, so you only have to complete eight more hours.

Once you are issued your conceal carry license, there are still many places you cannot carry a concealed firearm. These prohibited places include schools, child care centers, government buildings, courts, correctional facilities, hospitals, business who have more than 50% of their sales from alcohol, public gatherings, play grounds, parks, Cook County Forest Preserve property, colleges, casinos, amusement parks, zoos, museums and other placed prohibited by federal law from carrying a firearm. If you are issued a concealed carry license and you go to a place where a concealed carry firearm is prohibited you are permitted to lock the gun in a locked case in your vehicle even if you are parking in a prohibited location. You may also store the firearm in your trunk but the gun must be unloaded when you exit the vehicle to place the gun in the trunk. Violations of your concealed carry license are criminal offenses and carrying a concealed firearm without a concealed carry license would continue to be charged as unlawful use of a weapon.

Since this is only a summary of the statute, please refer to the actual statute the Illinois Firearm Concealed Carry Act for the specific requirement needed to obtain a concealed carry license.