Illinois braces for concealed carry rush

Once the enslaved are granted freedom, they embrace it with a zeal the always free may never fully appreciate:

The number of Illinois residents expected to apply for concealed-carry permits in the law’s first year could fill Wrigley Field 10 times, creating a new and rapidly growing industry: Gun instructors.

In recent weeks, the Illinois State Police has approved nearly 1,000 instructors to provide the 16 hours of training required of anyone who wants to carry a concealed weapon, the (Springfield) State Journal-Register reported.

And as the list continues to grow, there are clear signs that when the training does begin, business will be brisk.

John Jackson, co-owner of Capital City Arms Supply in Springfield, learned as much almost immediately after his name popped up on the state police’s website identifying him as an approved concealed carry instructor.

“I’ve got 200 people on a waiting list, and I’ve been getting emails throughout the day,” said Jackson.

Just how many people will apply for the permits is not known, but there are 1.6 million Illinois residents with Firearms Owner’s Identification cards, which the state will require people to have before it’ll issue a concealed carry permit. Already, authorities anticipate 400,000 people will apply for concealed carry permits in the first year alone.

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That’s twice as many as concealed carriers as Wisconsin, which just awarded their 200,000th concealed carry permit after becoming the 49th state to issue concealed carry permits in 2011.

That’s a respectable number of concealed carriers. Despite his heated rhetoric, I don’t think gun-hating Chicago top cop Garry McCarthy can shoot them all.

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