Fewer and Fewer People Are Applying for Concealed Carry Permits in This State

By Erika Haas

Generally, fewer and fewer people are applying for concealed carry permits (CCP) in Illinois since the state became the last in the U.S. to legalize concealed carry three years ago.

According to Illinois State Police, the first year the law was implemented, 103,797 applications were filed. The following year, only 60,270 residents applied.

Todd Lough, an associate law enforcement professor at the Western Illinois University and a former Chicago police officer, tells the The State Journal-Registrar that the decline is the result of a combination of factors.

First, he notes that many Illinois residents who were excited about the new legislation likely rushed to file their permits as soon as the law went into effect.

“If you look at American society, most of the guns in this country are owned by a relatively small percentage of the population,” Lough tells The State Journal-Registrar. “I think that population was probably very excited about being able to conceal-carry, and I think a lot of those people got the permits fairly quickly, but the fact is, you reach a saturation point where most of the people who want to concealed-carry have the permits.”

Lough mentions another obvious factor: the political climate.

In 2016, …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms