Chicago Chicagoans Tool Up Licenses

Not even gun-hating politicians and an anti-gun Cook County sheriff can tame the public’s demand for guns in Chicago. After all, a spike in gun license applications seems a common sense reaction to sharply increasing violent crime. Criminals run the streets. Police can’t protect the law-abiding. Increasingly, good guys and gals want guns to protect themselves and their families. They know a gun in the hand beats the one parked at the donut shop.

Indeed, statistics show a huge increase in Windy City residents embracing the proven benefits of firearms ownership.  In 2016, Rahm’s residents sought out and received 62% more concealed carry licenses than in 2015.

Plenty more from Rahm’s paradise sought out the reviled Illinois Firearms Owners Identification Card.  The license costs $10 for a 10-year term and permits Illinois FOID-holding residents to purchase and possess firearms and ammunition.  The Illinois State Police also issued 62% more new FOID cards to Chicago residents in 2016 compared to 2015’s numbers.

Because of the surge in applications, the Illinois State Police tells residents to have patience with their FOID applications on their website:

“Currently the Illinois State Police Firearms Services Bureau is experiencing a record number of Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) card applications each month.”

Americans understand the proven benefits of firearm ownership.  Not surprisingly, Chicago residents see the Windy City’s violent crime problem.  They know about difficulties overwhelmed cops have identifying and arresting suspects.  Understandably, people want the safety and security that firearm ownership provides.

Shockingly enough, even the liberal local blogs reported on this surge in gun ownership among the good guys.  DNAInfo has the story:

Gun Permit Demand Surges In City: ‘People Are Worried About Crime’

CHICAGO — A spike in demand by city residents saw the state issue 63 percent more permits to Chicagoans to own a gun in 2016 than in 2015, according to data obtained by DNAinfo from State Police.

In 2016, some 38,712 Chicagoans got a state-issued Firearm Owners Identification card compared to 23,725 in 2015.

About 212,000 people are licensed to own a gun in Chicago, according to State Police.

The number of Chicagoans allowed to own a gun has been on the rise since 2015, when it jumped 21 percent from 2014, according to the State Police.

In addition, there has been a surge in the number of Chicagoans who obtained a permit to carry a concealed gun under a 3-year-old law, jumping 50 percent — from 13,948 in 2015 to 22,517 in 2016, according to State Police data.

Imagine that.

20 COMMENTS

  1. Malone: You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That’s* the *Chicago* way! And that’s how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? I’m offering you a deal. Do you want this deal?
    Ness: I have sworn to capture this man with all legal powers at my disposal and I will do so.
    Malone: Well, the Lord hates a coward.

    • So you’re quoting a fictional line of dialogue from a movie which played fast and loose with the facts? Oh and you do realize they got Al Capone for not paying his taxes, right?

  2. Yeah things are changing MAYBE for the better in Crook County. At least my southern suburb is still OK. Arm the good citizens is a great start. We’ll see what the future brings-I’m getting my 3rd gun in 4 months…

  3. “criminals run the streets.”
    really?
    huh.
    not where i’m parked. and work moves me around a lot.

    i’m glad more people are carrying. that trend will continue.

    • ““criminals run the streets.”
      really?
      huh.
      not where i’m parked. and work moves me around a lot.”

      I hear that a lot.
      “As long as it doesn’t affect me, everything’s OK.”

      • i don’t deny heyjackasses numbers.
        criminals run much of what happens on some dozens of blocks in certain isolated neighborhoods.
        crime can happen anywhere. my point is that it isn’t omnipresent.
        yet.
        chicago was a very tuff town years ago. the metrosexuals moved in and brought lots of kindness.
        i would be hard pressed to imagine anyone of the ttag mindset (assuming) being much taken advantage of in chicago.
        the defenseless get their asses handed to them.

    • Has nothing to do with race per say, has to do with cost and lack of education. Also that report was total BS. Cost for a CCW is $150 and training can be had for $200, about half the $600 quoted (a lot of trainers will do it cheaper for low income individuals) I took my training in the City of Chicago (near north side), but I did have to go to the suburbs for the range part.

      • This is good for us in the courts. A disparate impact caused by the law is just the first step. “Proof of racially discriminatory intent or purpose is required to show a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. However, [r]acial discrimination need only be one purpose, and not even a primary purpose,” of an official action for a violation to occur.” Veasey v. Abbott, 830 F. 3d 216, 230 (5th Cir. 2016) (citations and internal quotations omitted).

        It probably wouldn’t apply to most licensing/permit statutes passed in the last several decades, but would probably apply to just about all of the underlying laws banning unlicensed carry. I haven’t studied the legislative history of any of those laws, so I don’t actually know. I’m just guessing based on when the ones I know about were passed.

        • Hope some one does make a racial case out of these big city laws. Clayton Cramer has already done the history research.

          • The old laws should be much easier to strike down than the new laws. There should be much more evidence that the laws were passed, in part, because of racism.

            Only voting laws can be struck down just because they have a disparate impact because there is a law specifically stating that. A voting law in this country is unlikely to be struck down on constitutional grounds. It is more likely to be struck down on statutory grounds.

      • Binder
        Making guns cost more by local regulations has been a historical racist weapon used by white democrats in the south and major cities for about 130 years now. Now in the 21st century they are making the training and other fees cost so high a poor person can’t pay the money. This is the same thing as the black codes. Any law abiding person in chicago “with the money” can now get a gun. But the second amendment was not written for rich people.

        The bottom line is honest blacks can’t afford to pay the money. But criminal blacks have no problem getting guns. And the white jewish democrat mayor of Chiraq knows this. He made sure he has extra armed security around his home and his children get armed escorts to and from school. The New York city white jewish mayor who calls the police racist, has them escorting his mixed race son to school just like the chiraq mayor does for his kids.

  4. I’m glad people are tooling up.
    Maybe the little ballerina will get his head out of his ass.

    • The person in the photo appears to be female.

      There is no perfect method of concealed carry. Appendix has pros and cons. It’s a personal decision based on multiple factors – body shape, wardrobe, etc. You would be surprised how popular that particular style is.

      Do what works for you. Be careful, especially when holstering.

  5. It’s good that lots more people are tooling up. But last I read you can’t legally carry concealed on public transportation so the non-lawful bad guys still have the upper hand there.

  6. “They know about difficulties overwhelmed cops have identifying and arresting suspects.”

    It’s a lot easier to identify and arrest a suspect when the striations on the bullet they took out in the emergency room match your pistol.

    Just sayin’.

  7. About 212,000 people are licensed to own a gun in Chicago, according to State Police.

    A city of 2.7 million and only 212,000 residents have a state issued license to own firearms. That is only 1 in 13 residents. Compare that to the rest of the United States where something like 1 in 3 people have firearms.

  8. “jumping 50 percent — from 13,948 in 2015 to 22,517 ”

    Someone isn’t doing statistics right. A 50% increase from 13,948 would come to 20, 922. This is more like a 60% increase.

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