Concealed carry permit applications drop across Illinois

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (AP) - Illinois State Police granted far fewer concealed carry permits statewide in 2015 than in 2014, according to numbers released by the agency.

About 55,500 permits were granted statewide during 2015. That's compared to about 95,500 in 2014, the first year of the program.

In Cook County, about 15,204 permits were granted by Illinois State Police in 2015, down from about 24,800 in 2014. Nearly 3,200 permits were granted last year in neighboring DuPage County, compared to about 5,800 in 2014.

But while the number of granted permits is down, the number of objections to applications that were made by law enforcement has more than doubled. The Daily Herald (http://bit.ly/1RVFiOz ) reports that police departments, sheriff departments and state's attorneys raise objections to nearly 11,000 applications statewide in 2015, compared to almost 4,000 in 2014.

A law enforcement agency must have reasonable suspicion that there's a danger to the applicant or others in order to object to a concealed carry permit application.

Around 8,800 objections were raised last year in Cook County. Of the roughly 21,000 concealed carry permit applications reviewed by the Cook County sheriff's office, about 1,600 were flagged, often for reasons such as a record of arrest or charges for domestic violence, unlawful use of a weapon, aggravated assault or battery, according to sheriff's spokesman Abdon Pallasch.

"The policy decision made here was that those are good reasons to not give someone a concealed carry permit," he said.

When an objection is filed, the Concealed Carry Licensing Review Board looks at the case and decides whether the state should grant the permit. The seven-member board is now required to tell applicants who are denied a permit the reason for denial and give them a 10-day window to appeal the decision.

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Information from: Daily Herald, http://www.dailyherald.com