Illinois banks grapple with concealed carry law

CLINTON, Ill. - Illinois' new concealed carry law has banks grappling with whether they will allow customers to bring their guns into their branches.

The (Bloomington) Pantagraph reported Friday that more than seven months after Illinois became the last state in the nation to allow concealed weapons, the Illinois Bankers Association is fielding calls from banks about what they might want to do.

"It's absolutely more sensitive, especially when you look at the incidents of bank robberies in Illinois," Lina Cook, the director of the association told the newspaper.

Unlike schools, hospitals, government buildings and buses, where concealed weapons are still prohibited, the law does not prohibit guns in banks, leaving it up to the institutions themselves to decide.

Cook said the association has not taken a position on the issue, explaining that it is up to banks to establish their own rules. Some banks have put up signs that show a handgun with a red slash through it to show that guns are not allowed. Others have not put them up.

According to the newspaper, at least one branch of the State Bank of Lincoln in the community of Clinton took down one of its signs after a customer who wanted to be able to bring his gun inside raised concerns about it. The president of the bank did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press.

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