"In Illinois, concealed carry of guns has quiet first year; expansion sought"

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-concealed-carry-one-year-met-20150203-story.html#page=1

Shock and amazement, the blood isn't running in the streets of Illinois and no one has been shot over a parking space the Chicago Tribune discovers!

"Gun advocates push to expand concealed carry in Illinois after quiet first year."

"Keith Hearn was getting out of his car in front of his home in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood when police pulled up and told him he had committed a minor traffic offense.

Hearn, 34, has a concealed-carry license and said he voluntarily told the officers he had a handgun on him. Nonetheless, he said officers arrested him and took him to their station, claiming his gun was partly showing. After checking, he said, police found the concealed-carry law allows a gun to be "mostly" concealed, and let him go without charges.

I was disgusted," Hearn said. "Why was I arrested, handcuffed in front of my neighborhood, when I didn't break any laws?"

Hearn is among about 92,000 people who got licenses to carry a hidden gun in public last year in Illinois — the last state in the union to legalize "concealed carry," as it's called. Since it went into effect more than a year ago, the law has prompted neither the rash of shootings that opponents feared, nor a wave of crimes prevented through the intervention of armed citizens.

Instead, there are ongoing disputes over who should be allowed to carry a gun, and where. Those battles are being played out in the courts and occasionally, on the streets, as in Hearn's account, which Chicago police would not comment on or confirm."

Close to 92,000 permits issued in 2014 and the Trib was only able to come up with 3 "problems" with no permit revocations listed. If it wasn't so expensive for the training, 16 hours plus live fire qualification and the permits are $150 for in-state and $300 for out of state, ther'd probably be a lot more. Plus there are no ranges in Chicago for qualification accessible by public transportation that people can get to.

Our "Downstate Dems" are now pushing to loosen some of the restrictions they gave the hand wringers in Chicago to get it passed, now that they have some actual experience under their belt.