The Illinois State Police:  Bureaucracy at its best

The word we got early was that the Illinois State Police were wanting to be proactive in their approach to their critical role in the new Illinois Concealed Carry law.

Not only are they processing the applications (and creating the application itself), but they are approving training courses and instructors.

Now, it’s not exactly a state secret that they are working with the sponsor of this legislation and his allies to craft an understanding, of sorts, of how to actually implement this with a minimum of hiccups.

Yes, some people at ISP were actually planning to have courses and instructors up on their website within weeks of the enactment of the bill and were working their tails off to do just that, in addition to their normal duties.

Then the bureaucrats stepped in.

“Oh hell no!” they said.  “We can’t do that!  If we approve ABC Shooting School and someone goes out and does something really stupid, we’ll be liable!”

So basically it’s analysis paralysis, and while some of the guys at the ISP headquarters really do want to do the right thing, the bureaucrats have taken control and are promising some approved instructors and classes on September 7th – exactly 60 days after enactment of the bill, the last day possible.

It’s on their website, here.

At this rate, if the bureaucrats maintain control of this process, we can expect to see a carry license application on day #180 after the bill’s enactment.