The measure to go after gun training fraud in Illinois moves forward to the Senate floor for a vote after passing out of a Senate committee hearing earlier this week.
It’s also attracted the attention of the mainstream media.
The bill, HB4290, passed the Illinois House two votes shy of unanimously.
It is expected to pass overwhelmingly in the Senate and be signed by Gov. Pat Quinn.
SPRINGFIELD (The Southern) – Firearms instructors could face serious consequences if they cut corners teaching someone to carry a concealed weapon, under a proposal endorsed by a Senate panel Tuesday.
State Sen. Michael Connelly, R-Lisle, said he sponsored the legislation to stop a trend of instructors certifying underqualified students.
“There was a report of an individual who I believe provided 300 people with certifications that did not meet the requirements,” Connelly said.
Under the legislation, an instructor who falsely certifies a student for a concealed-carry permit would see their instructor certification permanently revoked. They would also be charged with a Class A misdemeanor.
Connelly said the goal isn’t to penalize instructors who accidentally cut the state-mandated 16 hours of training a few minutes short.
“I’ve received maybe six or seven hundred emails from people regarding instructors who may have inadvertently provided only 15-and-a-half hours,” he said. “We’re looking for people who knowingly, fraudulently provided (certification).”
It’s not the instructors who maybe count a half-hour lunch as part of the instruction time, but instructors who fire Airsoft guns or laser training guns for the qualification, grossly abridge the training hours, or who train even after their credentials have been revoked that this law targets.
Guns Save Life supports this bill, noting that instructors who willfully and fraudulently certify individuals should face meaningful penalties and should not be swept under the rug, but called out, de-certified and punished for their unlawful acts.