The Chicago Tribune has an outstanding article about the flood of lawsuits from gun owners in Illinois, many without a single arrest, much less conviction, who have been denied by Illinois’ CCW License Review Board which meets in secret and won’t release any information about their deliberations without a court order.

Gee, does that sound like due process?

It’s not.

And that’s going to change – one way or another.

Brandon Phelps acknowledges the secret tribunal way of operating isn’t working well and says the General Assembly will work to change that next year.

A federal lawsuit may force the Illinois Concealed Carry Review Board to grant due process rights long before then.

Read the story.

Flood of lawsuits over concealed carry denials

Review board has denied more than 800 applications in secret and without explanation

(Chicago Tribune) – After taking a firearms training course, paying a host of fees, and submitting fingerprints for a background check that he ultimately passed, Michael Thomas was puzzled when he was notified earlier this year that a special review board had denied his application for a concealed carry license.

Thomas, a former Air Force reservist who said he routinely carried a gun during military service and has never had a run-in with the law, is one of more than 800 people who have been denied licenses by the board, which meets behind closed doors and keeps its records and reasoning secret, even from applicants who are denied.

Figuring that his was a case of mistaken identity, Thomas wrote to the Illinois State Police to request a review of the decision.

“I have never been arrested or convicted of any offense, either misdemeanor or felony, in the state of Illinois or any other state,” Thomas said in his letter. “I have no criminal record of any type.”

But the state police, in a letter responding to his appeal request, didn’t say why he was denied, and told him that the board’s decisions couldn’t be reviewed and that he would have to petition a court in order to appeal.

So Thomas joined 193 other Illinoisans who have filed lawsuits against the state police to try and peel back the secrecy of the decision-making process.