Valinda Rowe, the Illinois Carry spokesman, met with the Illinois State Police a couple of weeks ago, along with Richard Pearson from the Illinois State Rifle Association.   Mrs. Rowe’s first impressions of the meeting were very positive.

In fact, from her post at Illinois Carry, you would have thought she had the tiger by the tail.

Mr. B and I had a very productive meeting with some of the members of JCAR and ISP today. Mr. Pearson of the ISRA joined us.  We want to thank Sen. Righter for helping put the meeting together.  We had the opportunity to meet the  new ISP Chief Legal Counsel Matthew R. Rentschler, who replaced Suzanne Bond – hooray! We went through our concerns line by line. There is a real possibility that most of our concerns with the new proposals are going to be addressed.   We will know more after Mr. Rentschler and their Liaison for Governmental Affairs report back to the director.

They are in a tough spot with the non-resident issue/statutory requirements put on the ISP.  At this point we don’t expect that issue to be resolved through rules.

We are very encouraged after meeting Mr. Rentschler.  Looks like with the change in administration, it is going to be easier to work with the ISP.

The Illinois State Police aren’t quite the cuddly little kittens Valinda Rowe thought they were.

That’s what happens when the NRA and its lawyers weren’t in the room, along with the key people in the decision and rule-making process.

That’s okay.  Working the back channels doesn’t always get the results we would like, so it’s time to be a little more direct about it.

Action Item:  Contact the chief legal counsel at ISP at the address below.  Be nice, but be firm in what you want and why you want it.

Illinois: State Police Will Not Remove Anti-Gun Rules, Your Comments Needed

Contrary to reports from other sources, NRA has met with Illinois State Police (ISP) regarding the proposed new concealed carry rules available here.

ISP will NOT be pulling the proposed rules after concerns were raised by NRA and other Second Amendment supporters about the contents of the new rules.  It is critical that NRA members submit comments on these rules to ISP by Sept 18 to ensure that ISP is aware of the numerous problems so that amendments to the rules can be made.

Some of the concerns NRA has with the rules are as follows:

• The requirements for non-resident permits create an impossible standard, disarming any non-illinois resident visiting the state;
  Pre-registration for training classes limits flexibility of both instructors and trainees;
• Instructors will be required to engage in burdensome duplications of effort by submitting the same training certificates submitted by applicants;
• Signage making specific locations prohibited must be “conspicuously posted” but this term is not defined;

These concerns are not the whole of the problems with the proposed rules.  NRA members are encouraged to read the proposed rule changes and submit comments on them in writing to:

Matthew R. Rentschler
Chief Legal Counsel
Illinois State Police
801 South 7th Street, Suite 1000-S
Springfield, IL 62703

Some issues we picked up right away included:

Here they are (in .pdf).

Here’s the Cliff’s Notes of what’s proposed:

1.  (Page 4).  B-27 scoring.  The requirement to use a B-27 target stands, but they are re-defining (once more) what is a qualifying hit.  Shots to the 7, 8, 9 and X-ring shall count as hits.  The non-shooter who drafted these proposed changes was clearly out of his or her element.  They apparently didn’t realize that they are excluding hits to the 10-ring that fall outside of the “X-ring”.  We think this change should be easy to accomplish.

2. (Page 5).  Redefines “substantially similar” to allow residents of almost all other states to apply for and received an Illinois CCW license.  The catch?  They must get a letter from a mental health professional attesting that the applicant hasn’t voluntarily admitted themselves to in-patient mental health treatment.  Oh yes, there’s another catch:  Applicants (and subsequent license holders) must submit these letters on an annual basis.

3. (Page 8 & 9).  Instructor obligations and suspension/revocation procedure.  Instructors must read instructor notices at least every sixty days.  Creates a the process for suspending and/or revoking instructor credentials for misdeeds.

4.  (Page 11).  Curriculum.  The State of Illinois will create an official curriculum that all instructors must follow.  The program shall be released by January 1, 2016 for instructors to review.  The State of Illinois will also create a “train the trainer” curriculum as well by the same date.

5.  (Page 11).  Student-teacher ratio for live fire.  Each instructor may only train six shooters at a time during live fire segments.

6.  (Page 13).  Using the new curriculum & online reporting.  By March 1, 2016, approved instructors may only use the State of Illinois curriculum and must register their courses at least 72-hours ahead of time.  Instructors must also submit student rosters within 72-hours of completion of a class.  Supporting documentation must be uploaded by the instructors as well for students wanting credit for previous training, etc.

7.  (Page 15).  Training certificates expire after one year from date of issuance.