A pack of internet grifters is running ads targeting Illinois gun owners right now, suggesting an Illinois CCL will let you carry in all 50 states, that the entire process can be finished online in 15 minutes, and that you’ll have a “permit” in days.
Sites like preparedamerican.org wave free holsters, free kits, and fake headlines about some mythical nationwide rule. At best it’s deceptive. Others might call it pure, unadulterated fraud.
There is no national concealed carry permit. As of this writing, an Illinois CCL is good in about 30 states—not all fifty. Illinois recognizes zero out-of-state permits. Anyone telling you otherwise is either brain-dead or a deliberate liar who doesn’t care if you get locked in a cage.
Scammers would sell their own children a “nationwide hunting license” if they thought it would clear another credit card. They are bottom-feeding, soul-selling, money-grubbing parasites who exist solely to exploit the trusting and the poorly informed.
Illinois law demands 16 hours of real, in-person training—live classroom and live-fire qualification. Not Zoom. Not a quiz you take on your phone while half-watching TV and shoveling chips into your pie hole. The rules explicitly ban online or even video “instruction.”
These scammers promise the opposite because they’re betting some folks are too lazy, too trusting, or too desperate to check the actual statute. They’re counting on ignorance the same way a carny counts on suckers at the fair—except this carnival game ends with friendship bracelets, a trip to jail and a felony conviction.
These throwaway websites hide their owners behind privacy services like the cockroaches they are, score like toxic waste on every scam detector, and leave you holding a worthless PDF. Carry with it and the first cop who asks for your license will take a look at it and have a chuckle before they cuff you and stuff you.
Meanwhile, scammers will count their cash, laugh, and move on to the next mark. They don’t care if your kids visit you through glass. They don’t care if your name ends up on a prohibited list. You’re just another sucker to them.
While we’re on the subject of stupid ways to get yourself arrested: Concealed Carry Badges are a fantastic way to earn a (felony) charge for impersonating a police officer. Don’t carry one. Don’t order one. Don’t be that idiot. Real cops notice them instantly, and the conversation that follows is never pleasant. You’re not law enforcement. Stop trying to look like it.
Want actual training instead of this digital con? Look for legit classes with multiple experienced instructors, few if any power point slides, and ample shooting and gun handling beyond the required 30-round qualification. The best classes will teach avoiding conflict, home safety and how to navigate the legal system after a use of force. Fortunately many of the corner-cutting “bare minimum” classes are out of business. But do your research, folks. It’s your life and freedom at stake.
Real preparation that keeps you alive and free.
Do not click the scammer ads. Do not hand these bottom-feeding, soul-selling parasites a single dollar or a single piece of personal data. Use a legitimate ISP-approved instructor and the official Illinois State Police portal. Check reciprocity with sources like handgunlaw.us that aren’t trying to rob you blind and set you up for prison.
The Second Amendment already has enough open enemies. We don’t need these grifters pretending to defend it while they pick your pocket and hand you a one-way ticket to a cell.
Stay sharp. Stay legal. Stay harder to kill.