Will Local Gun Owners Seek Conceal Carry Permits?

With concealed carrying of handguns now legal in Illinois, will Lake Forest and Lake Bluff gun owners rush to get permits?

Will the Lake Forest or Lake Bluff Police Departments do anything differently?

“We’ll have to wait and see,” Deputy Lake Forest Police Chief Karl Walforf said. “We won’t know until next year when we can see what kind of problems it causes.”

Based on the way the law has been set up, the Illinois State Police have a period of time to establish the apparatus to issue permits. Deerfield Police Chief John Sliozis would be surprised if the first permit is issued this year.

What Waldorf does know is Lake Forest has a lot of gun owners. “Gun ownership is heavy in Lake Forest,” he said. He bases his statement on the number of people who disclose gun possession when the police make a call on a home. The officers always ask.

When it comes to encountering people in the future who may have handguns during a traffic stop or some other encounter out of the home, Waldorf expects the police to exercise the same kind of caution they already display.

“To some extent this is the way out officers conduct every traffic stop now,” Waldorf said referring to the way police are always on the lookout to see if people they encounter are armed. “The real question is whether people will really self report like they are supposed to.”

For complete Lake Forest News, sign up for our free newsletter, "like" us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.