SAF Sues Illinois State Police for Failure to Process CCL Applications

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit today against the head of the Illinois State Police and the agency’s Firearms Services Bureau chief, alleging they have allowed the agency to indefinitely deny state residents their right to carry by failing to process Concealed Carry Licenses in violation of state law. The case is known as Luce v. Kelly.

Joining SAF are the Illinois State Rifle Association and four private citizens. Named as defendants are ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly and Firearms Services Bureau Chief Jarod Ingebrigtsen in their official capacities. Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys David G. Sigale of Wheaton, Illinois and Gregory A. Bedell of Chicago. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

“Illinois was the last state in the country to establish a licensed concealed carry program because we sued them in federal court and won,” SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb recalled. “The legislature passed a law requiring the ISP to either approve or deny an application within 90 days if the applicant supplies fingerprints, or 120 days if fingerprints are not submitted.

“But the ISP is habitually leaving applicants in legal limbo for months,” he said. “Compounding matters, there has been a surge of CCL applications over the past 12 months. Our plaintiffs have been waiting for months and have received nothing.”

According to the lawsuit, the individual plaintiffs “are concerned about being able to properly exercise their right to armed self-defense in public, especially given recent events and the current spate of car-jackings that have plagued Chicago and the collar counties.”

“The State Police cannot justify these delays,” Gottlieb observed. “As it stands, the ISP is indefinitely denying Illinois residents their fundamental Second Amendment right to carry a concealed sidearm in public for personal protection. We’re saying in this lawsuit that if the State of Illinois conditions the exercise of a fundamental right on the receipt of a license, then the ISP needs to comply with state law and process those applications in a timely manner as required by law. We’re taking them to court in an effort to make that happen.”

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.