Illinois gun-rights advocates will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that prevents them from immediately carrying concealed weapons in public.
East St. Louis U.S. District Judge William Stiehl threw out a lawsuit today filed by the Illinois State Rifle Association and Mary Shepherd. They had argued it was unconstitutional to make people wait for the permitting process to be put in place before allowing people to carry concealed firearms. On July 9th, Illinois became the last in the nation to pass a concealed carry law. Illinois State Police are in charge of setting up an application and training system: they have 180 days to do that, plus another 90 days to process the forms.