IL CCW Fingerprints: Are they going to be required?

We’re getting all sorts of people asking us about fingerprints for the Illinois CCW license.

Are they going to be required?  Are they not?  The statute itself says, “the Department may accept an application submitted without a set of fingerprints in which case the Department shall be granted 30 days in addition to the 90 days provided under subsection (e) of Section 10 of this Act to issue or deny a license”.

The discussion of this, for some folks over at the online forum Illinois Carry, has turned this question into something more than a simple answer.

“Molly B.”, the spokeswoman for Illinois Carry.com, otherwise known as Valinda Rowe, posted the following on December 6th.

We have confirmed and reconfirmed with the ISP that fingerprints are NOT mandatory for concealed carry applicants.  Some individuals and groups continue to misinform the public about this.  The current law states that prints are optional. Unless and until the law is changed they shall remain optional.

The same individuals are claiming the ISP will accept inked prints but at this point the ISP says they will only accept digital prints.  If that changes we will post it here.

We believe she’s writing about Guns Save Life leadership and the organization when she says “some individuals and groups”.

We relayed our latest and best information at the Peoria (and Effingham) members meetings last Thursday – and the Pontiac meeting Tuesday.  Our information, confirmed and reconfirmed (with someone else at the ISP apparently) is something different.

Our best information is that:

1.  The Illinois State Police *is* going to *require* fingerprints with license applications.

2.  LiveScan electronic prints will be preferred, but hard-card prints will be accepted – and the ISP will allow themselves 30 additional days to process apps with hard-card prints.

3.  Applications submitted without prints will not be accepted.

What is our source?

It’s an attorney and ISP-approved instructor who read over the statute and ISP proposed rule-making, and then contacted the Illinois State Police and spoke with someone there that he was convinced was in a position of authority.

UPDATE:  Here’s our attorney’s thoughts on this, relayed within the past few minutes:

Well, they can submit applications for a CC Permit without fingerprints and see what happens.  All I know is that ISP told me directly that no permits would be issued without fingerprints and the revised regulations they issued confirm that position.  I think that [some]  folks desperately want to get by without FP but it is an empty hope.  Public Act 98-63 does seem to say that applications may be issued w/o FP but otherwise constructs an approval process that is very thorough and totally laced with cross agency checks.  The clear intention of the Act is for applicants to submit prints which can be checked against the state and federal database.  If someone wants a CC Permit in the near future, I recommend submitting their prints in electronic format and include the required photo in digital form with the prints. 

It’s our best information and we passed it on – as our best information. We’ll be the first to say we might be wrong.  It’s happened before.  On the whole though, we endeavor to provide the best and most accurate information to gun owners that we can, and it’s usually pretty good.  It’s just one reason why our paid membership has doubled this past year and our group is growing by leaps and bounds.

You can weigh your analysis of the data and come to your own conclusions.  Heck, both of our sources may be “correct” as frankly, we’re not sure the ISP knows what in the heck they are going to do with this.  It’s been a mess from day one this past summer.

As far as communication between GSL’s President and Illinois Carry’s Spokeswoman:  it’s non-existent as she won’t return emails and won’t answer or return phone calls.

It’s interesting that the latest round of ISP proposed rule-making:

Section 1231.61 Issuance of License

Applicants submitting fingerprints shall do so electronically by submitting a full set of fingerprints to the Department in an electronic format using a Live Scan vendor licensed by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation or a law enforcement agency registered by the Department.  Manual fingerprints will not be accepted.

Oh yeah, Guns Save Life doesn’t just blog.  We have meetings with hundreds of real people attending every month.  We publish a monthly journal with a circulation of 20,000 each month.  We erect and maintain nearly three dozen sets of highway signs, communicating a pro-gun message to over 600,000 people each day.  We’re in the Illinois State Capitol building almost everyday.  We’re like rust…  we’re persistent and we don’t go away.

We make things happen for the pro-gun side, not only at the state and local level, but nationally as well.

Thanks for reading.