Associated Press: "ILLINOIS ENACTS NATION'S FINAL CONCEALED-GUN LAW"

All 50 states now have concealed handgun laws on their books.  It will be up to six months to set up a system to start accepting applications, and it is obvious that the state police will drag this out as long as possible.  Six months before they start accepting applications and probably months after that, so it won't be until next spring that people will be able to start carrying in Illinois.  

Spokeswoman Monique Bond said police expect 300,000 applications in the first year.

This guess is simply wrong.  With the high training requirement and the high fee for getting a permit, I would predict that there will be fewer than 100,000 permits and possibly much less than that.  It is hard to be very accurate on this because no other state has as long of a training requirement.  

From the Associated Press:

Both chambers of the Legislature voted to override changes Gov. Pat Quinn made to the bill they approved more than a month ago. Even some critics of the law argued it was better to approve something rather than risk the courts allowing virtually unregulated concealed weapons in Chicago, which has endured severe gun violence in recent months. 

The Senate voted 41-17 in favor of the override Tuesday afternoon after the House voted 77-31, margins that met the three-fifths threshold needed to set aside the amendatory veto. Quinn had used his veto authority to suggest changes such as prohibiting guns in restaurants that serve alcohol and limiting gun-toting citizens to one firearm at a time. . . . 

The law as approved by the Legislature permits anyone with a Firearm Owner's Identification card who has passed a background check and undergone gun-safety training of 16 hours — longest of any state — to obtain a concealed-carry permit for $150. 

The Illinois State Police would have six months to set up a system to start accepting applications. Spokeswoman Monique Bond said police expect 300,000 applications in the first year. . . .