Dart hits bulls eye with conceal carry "monstrosity" remark

In nearly seven decades following Illinois politics, my prize for worst legislation ever goes to this year's conceal carry bill. To placate a few hundred thousand gun obsessed Illinoisans whose manhood suffers when their not packing an extra rod, Illinois has put the 12 million plus other Illinoisans at risk for even more gun carnage in the most violent so called civilized country in the world. It was a matter of state pride that Illinois was the last holdout to such insanity, but alas, come January 1, 2014, that wonderful distinction ends.

That is why Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart calling the new law a "monstrosity" is so welcome. Dart points out that the state police, responsible for overseeing the permit process, are only required to file an objection to a conceal carry permit if the applicant has 5 or more arrests in the last 7 years or 3 or more gang-banger arrests. That means the overseers are NOT required to object to a conceal carry bloke who's had four arrests in the last seven years or two gang-banger arrests. That's very comforting....to folks who have no business owning a gun, much less concealing and carrying it. If that's not bad enough, Dart points out that Illinois State Police are prohibited from searching the more comprehensive national database LEADS which would surely ensnare gun carrying undesirables that will slip through the porous  Illinois system. Furthermore, Illinois screening for the mentally ill is woefully inadequate. It flags only those who have been committed to a hospital for psychiatric treatment or have been determined by a doctor to be a danger to themselves (and by extension, the general public).

The best New Years resolution the Illinois legislature can make is to hold hearings to quickly fix, or better yet, rescind the "monstrosity" of Illinois conceal carry. And the first witness should be the sensible and sane Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.