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 More than 78,000 licenses were issued in 2011, and nearly 1.4
million people had firearms identification cards as of Jan. 1, 2011,
compared with more than 1.3 million on Jan. 1, 2010, The Pantagraph
in Bloomington reported Wednesday (http://bit.ly/zY0frH). Illinois
residents must have a card to possess or purchase firearms.
"That is a pretty big increase," said Mark Walsh, campaign director
of the Illinois Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Walsh attributed
the increase to the end of Chicago's handgun ban in 2010.
Democratic state Rep. Brandon Phelps of Harrisburg said the increase
may have come after concealed-carry legislation was approved in
bordering Wisconsin.
"That may have gotten people thinking Illinois will be next," Phelps
said.
Phelps sponsored a proposal last year that would have legalized
concealed weapons in Illinois. However it failed passage in the
Illinois House, and Gov. Pat Quinn had said he would veto the
measure. Currently only Illinois and the District of Columbia
prohibit the concealed carrying of weapons.
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Todd Vandermyde, the National Rifle Association lobbyist in
Illinois, said the concealed-carry issue along with economic
instability may be the cause for the increase.
"You can't put it on any one issue," Vandermyde said.
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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