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Culp v. Madigan: Defending Firearm Carry Permit Standards and Public Safety in Illinois

 Update — On April 12, 2019, the Seventh Circuit issued a favorable decision rejecting the challenges to Illinois’s concealed carry permit regulations for non-residents, siding with the position Giffords Law Center argued for in our amicus brief.

Case Information: Culp v. Madigan, No. 17-2998 (7th Cir. brief filed April 16, 2018)

At Issue: Illinois bars non-residents from applying for an Illinois concealed carry permit unless the applicant’s home state’s laws are substantially similar to Illinois’. Since many states have lax laws and keep deficient records for permit applicants, this requirement is necessary to ensure that Illinois is able to adequately verify criminal records and mental health history before issuing a carry permit to a non-resident. The non-resident plaintiffs in this case contend that these sensible limitations violate the Second Amendment, and claim an absolute right to apply for a concealed carry permit in Illinois even though they don’t reside there.

Giffords Law Center’s Brief: Our amicus brief argues that the Second Amendment allows states to impose licensing and record-verification requirements on people seeking to carry loaded, concealed weapons in public. The challenged Illinois laws place only a modest burden on plaintiffs’ asserted right to carry a concealed weapon because none of the plaintiffs live in Illinois. Further, our brief refutes plaintiffs’ unsupported claim that restricting non-resident permit applications has no public safety benefit. There are documented lethal flaws with the lax concealed carry permitting systems in place in many states, which have resulted in permits being improperly issued to people with violent criminal histories.

 Read the full text of our amicus brief here.