I have been living in Georgia for about four months and the differences between here and Illinois become more stark every day. A great example is obtaining a firearm concealed carry permit. It’s called a weapons carry license (WCL) in Georgia.
In Illinois you have to first obtain a Firearms Owner’s Identification (FOID) card. You can’t do anything firearms related without it. You can’t legally purchase a gun or ammunition if you don’t have this card. If you want to carry a gun for personal protection then you also have to obtain a Concealed Carry License (CCL). It’s only $10.00 for the FOID card but it’s a whopping $150.00 for the CCL. And it doesn’t end there. Illinois requires 16 hours of training and of course that’s not free. That will run about $250 plus 2 days of your time. What’s your time worth? Let’s go with the latest push for $15/hour minimum wage and 8 hour days. That’s equal to $240.00. All in, including your time, it costs around $650.00 to carry a firearm for self-defense.
In Georgia you don’t need anything to purchase a firearm or ammunition.
You do not need a WCL to purchase a firearm, only to carry one in certain situations.
Georgia.gov
You’re treated like a responsible adult citizen in Georgia rather than a potential criminal that wants to go out and shoot things up. In Georgia the process is simple. You need to be a citizen or permanent resident, have a valid state ID or driver’s license, complete a simple application, get fingerprinted, and pay $73.25. There is a background check and if all is well within 90 days you have your license. Snip, snap, done.
The strict gun laws in Illinois and Chicago haven’t done a damn thing to stop violent crimes committed with guns. They continue unabated. The politicians blame other state’s for Illinois’ inability to control crimes committed with guns. With the current government it’s going to get a lot harder. Governor Fat Blagojevich (aka J.B. Pritzker) and the Democrat majority in the General Assembly passed a law that will end cash bail. The bill was 700 pages and must have been bad because they had to pass it in the middle of the night during a lame duck session before new representatives were seated.
Republican lawmakers also roundly criticized the effort, with GOP Sen. John Curran of Downers Grove, a former assistant state’s attorney in Cook County, calling the measure “hyperpartisan.”
“This 700-plus page proposal was rammed through in the middle of the night with just hours left in a lame-duck session without the transparency and discourse expected in a democratic process,” Curran said in a statement.
Chicago Tribune
Illinois doesn’t want its residents to have firearms for protection, they make you pay dearly for it if you do, and with the laws these people pass you’ll need it. And they wonder why the state is losing residents.
Image by Jabbacake from Pixabay
Comments
2 responses to “Georgia vs. Illinois on gun ownership”
I’m in the process of renewing mine here in Iowa for $25 for the next five years. The legislature here looks to be passing constitutional carry but I will still need the concealed carry permit for out of state in the states that honor it like wisconsin.
Constitutional carry would be great. It really should be the law of the land!