Illinois Concealed Carry Permits In Highest Demand Downstate And In Chicago's Suburbs

Concealed Carry Permits In Highest Demand Downstate, In The 'Burbs
FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2013 file photo, assault weapons and hand guns are seen for sale at Capitol City Arms Supply in Springfield, Ill. The deadline for local governments in Illinois to enact assault weapons ordinances is Friday, July 19, 2013. In recent days, about a dozen communities have passed ordinances either banning assault weapons or imposing regulations concerning how they are stored and transported. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2013 file photo, assault weapons and hand guns are seen for sale at Capitol City Arms Supply in Springfield, Ill. The deadline for local governments in Illinois to enact assault weapons ordinances is Friday, July 19, 2013. In recent days, about a dozen communities have passed ordinances either banning assault weapons or imposing regulations concerning how they are stored and transported. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)

The numbers are in and some 23,000 Illinoisans have applied for concealed carry permits since the application to do so went live last week.

According to the Associated Press, nearly one quarter of those (more than 5,300) applications come from individuals living in Cook County, while Will and DuPage counties in the Chicago suburbs boast the next most applicants.

The numbers on a per-capita basis tell a much different story about the demand for concealed carry permits, however.

As the Chicago Sun-Times notes, Cook County actually ranks last among the state's 102 counties when it comes to the number of applications per capita since the website went live on Jan. 5.

The paper reports that Cumberland County, which boasts a total of 11,048 residents, is home to the highest per-capita application rate so far. The county is located about 100 miles west of Bloomington, Ind. in east-central Illinois.

Illinois State Police spokeswoman Monique Bond told the Daily Herald they are averaging between 800 and 1,000 applications daily and are projecting they will receive a total of 400,000 by the month's end.

The Cook County Sheriff's office has been critical of the application process laid out by the state's concealed carry law and re-emphasized to the AP this week that they lack the staffing to adequately review the thousands of applications they are receiving. The office has already flagged 120 applications it plans to object to.

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