Just got back from my first day of CCW for Illinois. It was an amazing experience; the class was super informative and clear on procedure, use of deadly force, and the instructor (Terry Bell) cleared up a lot of gray areas. Looking forward to the final class tomorrow.

Two days for cc class WOW. Ours in Texas was 8 hrs just reduced to 4 this past Sept.

Good on you. I highly recommend additional training but Concealed Carry Training is an eye opener.

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Have Gun Will Carry

The best thing about Concealed Carry Class--------
Everyone taking the class will be carrying concealed very, very soon.

SOME who get their CCL may choose to carry or not. In some states a CCL is a way of getting around the cooling off periods on handgun purchases. In Fl with a ccl I can buy a handgun & bullets at the same time & be out the door in 10-15 minutes. SOME may try CC and decide it's not for them, others may carry 24/7. Just cuz someone has a piece of paper doesn't mean he's gonna use it. I still have a library card & can't remember the last time I went there.

I think a two day class is excellent IF they actually teach quality stuff. One day for the law and another for shooting skills. This is a good thing.

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Freedom isn't free.

sounds like you have a good instructor. we are finally getting to join the rest of the nation...

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There's nowt so queer as folk

I also think CCW classes are a good thing...I just finished one for my non-resident in Arizona and the instructor was excellent.....I learned a lot...enjoy your second day

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carpe diem
one day at a time

Most of Bell's info was good.

Went overboard a little recommending HydraShock repeatedly.

Some of Luis's play acting like pretending to shoot a guy on the ground might have been misunderstood by some my classmates that spoke poor English.

The students with revolvers were asked to stand, one man with a S&W M&P 9 stood with them not understanding the request.

The patience they displayed was incredible.

If you are shooting a semiauto take plenty of mags so you don't have to load mags on the line.

10rds per mag, if you can't load 10 they will ask you to load 5 & reload with another 5 to finish the 10 shot strings.

Good Luck

He's in IL. He's lucky it's not a two month course. And it's not the length of the course, it's the quality of the course. Some give you the required minimum; others give you a lot more.

im in Illinois and received my cc permit the first week they were mailed out. almost a month ago, im am very surprised how few of people are applying. my mother in law just took hers last week and turned her app in and her number was in the 50,000 range. my wife and I were 6000 something at the beginning of January. guess I thought there would be a LOT more

Congratulations on taking the CCW class. While you are waiting for you license would be a good time to order a holster. Some have 12-14 week waits.

This is just another part of how silly the anti gun people are. I'm sure they thought there would be a huge number of people apply. They thought there would be gun fights on every street corner. None of that has happened.

It's really no surprise to me and probably not to the gun community either. Based on the population number I found on the internet, that's only .4% of the population.

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Freedom isn't free.

I've talked to several people who are going to take the training but waited 1) the weather has just plain sucked this winter and they didn't want to do the qual shoot outdoors and 2) they had heard how many were expected to apply so they thought the first few months the classes would be filled and the ISP would be swamped with applications.
I think it will pick up now that spring is finally here, maybe spring is here.

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183rd FBINA

Overall the class went well; everyone passed. The instructor said you'd have to try hard to fail and he was right. Did everyone perform perfectly?...no...people made mistakes but the instructor understood these things can happen due to the nervousness of having to qualify and he graded accordingly. Next step: sending in my application for the license. I have to go back on Friday for the store to do so, but I might just end up doing it myself.

Glad to hear that you had a good experience, there has recently been some bad publicity regarding a couple of instructors in Mascoutah IL. Not surprising though as people get stupid when someone waves green in front of them! There are some excellent instructor's in Illinois, thanks for the post.