My congratulations to 5,000 Illinois residents. They will soon be the first citizens ever in Illinois to receive concealed-carry firearm licenses there. Since last July when Illinois lawmakers passed a bill allowing concealed carry, state police received more than 50,000 applications from citizens. For years, Illinois was the only state to ban any form of concealed carry. That all changed in 2012, when a federal appeals court ruled the ban was unconstitutional.