Concealed carry law - give up your privacy?

Firearms instructors and others have read the legislation (HB0183) that may result in Illinois' first law to allow carrying of a loaded, concealed firearm, and they are worried about parts of it.

Should you be worried?

When you read on Pages 13 of HB0183/Amendment 5 on www.ilga.gov you'll find the the following:

        “Section 30. Contents of license application.  ( …. )
"(3) a waiver of the applicant's privacy and confidentiality rights and privileges under all federal and state laws, including those limiting access to juvenile court, criminal justice, psychological, or psychiatric records or records relating to any institutionalization of the applicant, and an affirmative request that a person having custody of any of these records provide it or information concerning it to the Department; ..."

One instructor wrote, "... I don't know about you but I would think long and hard about giving anyone that kind of a waiver – especially in view of all the limits on concealed carry in the bill.  It appears to be aimed at mental health but doesn't have any limits on the face of it.  I believe that it only a matter of time until this paragraph is used to access some very personal information, such as your tax return, and the information is leaked to a reporter."
As many know, punctuation in a law is critical. So look carefully at the punctuation here. Notice that it is a waiver "under all federal and state laws". Notice that the comma is before "including those ..."

In other words, an applicant grants a total and complete waiver. It is not a waiver just for mental health records or court records.

This is what happens when a legislature fools around until the 11th hour and then rushes a bill through to meet a deadline. They had six months to work out a thoughtful bill. I'll venture a guess that most of the legislators had not read the entire bill, looking for traps like this one.

Maybe I don't want the governor to sign HB 0183.