16-Hour Illinois Concealed Carry License Class

Our instructors bring over 50 years of combined law enforcement experience to the classroom. This course integrates real-life scenarios from Joe's active duty police career directly into your training. Over the past 12 years, more than 28,000 students have successfully completed their first concealed carry permit training with West Suburban Concealed Carry.

Saturday Topics

• Developing a personal protection plan for inside and outside of your home as we need to make sure we can keep our family safe from home invasions and carjackings.

• Avoiding situations by having your "head on a swivel" and being aware of your surroundings.

• Firearms safety using a plastic training replica in class to ease you into holding a real gun, as most of our students are new to shooting.

• Selecting a new firearm and holster. Everyone has unique size hands, so there is not a one-gun-fits-all.

• Where will you carry your firearm? There are many distinct locations to carry a firearm on our body: belt, ankle, fanny pack, or purse. Everybody is different based on how they dress, the season, and their size and shape.

• Range preparation: several ways to stand when you shoot, proper grip, how to load your magazine and get the gun in a ready position to fire, and the importance of protecting your eyes and ears. We prepare you for the range qualification, where you will have your own private instructor to assure your safety and success in passing.

• We have easy to shoot .22 caliber guns for you to rent at the range if you do not yet own a firearm.

Sunday Morning

You will meet at Fox Valley Shooting Range (off-site shooting ranges located approximately 30 minutes from the classroom) so you can safely shoot and pass your qualification with the guidance of your private instructor.

Sunday Afternoon: Back to the Classroom

• Law review. You must know where you can and cannot carry your gun.

• You must know when you can shoot and when you must use other options.

• Presentation by the USCCA. What happens to us if we must pull that trigger, and how do we prepare for a potential legal battle.

• Lastly, we will go through how to fill out your concealed carry application to the state after you finish class.

(Prior military and law enforcement can just attend on Sunday with proper documentation.)

What We Cover

Through PowerPoint presentation, practical drills, and scenario based training, we cover all of the following topics in our 16 hour Illinois Concealed Carry Class.

• Developing a personal and home protection plan to keep your family safe

• Conflict avoidance and why it's so important

• Homeland Security's color codes of situational awareness (white, yellow, orange, and red)

• Mental exercises to prepare for deadly encounters

• Firearm safety training covering the 4 universal safety rules

• Proper loading and unloading of a semi-automatic and a revolver

• Safely taking your semi-automatic and revolver apart for proper cleaning

• Selecting your concealed carry handgun and ammunition

• Proper grip and trigger control to shoot accurately

• Defensive shooting (you're moving and shooting at a moving target) vs. marksmanship shooting (you're stationary and shooting at a piece of paper)

• Reasonable force and the use of deadly force

• Understanding the use of force continuum for a Police Officer vs. Civilian

• Defending your family, home, and property against potential threats

• Understanding how your mind reacts under stress through fight or flight

• The physiological reactions associated with extreme stress and how it forces our bodies to react. Fine motor skills vs. gross motor skills

• The immediate aftermath of a critical incident and rendering first aid to yourself and the offender through the use of a first aid kit and tourniquet

• How do we interact with the police after a self defense shooting, and what should we tell them?

• Different holster positions and carry options for your concealed carry gun

• Gun belts, gun lights, and gun lasers

• Properly and safely conducting dry fire exercises at home

• Take home training program which includes dry fire drills, self led and instructor led range exercises, and scenario based drills

• Practical drills drawing your handgun from underneath a sweatshirt/shirt and button down/zippered shirt/jacket

• Shooting from cover behind our 20 position wall of protection

• Self defense firearms training: understanding and clearing semi-automatic level 1 (misfire), level 2 (stove pipe), and level 3 (double feed) malfunction drills

• After you stop the threat drills: track the offender to the ground, scan for other targets, then move off line to safety

• Defensive moving and shooting drills using our laser guns and targets to gauge your progress

• Tactical shooting drills and live fire qualification at the range with your Illinois State Police approved Instructors

• Handgun and ammunition selection for personal protection and home defense

• New carry and conceal laws for your permit to carry a concealed weapon

• You will receive a 61 page reference booklet containing all applicable State and Federal Laws to take home with you

• How to apply online for your Illinois concealed carry permit. The 5 year permit has a state fee of $150

As you can see, this class is very informative and will open your eyes to the importance of receiving proper firearms training. It's all packed into our 16 hour Illinois Concealed Carry Class, which is a must if you will be carrying a firearm to protect you and your family.

Requirements For This Class

• Must be 21 years or older.

• Hearing protection and safety glasses for the range. (Can buy at the range.)

• If you own a firearm, bring it unloaded in a case for the live fire range drills.

• If you own ammunition, bring 30 to 50 rounds to the range for the range session and qualification.

• A FOID Card is not required, but if you have one, bring a photo copy for our records.

• Bring a valid Driver's License or State ID.

We will have a State approved fingerprinting vendor available at your class to electronically process your fingerprints for your State Police application. This is an option to speed up your application approval. The cost for this service is $75 and is paid directly to them.

Cancellation and Reschedule Policy

Please read. Cancellations and reschedules require written notice by email at least 7 days before your scheduled class. No-shows, students turned away for arriving late, and reschedule requests with less than 7 days notice are subject to a $50 rescheduling fee. Refunds are available only if you purchased directly from West Suburban CCW within the last 90 days.

See our full Policies page for complete details.