Illinois Bankers Association Statement on Concealed Carry Law

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Aug. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Like other Illinois businesses, Illinois banks and thrifts hold a diverse range of views on the state's new concealed carry law.  Our banks and thrifts, which operate in more than 5,000 offices across the state, manage countless security, regulatory and business concerns on a daily basis that vary widely from institution to institution, and the new law gives rise to similar differences.  With myriad issues surrounding concealed carrying, the Illinois Bankers Association (IBA) determined during the debate on the Illinois law that banks and thrifts should have the flexibility to select which policies best fit their specific concerns. The new law empowers financial institutions, like most other businesses, to choose whether to allow or disallow concealed firearms at their facilities. The IBA supports this approach, which also is taken by forty-seven other states in our country.

Some uncertainties remain in the new law, and the IBA would support amendments that address several unresolved issues. We believe it desirable to have follow-up legislation that would clarify whether drive-through teller windows of financial institutions are considered to be part of the institution's parking area, that would allow businesses to have different concealed carry policies for their employees and customers, that would authorize lessees (as opposed to only owners) of business properties to determine their own concealed carry policies for their leased spaces, and, importantly, that would provide businesses with immunity from liability based on their concealed carry policies, irrespective of whether a business has chosen to permit or prohibit concealed firearms on its premises.

The Illinois Bankers Association is a full-service trade association dedicated to creating a positive business climate that benefits the entire banking industry and the communities they serve. Founded in 1891, the IBA brings together state and national banks and savings banks of all sizes in Illinois. Collectively, the IBA represents nearly 90 percent of the assets of the Illinois banking industry, which employs more than 100,000 men and women in over 5,000 offices across the state.

SOURCE Illinois Bankers Association