If you’re reading this in the state of Illinois, the person next to you is not carrying a concealed weapon – at least, not legally.

The Family and Personal Protection Act (HB0148), failed to pass in the Illinois General Assembly by 6 votes last year, but is in committee again under the name HB5745, according to the Illinois General Assembly’s website. Co-sponsored by nine democratic and 29 republican representatives, the bill would allow Illinois residents to apply for a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

As recently as February 2012, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging Illinois’ ban on concealed carry permits. According to the judge’s ruling, “The United States Supreme Court and the Seventh Circuit have recognized only a Second Amendment core individual right to bear arms inside the home.”

DeKalb Police Lt. Gary Spangler said more guns could lead to dangerous situations for the police.

“Concealed carry laws are geared more toward the individual citizen’s protection for themselves,” Spangler said. “The more firearms we encounter, the more chances that bad things can happen for us as police officers.”

Illinois and the District of Columbia are currently the only places in the U.S. where residents cannot apply for a concealed carry permit. Requirements to apply are different for each state, and regulations restricting concealed weapons in certain places, like state universities, also vary, according to a March 8 Washington Times article.

NIU Police Sgt. Alan Smith said the campus police and general counsel would give advice on potential changes to the NIU policy on concealed weapons. He said the final decision would likely be made by the university president.

“Our first and foremost concern is the safety of everyone on campus,” Smith said. “If other people can have weapons, there’s a mandatory training to use the weapons, but not on difficult or stressful situations or confrontations.”

Difficult situations, like the one that occurred in Florida between Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman on February 26, are addressed in Illinois legislation by a statute on the justifiable use of force, according to the Illinois General Assembly’s website.

The statute excludes an “aggressor” from justification, such as a person who “provokes the use of force against himself, with the intent to use such force as an excuse to inflict bodily harm upon the assailant…”

Spangler said police in the City of DeKalb would have to determine, on a case-by-case basis, how to respond to a call involving several people, because they would have to be able to determine who might be carrying a weapon.

“I think in this society today, we’ve got a lot of people with drug, mental health, alcohol or anger issues, and it could be potentially hazardous,” said Mike Webb, CEO and president of COPS Inc., a law enforcement and public safety equipment business in Sycamore. “But, then again, the people that shouldn’t be carrying the weapons are already carrying them. Criminals have already got concealed carry. They just don’t follow the laws.”