Illinois Firearm Control Card: Requirements, Training, and Application

The Illinois Firearm Control Card, often called the “Tan Card,” is the credential that authorizes you to carry a firearm while working as a private detective, private security contractor, private alarm contractor, or a registered employee of one of those agencies. It is issued by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), your employer submits the application on your behalf, and each card lists the specific weapon types you may carry.¹

Who The Card Is For

Illinois limits the Tan Card to people working in licensed security-related industries: licensed private detectives, private security contractors, private alarm contractors, registered employees of those agencies, and employees of a registered armed proprietary security force.¹

The card is a job credential, not a personal concealed carry permit. It does authorize you to carry while commuting directly to and from your workplace, but that protection ends the moment you stop somewhere else on the way.¹

Eligibility Requirements

Before training or applying, you need to meet several baseline requirements:

You must be at least 21 years old to work in an armed capacity.²
You must hold a valid Permanent Employee Registration Card (PERC). Anyone convicted of a felony involving violence, weapons, or theft within the preceding ten years is presumed unfit for registration.²
You must hold a valid Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card from the Illinois State Police. If your FOID is revoked, IDFPR is required to revoke your Tan Card.³¹
You must be currently employed by, or licensed as, a private detective, private security contractor, or private alarm contractor agency licensed under the Act. No employer, no card.¹

The FOID application has its own disqualifiers: felony convictions, narcotics addiction, a mental health facility stay within the past five years, certain domestic battery convictions, and active orders of protection all block issuance.⁴ Because a FOID is a prerequisite, anything that blocks the FOID blocks the Tan Card.

A Federal Trap: Marijuana Use

Federal law adds a separate layer that Illinois legalization does not solve. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), an “unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance” cannot possess firearms, and the ATF treats any marijuana user as an unlawful user under federal law even when state law authorizes the use. Holding a medical marijuana card gives a firearms dealer “reasonable cause to believe” you are a prohibited user, which blocks transfers entirely.⁵ The federal charge carries up to ten years in prison. The other § 922(g) prohibitions — including a misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence — also disqualify you regardless of what Illinois says about your PERC or FOID.⁶

Training You Have To Complete First

If you are a registered employee, you first complete a 20-hour basic security training course. Then you complete a separate 28-hour firearm training course approved by IDFPR. If you are already a licensed private detective, alarm contractor, or security contractor, you skip the 20-hour basic course and go straight to the 28-hour firearms program.⁷

The 28-hour course splits into 20 hours of classroom or online instruction on use-of-force law, firearm safety, and tactics, plus 8 hours of supervised live-fire practice at a range.⁷ Only an instructor registered with IDFPR can teach it. On completion, the instructor files a Certification of Completion with IDFPR, and IDFPR issues you a Certificate of Training with a unique training number. Keep the certificate; it is your permanent training record and belongs in your employee file for as long as you work armed.⁸

Timing matters. Your firearm training must have been completed within the two years before your employer requests the card. Older training requires proof of refresher training completed within the preceding year.⁹

How The Application Actually Works

You do not submit the Firearm Control Card application yourself. Your employer submits it using forms provided by IDFPR, mailed to IDFPR’s Division of Professional Regulation in Springfield.¹¹⁰

The application package must include:

A $75 non-refundable processing fee payable to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.¹⁰
A fingerprint processing receipt from a licensed fingerprint vendor. The Illinois State Police transmits the electronic results to IDFPR.¹⁰
Your Certificate of Training from an IDFPR-registered instructor, completed within the required timeframe.

Once IDFPR verifies your training, background, and FOID status, the card is sent to your employer, not to you. Your employer issues it to you. The card lists your name, where you received firearm instruction, and the specific weapon types you are authorized to carry.¹

Because the employer drives the paperwork, your practical first step is a job offer from a licensed agency. Until IDFPR processes the application and the card is issued, you cannot legally work armed assignments.

Annual Requalification

The card is not a one-and-done credential. Starting the calendar year after issuance, you must complete eight hours of refresher training every year. The requirement includes live fire: a minimum of 50 rounds and a qualifying score of at least 70% for each weapon type on your card (revolver, semi-automatic handgun, shotgun, or rifle).⁸

Your employer selects the refresher topics, but the range qualification is fixed. A registered firearms instructor must certify each session, and your employer keeps records available for state inspection.⁸ Fail the live-fire portion and you cannot work armed until you pass.

Suspension, Revocation, and Leaving a Job

IDFPR can refuse to issue, suspend, or revoke your card for a felony conviction, any crime involving illegal use or possession of a deadly weapon, or a violation of the Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act or its rules.¹

Two triggers bypass the usual disciplinary process. If your FOID is revoked, IDFPR must revoke your Tan Card without a hearing. And if the Secretary finds that continued use of the card poses an imminent danger to the public, they can summarily suspend it, with a hearing to follow within 30 days.¹

When you leave your employer, whether you quit, get fired, or move to a different agency, you must return the card and any copies to that employer. The employer is then responsible for terminating the card in IDFPR’s online system.⁹ The card does not transfer. A new licensed employer has to submit a fresh application, though you will not need to redo the 28-hour initial training as long as you have stayed current on annual requalification.

Costs To Plan For

The $75 IDFPR fee is only part of what you will spend. Also budget for:

Your FOID card, issued by the Illinois State Police for a separate fee.
Fingerprinting, paid directly to the licensed vendor at a rate the vendor sets.
The 28-hour firearm training course, priced by each training provider.
Annual requalification: the eight-hour refresher course, range time, and ammunition.

Ask your employer about reimbursement before assuming you are paying everything yourself. If your employer reimburses these costs, the reimbursement may be excludable from your taxable income as a working condition fringe benefit; if you pay out of pocket, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the federal deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses, and that change was made permanent.¹¹

1
Justia. Illinois Code 225 ILCS 447 – Article 35 Business Practice Provisions
2
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 225 ILCS 447/35-30
3
Justia. Illinois Code 430 ILCS 65 – Firearm Owners Identification Card Act
4
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 430 ILCS 65 – Firearm Owners Identification Card Act
5
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Open Letter to All Federal Firearms Licensees
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 Unlawful Acts
7
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code Title 68 Section 1240.510 – Firearm Training Course
8
Legal Information Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 68 Section 1240.510 – Firearm Training Course
9
Legal Information Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 68 Section 1240.530 – Firearm Control Cards
10
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Application for Firearm Control Card
11
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15-B (2026) Employers Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits