[Baron]

Hey all - unfortunately I do have to drive from TN to IL for a few days. I'd rather not be completely unarmed for the entire trip. I know that if I even think about an assembled firearm, or the Constitution, while in IL I will likely never see the rolling green hills of Tennessee again.

BUT - what are my options? Could I take a pistol or long gun on the trip, and just be sure everything's separated/locked/cased etc. before I cross into IL?

Thanks.

[floorit76]

I live here. As long as it's cased and unloaded you should be ok. Things are changing here, slowly.

[Baron]

Great. Thanks for the reply, floorit - I sure appreciate it. We sure are thinking about you all - really hope some of this positive momentum will create some changes for you all.

Since I now have a man on the inside, a few questions. I'm accustomed to having a pistol as well as my truck gun, which is a Kel-Tec S2000 with a few 33-rd. mags. Would the Illinois Politburo take exception to 33-round mags? Is that just over the line of too much freedom?

Thanks again.

[floorit76]

Not that I know of. But I stay out here in the rural areas. Where abouts you headed? If it's near Chicago I would be very careful. But anywhere in the sticks is pretty laid back. Don't leave them out in plain view if you are pulled over, I've never been asked if I had anything if pulled over....yet. I carry a Marlin papoose just about everywhere my truck goes.

[C0untZer0]

http://www.isp.state.il.us/docs/1-154.pdf

[MedWheeler]

If it were me, I wouldn't take any gun I'd miss if it were confiscated.. If you do run afoul but manage to avoid arrest, at least you wouldn't be out much. Buy an inexpensive .22 or something, if you don't already have one.
I took a road trip with my now ex-wife just after the FOPA went into effect, and many cops around the country hadn't gotten word, I guess. I was a cop, and a buddy of mine was a firefighter. He took essentially the same trip a few months earlier, and lost a then-new Grendel P10 to an Illinois agency. His profession kept his butt in the seat of his own car instead of the agency's. So, I got a little paranoid, and traveled with the cheapest piece I had at the time, a Jennings J-22.
Kind of also depends on what you intend to do with the gun while in Illinois. If it's just for defense of wherever you are bunking, then you certainly shouldn't need your 33-rounders. But, if you intend to do some recreational shooting there, your needs/desires may differ.

[wildbilll]

Great. Thanks for the reply, floorit - I sure appreciate it. We sure are thinking about you all - really hope some of this positive momentum will create some changes for you all.

Since I now have a man on the inside, a few questions. I'm accustomed to having a pistol as well as my truck gun, which is a Kel-Tec S2000 with a few 33-rd. mags. Would the Illinois Politburo take exception to 33-round mags? Is that just over the line of too much freedom?

Thanks again.
There are no magazine restrictions in IL, outside of Cook County

[Trent]

I live in IL and was on vacation recently in NC for a couple of weeks. When I was on the way home, I had to stop at the state line unload my 9mm.

Center console or glovebox, unloaded, is fine. Supreme court ruling in IL allows for it. Just make sure the magazine is NOT in the weapon. Does NOT have to be in a case, just in a closed compartment.

[langenc]

When I need to traverse IL I do the following:

use the restroom before entering IL,

get a burger

gas up vehicle

drive and make sure my soles dont touch IL pavement..

If all the above come off I have made another successful trip..

[C0untZer0]

People v. Holmes, Ill. Supreme Court, Docket # 109130, Opinion filed 4/7/11. The defendant owner/driver of a motor vehicle, an Indiana resident who had been issued a carry license by his home state, was stopped by Chicago police officers for a traffic violation. Pursuant to a search, a 9 mm handgun was recovered from a backseat armrest of the car. The Court noted that “[t]he armrest separated the two back seats and contained a storage compartment that closed with a latch. The compartment could be folded up into the seat or left in a down position.

Illinois State Supreme Court found for the defendant in this case.

http://www.state.il.us/court/opinions/SupremeCourt/2011/April/109130.pdf

Also: The Illinois Supreme Court ruled on 10/8/2009 (Docket # 106367) that the Center Console of a vehicle was a case and an unloaded firearm could be carried in the closed Center Console.

http://www.state.il.us/court/opinions/supremecourt/2009/october/106367.pdf

[ilbob]

Sadly, the places you are likely to need it the most are the places where you are likely to get the most flack from LE over it (mostly Chicago and Cook County).

I do not know if there is a perfect answer for you.

[Trent]

CountZero- that's exactly how I manage to carry in my car here in IL. Even practice loading & firing at the range FROM the car, just to make sure I can do it without, you know, shooting my windshield or something stupid if I tried to do it in a hurry.

I dropped from a 45 to a 9mm in the car because, frankly, I couldn't hit jack squat with a 45 while seated inside the automobile. Guess my arms aren't tree-trunk enough. :)

[Trent]

swinokur, I believe the 308 round they saw in the ashtray was cited as PC. The fact that I was driving down the interstate in the middle of the night, while speeding in a Z28, didn't help my cause. (Was going out there to work on a computer network that was down, the following morning)

It was amazing to see how much they overreacted off of one cartridge, sure, but it could have been worse, if they'd managed to open the briefcase. I honestly didn't know at the time if I'd remembered to unload the Glock 21 before I left. (It turns out I had, but at the time, I wasn't sure; would have been arrested if it was.)

I've also had friends arrested (one of them *3* times) for carrying unloaded guns in their pickup trucks, properly cased. The thing is, the cop can arrest you if he feels you've violated the law - then leave it up to the states attorney or judge to drop it. If you get popped on a Friday evening, as one of my friends was, you get to spend the weekend in jail - for nothing. (In all of those cases the charges were dropped, and the guns EVENTUALLY returned.)

Illinois sucks. Not gonna lie. I hate living here.

[Trent]

Rest of my "travel to Illinois" story is here.. went to wrong thread. having issues posting apparently. :(

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=669406

[clamman]

A couple years ago I traveled through chicago by motorcycle. Before I crossed into the state I put my 357 in my tail bag, and the ammo in a saddlebag. Rode right through on Lakeshore Drive with no issues.

[Baron]

Made it there and back! You can bet that once I crossed back over into America, I pulled over at the first exit to rearm. Ah, freedom.

[Trent]

Baron, congratulations on making it through your first trip through the "occupied zone".

Now remember...


The chair is against the wall.

John has a long mustache.

[Baron]

LOL!!!

[rem44m]

I went to Illinois once, after 3 days there I decided it's not for me :barf:

I hope things change there soon.

[rodinal220]

Get a combination lock type pistol vault/strongbox.I do not recommend one with a key because a key can be taken from you and used to open the then reported "open" container. In Illinois you need a search warrant to open locked containers in a vehicle,unless its a consent to search(NO).

You may have the ammo and pistol in the same container,just not loaded ready to go.Sanitize your vehicle.No NRA stickers or gun,hunting,fishing anything on your vehicle. Keep a tidy interior and wash your car. Make sure everything works and all plates/stickers are current.

Illinois is a police State and in the Chicago metro area you have hundreds of PDs looking for revenue or to stop a car to get a tick mark on the ol activity sheet.If stopped be polite,act a lil scared(what did I do??? Oh ok ,I'm sorry,didn't realize) and take the ticket and say thank you.

Keep your hunting/fishing/CCW licenses in a separate wallet and not the one that contains your DL/Insurance.

[Neo-Luddite]

Glad trip went OK. You know, we ALL know, Illinois sucks. But I wouldn't get too jazzed over it. Things are getting better here by degrees thanks in part to Heller and the actions of the ISRA and similar groups.

[C0untZer0]

Many of the bad municipal laws were done away with by the Hale DeMar Act.

http://reason.com/archives/2005/06/01/self-defense-vsmunicipal-gun-b

Hopefully by next Thursday the Illinois UUW law will be ruled unconstitutional and a lot of the remaining anti-gun muicipal codes will be swept away.

[Deanimator]

Your "options" are:

Be a victim.
Don't go.

[Trent]

CountZero - if that happens, I'd be very surprised. Shocked, even.