Trip to Chicago. What's the best thing I can carry?

"....what's the best thing I can carry?"

Probably your wits. Not sure, but don't think they've outlawed that yet.

When we went DT for a theater evening I carryed pepper spray and my pocket knife (3" folder) everywhere. I knew most buildings wouldn't allow ccw inside so it stayed in the hotel safe... the sears tower took my pepper spray but left me my knife. Go figure!

I dont know of any restrictions on pepper spray or normal sized pocket knives.

milemaker13 said:

the sears tower took my pepper spray but left me my knife. Go figure!

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Rules don't have to make sense to the majority of us and I seriously wonder about them making sense to the people who write and pass them, other than the dog and pony show of "Doing something about ________ ."
When I was in the army and living in the barracks I had to keep my personal firearm in the arms room (logical) as well as my fencing saber, however I was allowed my 12' bullwhip in the room as a decoration.
I agree, go figure....

Chicago?

A SAW and 5000 rounds!!

bring a cane. no one messes with the handicapped.

here are some tidbits from the chicago municipal ordinances.

8-24-010 Discharging cannons.
No cannon or piece of artillery shall be discharged or fired off in any public way or other public place within the city, except upon the express permission of the city council.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be fined not less than $500.00 nor more than $1,000.00 for each offense.

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So it is not illegal to bring your cannon with you as long as you do not discharge it.

8-24-020 Sale or possession of deadly weapons.
(a) No person shall sell, offer for sale, keep, possess, purchase, loan or give to any person any bludgeon, blackjack, slung shot, sandclub, sandbag, metal knuckles, or other knuckle weapon regardless of its composition, throwing star, switchblade knife or ballistic knife; provided that this subsection shall not apply to the purchase, possession or carrying of a black- jack or slung shot by a peace officer.

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So none of these items.

(b) No person shall sell, offer for sale, loan or give to any person 18 years of age or under any type or kind of knife with a blade which is two inches in length or longer.
(c) No person 18 years of age or under shall carry, possess or conceal on or about his person, any knife, the blade of which is two inches in length or longer.

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If you are over 18 these would not seem to apply to you.

(d) No person shall carry or possess with intent to use unlawfully against another, or carry in a threatening or menacing manner, without authority of law, a dagger, billy, dangerous knife, razor, broken bottle or other piece or glass, stun gun, taser, or other dangerous or deadly weapon of like character.

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The key is the phrase "intent to use unlawfully". incidentally while it does not appear to be against the chicago ordinances, I believe tasers and stun guns are prohibited for carry by Illinois state law.

(e) No person shall carry on or about his person or in any vehicle, a tear gas gun projector or bomb or any object containing noxious liquid gas or substance, other than an object containing a non-lethal noxious liquid gas or substance designed solely for personal defense carried by a person 18 years of age or older; provided that this subsection shall not apply to any person listed in section 5/24-2(a)(1)-(14) of the Criminal Code, 720 ILCS 5/24-2(a).

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It would appear mace or tear gas is OK.

(f) No person shall carry concealed on or about his person a dagger, any knife with a blade more than two and one-half inches in length, or other dangerous weapon. Provided, however, that this provision shall not apply to the following officers while engaged in the discharge of their official duties: sheriffs, peace officers, and corrections officers; nor to the following employees or agents while engaged in the discharge of the duties of their employment: conductors, baggagemen, messengers, drivers, watchmen, special agents and policemen employed by railroads or express companies; nor to persons lawfully summoned by an officer to assist in making arrests or preserving the peace, while so engaged in assisting such officer.

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No daggers and no knives with blades over 2.5 inches. and no dangerous weapons, whatever that means. I seem to recall there was a case many years ago where the courts ruled on just what a "dangerous weapon" was. I don't recall off hand just what it was they ruled.

Spyderco "Chicago" is legal, but kinda useless.
2" blade, which is measured bolster to point. Not just the cutting edge.

Glock 23. I'd go as an outlaw.

Do you have to go to chicago? It's a dump.

Life insurance.

Mauser lover said:

Actually... Just found out that I had the location wrong. I'm actually going to Ohio. And my CCDW permit is good, so I'm taking my Shield .45.

Thanks for the help though, was just starting to dig into the Chicago municipal code armed with the quotes give above when I realized what was wrong.

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• Remember, Ohio is a "shall notify" state.
• It's legal to carry in liquor serving establishments so long as you don't consume alcohol and the establishment isn't posted. None of the sit-down restaurants I patronize are posted.
  
• Posted prohibitions carry the force of law. Parking lots, if posted, are only civil trespass.

Other than that, you should be fine.

A cartridge that starts with (or is bigger than) the number '4'.

Like 40mm

Mauser lover said:

Oh, good grief. Back to the discharging the cannon thing, I see!

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I was just joshin'.

I was there a year ago to see my brother graduate from Basic and we went into Chicago for a while.

Keep your eyes up and looking around, Keep an eye out, Travel in a group. You should be fine.

Heads up, though: Toll roads EVERYWHERE.

ETA: I flew out there so I didn't even have a pocket knife. I did have a hard plastic water bottle, though.

Wow, with all those laws, Chicago must be a very safe place!

[/sarcasm]

Mauser lover said:

Trip to Chicago. What's the best thing I can carry?

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A ticket with a connection to another city...

A return ticket.

Large bills.
In Chicago, you can buy your way out of anything!
Right Jussie?

John_R said:

Wow, with all those laws, Chicago must be a very safe place!

[/sarcasm]

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Actually the majority of Chicagoland is very safe with little crime. There are over 200 municipalities with 9.5 million people which make up the city and surrounding suburbs. The bad neighborhoods are awful, but very much concentrated unto themselves. When you see the crime stats and hear about daily shootings, they are generally isolated to a dozen or so communities which pretty much all the locals know and avoid.

For tourists the city is as safe as any other large metro area. If you are cabbing or Uber between major attractions like the museums, shopping areas, sports venues, or the main business and restaurant districts chances of encountering street criminals is minimal. There is a lot of police and private security around.

Unfortunately there are bad areas in close proximity to the airports (mostly because anyone with money refused to live around the noise and traffic decades ago, so the poor got left behind and no one is really working to improve those areas), so it isn't super hard for people picking up a rental to get lost and end up where they don't feel safe.

That said, the vast majority of the areas in and around the city are nice, albeit expensive. I lived in the burbs and worked in the city for a long time. I wasn't worried about my kids in our neighborhood or schools. Going downtown for events was fun and safe. It was rare we felt like being armed was important, and frankly if you were contemplating danger like that then you were doing something or going somewhere you shouldn't.

ilbob said:

No daggers and no knives with blades over 2.5 inches. and no dangerous weapons, whatever that means. I seem to recall there was a case many years ago where the courts ruled on just what a "dangerous weapon" was. I don't recall off hand just what it was they ruled.

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A dangerous weapon generally can be anything used to harm in a crime, I've seen a car declared a dangerous weapon when it was used to intentionally run someone down. Same as a regular screwdriver can be classified as a burglar's tool when it's used to pry open a window.

illinoisburt said:

Actually the majority of Chicagoland is very safe with little crime.

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That apparently doesn't include Michigan Ave. and the lakeside parks during the summer time.

What self-defense advice do you have for an out of towner who makes those dubious choices of time and place?