I will be traveling by car this holiday season to visit my parents in S. Illinois. My CCW is valid in all the states I'm going through, except of course, my destination. The IL state police FAQ has a section saying that, if you are hunting in IL as an out-of-stater (and thus lack an FOID), you can bring your gun into the state, you just have to abide by all the other rules (eg, cased, in the trunk, unloaded).
Does anyone know of any info about handguns? I was planning on carrying until I reach Eastern MO, then putting my pistol in a case in the trunk, unloaded, and maybe even field stripping it, as well.
IL gun laws are scattered all over the place, and some of it is written in confusing and unclear prose.
There are at least four chunks of code at issue.
The FOID card act. As a non-resident, you are not eligible for one, so its not much of an issue legally.
The UUW laws. These prohibit you from carrying around a gun except in specific ways or places. The operative things for you passing though are these exceptions to the general rule that you can't have a gun out in public:
(a) (10) does not apply to or affect transportation of weapons that meet one of the following conditions:
(i) are broken down in a non‑functioning state;
or
(ii) are not immediately accessible; or
(iii) are unloaded and enclosed in a case, firearm carrying box, shipping box, or other container by a person who has been issued a currently valid Firearm Owner's Identification Card.
Since you don't have a FOID card, you are not eligible under (iii) and have to deal with (i) or (ii).
As bizarre as it may sound, you also have to worry about the Wildlife code that has a tidbit in it about the type of case the gun has to be in while it is in a vehicle and requires it to be unloaded.
Lastly, you cannot take it to any public place without written permission. Even a public parking lot probably qualifies under this strange rule.
Best bet is unload it, put it in a recognizable gun case, make sure the case is closed and completely encloses the gun and is strapped, snapped, or whatever closed, and hide it as far away from any one in the car as you can.
Chances are you will get through IL without any real trouble. However, there are places like Chicago where you just do not know what a cop that stops you is likely to do. Most of the time, you do some speeding, you just get a ticket. But Chicago has some cops that are out of control. Best to not give them any reason, for them to think they can get you for anything.
It is just best to obey the various traffic laws and pass though without making waves.
