Moving to Chicago from Texas

[Narwhal]

Hi,

I am being forced to move from Houston to Chicago. I don't like it but if I want to keep my job it has to happen. What can I keep, what do I have to leave here? I keep everything in an 800 lb gun safe if it matters. Thanks for the help. I'm aware that you need an "FOID" for illinois, does this still apply if I plan on keeping a Texas address as my primary residence? In that case, am I forbidden from bringing any firearms into the state of Illinois? I'm hoping the move won't be for more than 6 months.

Here is my current firearm inventory:

Handguns:
S&W M&P .40 compact
S&W M&P .40 full size
S&W M&P .40 pro 4.25"
S&W M&P .40 pro 5" (2x)
S&W 22a
S&W M&P R8 327 .357 magnum
S&W M&P 340 .357 magnum
H&K USP 40 compact

Shotguns:

Remington 870 wingmaster 26"
Remington 870 express 18" with 6 shot magazine
Beretta A391 Xtrema2 24"
Mossberg 930 SPX 18" with 7 shot magazine

Rifles:

LRB Arms M14sa With flash suppressor and 15x 20 round magaizines
Marlin 795 22a with 6x 10 round magazines

 

[CoRoMo]

You'll be able to bring some of them for sure. Look into the FOID program.

Any chance of living outside of the city?

 

[fractal7]

First question would be are you moving to within the Chicago city limits, just within the Cook County limits or to Illinois but not Chicago/Cook County. The rules get less strict as you get further out from the city.

 

[CoRoMo]

Indiana is only minutes away.

 

[Prince Yamato]

Living in Chicago doesn't mean you have to live in Chicago. Pick a suburb that doesn't have bans, move there, commute to work. Millions of people do just that.

 

[JoeMal]

Indiana is only minutes away.

This. I would recommend finding a place in Indiana and commuting to work if at all possible

See info regarding FOIDs HERE. Apply for a FOID HERE. You pay $10 for a 10 year card that allows you to purchase firearms and ammunition (Yes, you have to have it to buy ammo, which may/may not affect you)

 

[snubbies]

Moving

Advice to not move to Chicago is a good one. Where is you new work located?? There are a multitude of suburbs with no restrictions and excellent housing and transportation. Let us know where new job is located and I will give you examples. Lived here all of my many years.

 

[Narwhal]

I'll be working at O'hare and MUST be within 2 hours driving time but would prefer to be within 45 minutes.

 

[Yarddog]

Sorry to hear that, Best of LUCK ; )
Y/D

 

[BikerNut]

I'll be working at O'hare and MUST be within 2 hours driving time but would prefer to be within 45 minutes.

Move to Des Plaines. Very liberal gun laws (home rule), and you'll be 5 minutes from O'Hare.

 

[rikman]

If you're working at ORD you have LOTS of choices. 7 miles west is Schaumburg. Expensive no gun bans and 10.25% sales tax thanks to Chicago. Avoid Chicago ,the traffic sucks! You drive to Houston faster. Anyway, back to topic. You can go anywhere north or dupage or Kane ,mchenry co. I'm in Kane ,lower taxes, gun ranges,shops, no bans and about 45 minutes to ORD.

IF you're staying a TX resident, you don't need a foid. It's only for IL residents. You have to follow what ever your home states laws are. No CCW obviously here. I have to warn you though you will run into a lot of ignorance from kids working at gun shops,walmart,etc if trying to buy ammo. They are like monkeys and only know how to repeat " foid please" they don't know the law.
I ran into this as a FL resident with a house in IL too and LEO credentials.

Shoot me a pm if you need more info.

Cheers Rikman

 

[Lucky Derby]

Indiana is only minutes away.

That was my first thought.

 

[snubbies]

DesPlaines

DesPlaines is about the best bet. A considerable number of air line people live there. I spent 34 years at O'hare and lived in desPlaines for a portion of that time. Schaumburg is expensive in capital letters. There are other towns ie. Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights , Any town West or North of O'hare is a good bet. Rush Hour traffic is simialr to other major cites so you don't want to live or work East of O'hare

 

[medalguy]

Give me your guns and they stay in Texas.

 

[okonokos]

Fellow jetlinker huh? Just commute and crashpad it.

 

[wyocarp]

Sounds like some good advise from members on here. Let me ask some of you, the state of Illinois says "The FOID card is required for any resident of Illinois to possess or purchase firearms."

How are temporary residents affected?
Or non-residents?

Certainly this is addressed or people could just move to Illinois never claim to be a resident and never need a FOID card to have a firearm.

 

[Narwhal]

Fellow jetlinker huh? Just commute and crashpad it.

You caught me. I have no idea if I'll hold a line or not, I don't think I can tolerate commuting to reserve. Did it for 3 years then moved to houston 2 months ago to avoid it. Some timing eh?

I'll look int Des Plaines, thanks for the recommendations.

 

[xcgates]

I am in San Antonio, I can make it to Houston in no time flat, just let me know, and I'm at your service for babysitting a gun or two...

 

[okonokos]

Des Plaines is really close to the airport, and not a bad place to be. If you're a Gxxxx or a Txxxx you should be a lineholder. I'm a U2xxx and bidding 23 in the secondary... PM me if you want, I commute so the guns stay home (KY) but there are some places that are gun OK (wouldn't call them friendly...) within 2 hours of the airport. Plus, the city wide handgun ban was over turned (last I heard) and only applied to the city limits of Chicago anyway. Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, and several other NW suburbs are not in the city limits.

The FOID is only required if you establish residency in IL, IIRC you can buy ammo with your out of state drivers license and no FOID. I'm not positive on that though, last time I bought ammo was in southern Ill. and was years ago. PM me if you want, my girlfriend lives up here and I am here a lot.

 

[Narwhal]

I'm a G47XX Captain, so I'd expect to be a lineholder but who knows. I don't know if the pseudo-LEO credentials many of us get as a souvenir from going to new mexico for vacation would help at all with the FOID stuff.

 

[Onward Allusion]

I'll be working at O'hare and MUST be within 2 hours driving time but would prefer to be within 45 minutes.

Ya know, there are some decent places to live just across the border where you can still CC.

 

[mstrat]

Cook county (and former Chicago) resident here. Here are the main points to consider.

First, and most important, ORD is NOT in Chicago. And there are a lot of suburban towns around it that you can live in.

The reason this is important is because Chicago has registration requirements that are a SEVERE pain in the rear: lots of trips back and forth to the police station downtown (and no, you can't go to your neighborhood precinct) and they're only open during business hours so you WILL miss work, several times if you work a day shift.

Chicago registration is also very expensive.

You may also only have one operable firearm in your house at any given time. If you have multiple firearms they must be "rendered inoperable."

This might not seem like a huge deal, but it is. Of the estimated 10,000-250,000 otherwise-legal firearms owners, only a few hundred have registered with the city.

So in short - don't live in the city. Your commute will actually be LONGER if you do.

Second, live in Dupage or Kane county if you can (as opposed to Cook). You will have lower taxes, plus you will avoid the "Assault" weapons ban. If you must live in Cook county, your M14 will probably not be legal. I strongly advise you to check the details of Cook's AWB before bringing any rifles.

Cook county also bans magazines with capacities greater than 10 rounds, however I have *never* heard of it being enforced. Even the (albeit few) gun shops in Cook sell large capacity magazines to cook residents. I even once pointed out "hey, I live here in Cook, can I get this gun with a 15 rd mag?" and they said "of course. Nobody cares about that".
So in my opinion you can safely ignore this, however if you want to follow the letter of the law, do not bring any large capacity magazines.

...

Now.. all that being said: If you move to Dupage county or Kane county, you don't have to worry about any of this nonsense.

 

[mstrat]

Ya know, there are some decent places to live just across the border where you can still CC.

To be perfectly clear if you're not familiar with this area - he/she is referring to the Indiana border.
However, DO NOT cross the border carrying a loaded or unencased firearm.

Also the commute from Indiana to Ohare is a PAIN, to say the least. I'd advise against it.

 

[mstrat]

I addressed Cook county and the city of Chicago.. but let me also make a few notes about IL in general.

Firearms must always be in a case and unloaded unless you are on your own property, or on somebody elses' private property who have given you permission (e.g. a friend's house or the gun range).
This is taken VERY seriously in IL, and violators are charged with UUW 99% of the time.

If you might be here for a while and want to help in our fight to bring the Right To Carry to IL, I strongly urge you head over to the forums at http://illinoiscarry.com/
as well as join the ISRA (IL State Rifle Assoc.)

Now.. as horrible as most of our gun laws are, I will say that our home defense laws are good. In your home: No duty to retreat, authorized to use lethal force if you fear for your life or can reasonably assume the intruder is going to commit a felony in your home, intruder assailants (or anyone on their behalf) cannot file suit against you for doing them harm.

 

[mstrat]

I'm a G47XX Captain, so I'd expect to be a lineholder but who knows. I don't know if the pseudo-LEO credentials many of us get as a souvenir from going to new mexico for vacation would help at all with the FOID stuff.

FOID applications don't require any training or credentials. The IL State Police simply check that you are not a person prohibitied from firearms ownership (e.g. felon, mental problems, etc).
That being said, I don't know how they handle it if you keep your legal residence in TX but have a home address here. You should definitely contact the State Police to figure out what to do. Though it probably can't hurt just to mail in the application anyway, so long as you have a home address in IL.

http://www.isp.state.il.us/foid/