Trip to Indiana and Illinois..what to do.

[Barbara]

I'm going to try to make a trip to western Indiana/Eastern Illinois next month and since I'll be either traveling alone or with a kiddo, I don't really want to go unarmed. I'm not going to be near any major cities, so will probably be staying at whatever variety of local motel is available. I'm going to assume they won't have a safe.

Are there any circumstances at all when you can travel in Illinois with a firearm? I'll be driving a minivan, so locking it in the trunk isn't really an option.

 

[iamkris]

In Illinois the firearm needs to be "not readily accessible" and unloaded. To carry it any other way you risk severe fines and punishment

 

[Barbara]

That'd be ok. I don't even mind locking it into a case..I'll only be 10-20 miles into Illinois, but its a pretty long drive to get there and I'd prefer not to travel alone unarmed.

 

[Don Gwinn]

The gun must be unloaded and in a case, OR it must be broken down into a non-functioning state (i.e. stripped) OR it must be inaccessible to anyone in the vehicle.

Technically, it's been pretty strongly established that you can carry a gun in a fanny pack on your belt as long as the ammunition is not actually loaded into the gun, but most law enforcement officers have not gotten that memo yet and it's still quite easy to spend a few thousand dollars and a lot of time in Illinois proving that you're right about the law.

If you want to be armed, at the very least have an unloaded gun in an impressive case. The loaded magazine can be in the case right next to it, just not in the gun. Again, it's up to you to judge how likely it is that "your" police officer will know that. They're not lawyers, and half the lawyers in this state wouldn't know either.
If it's not so important to be armed as you travel, you can put it in the trunk and be absolutely safe, because you'd have to meet a true SOB to want to make trouble for you then, and he'd never find out you had the gun unless you let him search the car anyway.

Don't consent to searches for anything.

If you're staying somewhere for the night, you have the same rights you'd have in your home in Illinois, with the single exception that you don't need a FOID as a non-resident. You can keep your firearm loaded and readily at hand if you like.

Hey, did I mention not to consent to searches? This has nothing to do with the law--I expect you to follow the law. It has to do with managing the police officer's perception of the law. You aren't just trying to stay out of prison, you're trying to avoid getting into a legal debate with a police officer on the side of the road.

After all that, come on in and have fun! Illinois doesn't really look like Mordor, we just have silly gun laws. Mostly nice folks, though.

 

[Gray Peterson]

Illinois is a bad place to carry, but Indiana should be ok as long as you possess a permit to carry from any state. Do you have a permit?

 

[Trebor]

Indiana is cool. They recognize our CPL, as you probably already know.

I'd be very, very careful in Illinois though. They aren't the most gun friendly state and there is no provision for legal CCW. I can't think of any way to have a gun accessible in any sort of usuable condition while you are driving, but you could have it for when you stop for the night. Just don't try to carry concealed.

And, for God's sake, stay far away from Chicago with any handgun.

 

[Barbara]

I don't mind not carrying in Illinois but its a long trip there. I'll be happy as long as I can have it from Michigan to the Illinois line. I was under the impression I needed a FOID card to even have one in my vehicle there, if I wasn't driving straight through.

Not Chicago..Vermilion County. I'd planned on staying the night in Crawfordsville, IN, although maybe I'll change my mind if I can keep a firearm in my motel room in Illinois.

Thanks for the help, all.

 

[Erich]

Don't give anti-gun IL one penny

Drive straight through without stopping (gun locked and unloaded in a case in the back), and spend your money in gun-friendly IN. That's what I did this summer.

Sorry, Illiani. I was born there, but your government is such that I don't see a reason to do business there. Fix it, please.

 

[sctman800]

Vermilion county is my home, not bad about guns but you must still be careful and follow the laws. First and foremost carefully follow all traffic laws and you shouldn't ever come on contact with any LEO. Packing.org is always a good source of info before traveling but anyone coming to Illinois should also check www.gunssavelife.com this is the Champaign County Rifle Association. They are very active and have a very informative web site. Once there check out "transporting your gun legaly" and "six seconds to safety". In fact they should be required reading for anyone coming to Illinois. If you are heading for Danville there is some nasty construction detours getting off I74 at route 1 going north, be careful and safe trip. Jim.

 

[HankB]

Hmmm . . . be sure there are no "pro gun" or political bumper stickers on the minivan - more than amost anything else, you want to be sure you maintain a low profile. (This also means no NRA caps or jackets or anything of the sort.)

I've often thought one of those locking pistol vaults would be good for a vehicle. As has already been said one should NEVER consent to a search . . . but if you had one of those pistol vaults bolted down in your minivan and it was locked when Officer Not-So-Friendly comes across it during a search you didn't consent to, it would be prudent to NOT accede to his demand that you open it, or answer any questions about its contents.

Probably some attorney here could chime in and explain what the legal ramifications are if an LEO damages a locked case during a warrantless search you didn't consent to, or takes you into custody for refusing to open a locked case when the LEO has no warrant.

And once again, maintain a low profile.

 

[Barbara]

I'm a 36 year old woman in a minivan. I'd have to go out of my way to be conspicuous.

 

[Stand_Watie]

anyone coming to Illinois should also check www.gunssavelife.com this is the Champaign County Rifle Association. They are very active and have a very informative web site. Once there check out "transporting your gun legaly" and "six seconds to safety". In fact they should be required reading for anyone coming to Illinois. If you are heading for Danville there is some nasty construction detours getting off I74 at route 1 going north, be careful and safe trip. Jim

I saw their Burma shave style pro-gun signs in cornfields along 57 the summer before last and was pleasantly surprised. Now I wished I'd taken a picture.

 

[Barbara]

I'm going to the Catlin area but will probably end up in Danville.

If anyone is in the area maybe we could get a small group around for lunch or something.

 

[Jeff White]

Barbara,
I'm a peace officer in Illinois. You have been given some good advice. I'm about 100 miles from Danville (I'm south) and working 8p-4a starting Friday night. If you get a group together, I'd drive up if I could fit it into my schedule.

Last November the Illinois Supreme court essentially ended criminal patrol and drug interdiction activites in the state with two rulings that greatly limit the circumstances in which an officer can ask for consent to search and ask for ID from other then driver in the vehicle.

I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but your chances of running into the stereotypical jackbooted thug and being detained and searched are pretty small.

HankB, Many of my fellow officers here have NRA and pro second amendment stickers on their personal vehicles. It's really not the kind of thing that attracts unwanted attention around here....

Jeff

 

[Houndawg]

Gimme a break. It isn't that bad driving through Illinois with a gun. Just make sure it's unloaded and put it in a case. Don't worry about pro-gun or political stickers. Just drive like a normal human and you'll have no troubles. The cops aren't going to jump all over you if you have a cased gun in the car. I know plenty of cops and they all say that they realize travelers carry guns for protection and they don't fret over it. Just stay out of Chicago.

People make you think if you get near Illinois with a gun the cops will track you down. It's a bunch of bull.

Illinois outside of Chicago isn't a bad place.

 

[mack69]

RE:

Barbara, all info given is good not gonna rehash it...houndawg is right....it ain't an automatic jail sentence for you to have a firearm in your car in Illinois. You being the mom with a kid in the minivan is about as unobtrusive as you can get. And in the part of Illinois you will be in you should have no worries. Chicago....now that's a whole nuther story. As far as having a loaded gun or being armed while in your hotel/motel room... IIRC it is considered the same as your home or property, you can carry freely inside your room....Enjoy your trip...be safe.....mack

 

[LynnKCircle]

Having read this thread, I just have to chime in since long ago and far away I went to 8th grade and high school in Danville, Illinois.

HOW long ago and far away? Well, consider this: on Saturdays and Sundays iat the age of 13, a friend and I could walk downtown carrying .22 rifles. One of us would wait outside of Osco's drug store with the guns while the other one went in and bought a couple hundred rounds of ammunition. (Osco's was the cheapest place to purchase it. If I remember correctly, it was something like $.49 per box of 50.

Then we would walk a couple of miles out into the country to where my father had his junk yard. Since it would be closed, we'd use the old wrecked cars or whatever as targets.

Only one time I can remember ever getting stopped by a cop. He asked us if the rifles were unloaded and where we were going. He took a quick look at one of the rifles and then told us to be careful and sent us on our way.

During my junior year in high school I took a semester of riflery in lieu of PE. I don't remember where we actually shot, but it may have been an indoor range of the local armory.

In the fall of 1961 I left Danville to volunteer for a job with Unca Sammy. When I got out I spent a year at Danville Junior College. With my father's help, I had enough money to buy the most basic version of a Volkswagen Beetle. That relates to this because a few months after getting it, I traded a shotout P38 for a car radio in a downtown shop. Again, no one thought twice about such a transaction - and that was after Kennedy's assassination. (But even though that P38 had almost a smoothbore barrel, it WAS originally a WWII bring back. I have to wonder how much it would be worth today??)

In most ways I really think we are generally a better nation and people now than we were forty-odd years ago. But it's a shame and a pity that the people of Illinois have traded their sense of individual responsibility and Second Amendment rights for a bowl of rotting porridge. I haven't been back there since 1976. I now doubt that I would ever go, especially since after living in Texas for the past 36 years, and since 1996 with a CHL, I no longer feel comfortable "leaving home without it."

Thanks for having let an old fart spout off. (You decide which end was doing the talking!)