Driving though Illinois

[Mickster]

In about a month I'll be heading from the Rocky Mountain 3-gun to northern Michigan for a family re-union with all my 3-gun gear in the truck. Sometimes a carry permit can be helpful in case of a traffic stop and explaining why all the equipment. Am I wrong but it seems Illinois is a bit paranoid when it comes to private ownership of firearms.

As I see it my options are:

1) Drive around Illinois. (Not likely)

2) Just get through and don't make any stops. (Most Likely)

Any other helpful hints, tips and suggestions or should I just not worry about it?

[foxriver6]

No worries! just make sure they are cased and unloaded, and ammo separated from firearms and you are GTG!

[MrVvrroomm]

Drive around Illinois.

[GmanCdp]

http://isp.state.il.us/docs/ptfire.pdf

And this from the NRA web site..

ILLINOIS— As of this writing, Illinois is the only state in the nation without a lawful means of carrying a usable and readily-accessible handgun about one’s person.. In addition, several overlapping state statutes restrict the transport of firearms in vehicles. Non-residents who are traveling through Illinois and whose itinerary does not allow them to take advantage of FOPA should have a valid Illinois Firearm Owners Identification Card (FOID) or a valid firearm license or registration from another state and should keep any firearms unloaded and cased; store ammunition in a separate, closed container; and transport both firearms and ammunition in as inaccessible a location within the vehicle as possible.

Illinois also allows localities to enact firearms restrictions greater than those imposed by state law, and a number of jurisdictions have done so, including Aurora, Chicago, Cook County, Evanston, and Oak Park. In addition to the steps mentioned above, travelers may want to transport their firearms in a broken down, non-functioning state when traveling through these jurisdictions. Chicago’s Municipal Code also contains a rebuttable presumption that any person in the city for more than 24 hours is not engaged in interstate travel and is subject to all local laws and requirements regarding the possession of firearms and ammunition.

Travelers should also be aware that several of these jurisdictions ban specific types of firearms, ammunition, ammunition feeding devices, and/or firearm accessories. Chicago, for example, bans handguns declared “unsafe” by the Superintendent of the Department of Police, so-called “assault weapons,” machine guns and other firearms regulated under the National Firearms Act, “laser sight accessories,” firearm silencers or “mufflers,” “high-capacity” (i.e., more than 12-round) magazines, and “metal piercing bullets” (which include ammunition with non-lead projectiles). All these items are subject to seizure and forfeiture. In some cases, the local ordinances have no explicit exceptions to these bans for travelers merely passing through the jurisdiction.

Travelers planning extended stops in any of these jurisdictions should contact local authorities for more detailed information and proceed with caution.