I was wondering about the magazine ban on firearms in particular, but also about firearm bans in general for home rule municipalities within Cook County.
If a home rule municipality in Cook County does not have wording regarding the banning of firearms/related items mentioned in the Cook County restrictions, does that imply that the ban is not valid for those residents or is valid?
Also, does anyone have an official local government link (or search phrase) one within said municipality could reference which lists policies of their home rule municipality?
@Zee The only one I have ever known about is Highland Park, IL Which is in the Northern Suburbs of Chicago on Lake Michigan. Has an AR15 ban. Nobody really pays attention to it but there is a ban on AR15 What the Highland Park town criminal board calls Assault Weapons of War. But let me check I will check and get back to you tonight. There was one last year but the ISRA Fought that and won the battle in court
@Zee Cook Co unenforceable gun and magazine ban has never been enforced by Cook Co authorities to include City of Chicago. Cook has never enforced its assault weapons ban.
There is a lot of confusion here. I live in Western Suburbs (30 miles away from Cook Co.) but have been told recently about magazine capacity limitation in Cook County.
One student from Chicago who attended the same firearm class with me told that even you are NOT Cook Co. resident you can be arrested there for carrying “high capacity” magazine.
But these were words only, I couldn’t find any official information about it.
It is helpful but basically leaves my question unanswered. Unlawful is still unlawful even if not enforced. As a law-abiding citizen and considering the history of prosecutors choices in IL I prefer a more well-rounded understanding of the law pertaining to self defense/home defense and related options. It is very confusing in IL, as it’s my understanding that IL has “home rule” municipalities that can have different/conflicting laws than the counties wherein they reside. Although this might give more control to the local residents, it’s confusing trying to get a clear understanding of what’s legal and what’s not. A trip to Cabelas in Cook County might illustrate my point… although I could always ask them, too… they’re not lawyers though.
Regarding the USCCA class, they said that many Cook County residents rent out storage outside of the county. However, that was related to a discussion of AR ownership, and I don’t own an AR, and it is not really what I’m asking about here (although it relates). Additionally, my question relates to home defense choices, not my CCW.
In my USCCA class, they said that an IL resident with a CCW license had preemption (regarding their carry piece), which meant the licensee was restriced by the IL Constitution rather than the individual city/county restrictions.
However, on a different forum someone mentioned an incidence of Chicago police confiscating 10+ round magazines from an IL CCW license holder when he was pulled over for some traffic violation… handed back the loose ammo and the firearm though. I don’t know if it’s true, but I don’t know how many people would spend $450/hour with a lawyer to get their $40 magazines back.
@Scotty My suggestion to you, I presume that you are a USCCA member right? Because some people here in the Community are not members is why I’m asking, Go to the USCCA App, find the lawyer you previously chose in case you have an incident and make yourself an appointment to go to the attorneys office with your notebook and take your questions along with you. I don’t know exactly where you live except here in IL if you are close by I would go with you, if you’re far away maybe take your wife or a Buddy because sometimes people do forget questions and after you leave the office it’s kind of to late. I’m retired so I’m free most any time. I’m here in Dupage County but I encourage you to call your selected attorney so you can understand crystal clear. Good luck to you Scot.
@Scotty@Jerzees@Zee I can tell you that the Chicago PD are not going to cut anyone any slack because you are supposed to know what laws apply to you if you’re traveling through Chicago Cook Co, the suburbs of Cook or anything because one thing is certain, you are not going to get your gun returned to you if you’re stopped. If you have any incident once you’re processed in the precinct you have to go to Cook County to await trial. I don’t want to scare people but Cook Co is no place you ever want to be. I was born and raised in Chicago South Side in a tough neighborhood and I don’t want to go back ever again to my old Chicago. Last time I was there February 4, 2016 I was shot, lost my left index finger but saved my life. I drove myself to near my house shot and bleeding but the closest hospital to me that day was no good so I drove myself home and went to the ER lucky as my old Irish luck would have it, I had the #1 best hand surgeon in the state. So I lost my index finger but saved my life. Welcome to my first month of being retired at that point. I will not carry my gun in Chicago for any reason. There’s nothing that would ever make me carry a gun in Chicago.
@Robert8 Yes, I am a USCCA member. I occassionally do assessments of risks regarding finances, charity, investments, protection, etc with the changing times. Right now I’m reevaluating some home security and safety measures of which I can spread over a few months while budgeting in maintenance and/or repairs.
My father grew up in Chicago as well, although his family moved around from the southside to the northside throughout as they were renting. I don’t currently carry when I go downtown, but it’s usually to see my doctor at a hospital which is on a college campus. I’m at the age and point in my life where I no longer want to go downtown for social events.
When finances permit me to make changes relative to my home defense firearm, I will look into the option of asking questions at the lawyer’s office I chose and wrote down as “preferred” in the USCCA pamphlet. If/when I do I will give you a heads up, but most likely it won’t be for a few months. Depending on what they charge me for a “talk” it might even push that further down the line.
@Scotty Well bless you Scott, Our Buddy @Zee emailed me your question earlier tonight and I did not read what you said prior to that but I went through it about an hour ago. I thought you were a USCCA instructor. Now I have the whole picture in my mind. Anyway if I was going to guess for IL in this part of the state to go to a lawyer somewhere between $75-$200 per hour. And I have to tell you if you’re not aware I have two friends who had incidents neither involved self defense shootings but did involve guns. Both of them didn’t have any type of membership in anything like USCCA and my one friend said over and over again he would never need a lawyer. Well, good ol’ IL took his CCW, FOID, his guns and his store of ammunition a couple years ago and the judge took away his Second Amendment. My other friend lost her Second Amendment in a misunderstanding with her husband and he called the Chicago PD and got her gun rights stripped away. Whatever I can do to help you Scot feel free.
I recently found some documents which report that in Cook County, which Chicago and several other cities are in, reportedly this particular “county” limits pistol magazines to a max of 10 rounds in semi-autos, and has other strict limits on semi-auto rifles. Is this accurate? Being in Cook, it made me re-think. what I’d purchase. I think that your post warrants research. Feedback and insight on these local regulations or additional related links are more than welcomed/helpful. Thanks.
From my mail-in voting ballot, two polling questions which especially caught my attention were “If those with higher incomes should be taxed higher”, but also interesting to me was the question below on my ballot:
“Should the State of Illinois restrict the sale or possession of firearms that have been defined as assault weapons or of magazines that can hold more than a certain number of rounds of ammunition?”
In my other beliefs to try to mitigate mass shootings, I struggled with that question, despite my owning guns. A beloved civilian relative of mine happened to be involved in a fire-fight with a few armed perps who attacked him. He shared that for him, it made a difference that he had more rounds in his magazine, and believes that was why the shooters subsequently fled the scene.
Link to Chicago Board of Elections for mail order ballots option:
Be EXTREMELY careful of this language which is a slippery slope. People will vote for this bill thinking it only applies to “evil military-style AR-15s” and then will find out that it also applies to their Glock 19, or Sig P365.
I live in Virginia, and this past legislative session the anti-gunners tried very hard to pass an AWB that characterized pretty much any semi-auto as an assault weapon. There is no true definition of an “assault weapon”, so the definition is whatever the legislature decides to make it. My understanding is variations of this bill have been floated in various other states as well.
Virginia’s HB961 tried to define an assault firearm as follows (full legalese is available here scroll down to
“Assault firearm” means:"
Any semi-auto center-fire rifle or pistol with a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 12 rounds
Any semi-auto center-fire rifle or pistol with a detachable magazine AND one or more super common features like a folding stock, threaded barrel, pistol grip, vertical grip, flash suppressor, etc. For pistols, if the weight exceeds 50ounces it is automatically an assault weapon (aimed at AR pistols but inadvertently captures large bore revolvers, Desert Eagle, etc)
Any shotgun with a revolving cylinder
Any semi-auto shotgun with a pistol grip, folding stock, fixed magazine capacity of more than 7 shells OR detachable magazine of any size
They also said that any PART that can be used to convert a “normal” firearm to an “assault firearm” is also considered an “assault firearm”. So that spare pistol grip you keep in a drawer? Guess what… it’s an assault weapon.