We discussed weird laws in general in Weirdest Law/Legal Requirement. As I was reading Tom Grieve’s latest blog post about National Reciprocity, I found a weird requirement in Illinois about owning a firearm – and no I don’t just mean having to have a FOID card.
You can possess a handgun at 18, but only with parents written consent… Can you only vote with your parent’s permission? Do you need your parents’ permission for going to a different house of worship?
On the flip side, my 19-year-old boys cannot buy handgun ammo at all - so it would be nice to give them a letter allowing them to buy ammo.
@Dawn. Good morning Dawn, Catch22. But you have to have an Illinois FOID to buy any firearm and ammunition. I believe that it’s a very very old law Circa maybe 1940’s - 1950’s preFOID and you would never get a gun shop owner or a counter helper to sell anything to you. They are going to tell you to turn 21 and get a FOID and come back when you’re older.
I’m reading the book “Lock Stock, and Barrel History of American Gun Culture” and there were a lot of "interesting laws back in 1600-1700 hundreds like requirements that you DO bring your gun/weapon to church or other public meetings and requirements to be armed while you’re out working in the fields. They also legislated how much powder and shot you were supposed to have on hand as well as had a “gun welfare system” for those settlers who could not outright afford guns the government at the time had provisions to provide them with weapons and allowed the colonist to work it off. There were actually penalties for not being armed and/or not being armed well enough (ammo). I’m a bit of a nerd, so I find this sort of thing (and the history of) very interesting.
In Delaware, if you want a CCW permit, you have to take out an ad in the legal section of the newspaper 10 days before you apply. I can’t remember the other things.
Here in NY we have pistol registration. If my wife wants to carry one of mine, it has to be on her permit otherwise she’s committing a crime… Now keep in mind that MY county lets us co-register our pistols. My brother who is 2 hours north and 2 counties away, they do NOT recognize co-registration in that county. I don’t know if they recognize my counties co-registration!
Those NY gun laws are atrocious, and I hope you can get them changed one day. However, I’m utterly baffled by the comment about the Delaware CCW. Could you go into more detail about that if you’re able? It sounds equally fascinating and ridiculous, and I would love to learn more. Thanks!
IL has it’s share of weird gun laws. That one might make some sense if the 18 year old was going hunting or running a trap line. That being said I have never heard it discussed in a IL hunters safety course.
@Sneezy, Did you look through this entire Delaware CCW thing? Aside from the ridiculous newspaper requirement, which gives your full name and address, and will certainly put your family in harm’s way, you have to get a reference from 5 people who live in your county, who are not related to you, and who have known you for more than one year. Then, you have to give your finger prints to the government, pay your fee, and hand-deliver the application to the representative.
USCCA, can you look into this and try to help the poor gun owners of Delaware keep their 2A rights from being so heavily infringed? I know CA and NY are absolute garbage when it comes to 2A rights, and I know Delaware is “East Coast”, but this seems to not only make the requirements beyond tedious and ridiculous (with the sole intent of deterring applicants), but it seems to directly put applicants and their families in danger simply for trying to protect themselves and their families…
Yes, I did look at it, just forgot about the references! I have an employee who is considering moving there. (we all work from home). He hubby will be at the Philly Airport and Delaware is cheaper than PA and a 30 minute drive.
Holy cow @Sneezy - you have to publish your home address with your CC request in newspaper?
How is that not like publishing a "rob me now, I have firearms" list?
and… then you have to get a NOTORIZED copy of your training record and five people from your county must fill out a referral form to say you’re not crazy or violent?
Your home address? Dang - that’s like advertising you’re going to have something of value in your house for someone to steel. And a single woman would have to put her whole name? UGH - here’s a woman getting a gun, she may be a great target before she gets her gun…
You used to be able to get a CCW permit at 18 if you routinely deposited more than $500 at the bank from a/your business. Thing was if you got pulled over and you didn’t have $500 + in the state I live in, you got in all sorts of trouble and the drinking age was 18 in this state as well.
Can you only vote with your parent’s permission? Do you need your parents’ permission for going to a different house of worship?
