Location Restrictions in Illinois (2024)

Illinois generally prohibits possession of a firearm in or on the real property of a public park, courthouse, any conveyance owned, leased, or contracted by a public transportation agency, or on any public way within 1,000 feet of the real property comprising any school, courthouse or public transportation facility.¹ Individuals with concealed handgun permits may, however, store a firearm or ammunition concealed in a case within a locked vehicle or locked container out of plain view within the vehicle in the parking area. A licensee may carry a concealed firearm in the immediate area surrounding his or her vehicle within a prohibited parking lot area only for the limited purpose of storing or retrieving a firearm within the vehicle’s trunk.²

This same law also prohibited the possession of a firearm on any public way within 1,000 feet of a public park.³ However, in 2018, the Illinois Supreme Court determined that the firearm prohibition within 1,000 feet of parks violated the Second Amendment, noting that this requirement “would effectively prohibit the possession of a firearm for self-defense within a vast majority of the acreage in the city of Chicago because there are more than 600 parks in the city.”⁴

Illinois also prohibits the carrying or possession of firearms in any location licensed to sell alcoholic beverages or at any public gathering held pursuant to a license issued by any governmental body or any public gathering at which an admission is charged, excluding a place where a showing, demonstration or lecture involving the exhibition of unloaded firearms is conducted.⁵

Illinois also prohibits a person from boarding or attempting to board any commercial or charter aircraft while knowingly having a firearm in his or her possession. This is punishable as a Class 4 felony.⁶.

Illinois has no specific statutory gun possession prohibitions in or at:

• Places of worship; or
• Polling places.

Location Restrictions for Concealed Carry Licensees

Illinois law states that a concealed carry licensee shall not knowingly carry a concealed firearm on or into:⁷

• A public or private elementary or secondary school;⁸
• A pre-school or child care facility;⁹
• Any area under the control of an officer of the executive or legislative branch of government;¹⁰
• Any building designated for matters before a circuit court, appellate court, and/or under the control of the Supreme Court;¹¹
• Any building under the control of a unit of local government;¹²
• An adult or juvenile detention or correctional institution, prison, or jail;¹³
• A public or private hospital or hospital affiliate, mental health facility, or nursing home;¹⁴
• Public transportation facilities, buses, trains or other forms of public transportation;¹⁵
• An establishment that serves alcohol on its premises;¹⁶
• Any public gathering or special event conducted on property open to the public that requires the issuance of a permit from the unit of local government;¹⁷
• Any public playground;¹⁸
• Any public park, athletic area, or athletic facility under the control of a municipality or park district;¹⁹
• Any real property under the control of the Cook County Forest Preserve District;²⁰
• Any public or private community college, college, or university;²¹
• Any building, real property, or parking area under the control of a gaming facility licensed under the Riverboat Gambling Act or the Illinois Horse Racing Act of 1975, including an inter-track wagering location licensee;²²
• Any stadium, arena, or the real property or parking area under the control of a stadium, arena, or any collegiate or professional sporting event;²³
• Any public library;²⁴
• Any airport;²⁵
• Any amusem*nt park;²⁶
• Any zoo or museum;²⁷
• Any street, driveway, parking area, property, building, or facility owned, leased, controlled or used by a nuclear energy, storage, weapons or development site or facility regulated by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission;²⁸ or
• Any area where firearms are prohibited under federal law.²⁹
  

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1. 720 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/24-1(c)(1.5). This restriction exempts people with valid concealed carry licenses from the prohibition on carrying guns within 1,000 feet of a school, though gun possession (with or without a license) is still prohibited on school property itself. See People v. Green, 2018 IL App (1st) 143874, ¶ 25, 428 Ill. Dec. 137, 143, 121 N.E.3d 911, 917. Certain firearms violations, including carrying concealed weapons, use of silencers, sawed-off shotguns, and machine guns, are subject to enhanced penalties when committed in or within 1,000 feet of a school or courthouse. See 720 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/24-1(c).[↩]
2. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65.[↩]
3. See720 ILCS 5/24-1(a)(4), (c)(1.5).[↩]
4. People v. Chairez, 2018 IL 121417 (Ill. Feb. 1, 2018). The Illinois Supreme Court did not address or rule on the constitutionality of any of Illinois’s other location restrictions.[↩]
5. 720 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/24-1(a)(8).[↩]
6. 720 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/29D-35.1.[↩]
7. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a).[↩]
8. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(1); Includes parking areas.[↩]
9. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(2); Includes parking areas. The operator of a child care facility in a family home may own or possess a firearm if no child under child care at the home is present in the home or the firearm in the home is stored in a locked container when a child under child care at the home is present.[↩]
10. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(3); Includes parking areas. Licensees are not prohibited from carrying a concealed firearm onto the real property, bikeway, or trail in a park regulated by the Department of Natural Resources or any other designated public hunting area or building where firearm possession is permitted.[↩]
11. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(4).[↩]
12. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(5).[↩]
13. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(6); Includes parking areas.[↩]
14. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(7); Includes parking areas.[↩]
15. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(8).[↩]
16. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(9); Includes parking areas. More than 50% of the establishment’s gross receipts within the prior three months must be from the sale of alcohol for it to be a “prohibited area.” The owner of an establishment who knowingly fails to prohibit concealed firearms on its premises or who knowingly makes a false statement or record to avoid the prohibition on concealed firearms is subject to penalty.235 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/10-1(c-5).[↩]
17. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(10); This restriction does not apply to a licensee who must walk through a public gathering in order to access his or her residence, place of business, or vehicle.[↩]
18. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(12).[↩]
19. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(13); Licensees are not prohibited from carrying a concealed firearm while on a trail or bikeway if only a portion of the trail or bikeway includes a public park.[↩]
20. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(14).[↩]
21. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(15).[↩]
22. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(16); Includes parking areas.[↩]
23. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(17); Includes parking areas.[↩]
24. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(18); Includes parking areas.[↩]
25. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(19); Includes parking areas.[↩]
26. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(20); Includes parking areas.[↩]
27. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(21); Includes parking areas.[↩]
28. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(22); The licensee shall not under any circ*mstance store a firearm or ammunition in his or her vehicle or in a compartment or container within a vehicle located anywhere in or on the street, driveway, parking area, property or building at or near such a location regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.[↩]
29. 430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 66/65(a)(23).[↩]