Ill. Supreme Court Gives Gun Owners a Small Victory

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Illinois Supreme Court has affirmed a decision by the Third District Appellate Court that ruled that the definition of a “case” for transporting a firearm does, indeed, include an automobile’s enclosed front seat console.

The current law provides for several ways that a firearm can be transported:

(4) Carries or possesses in any vehicle or concealed on or about his person except when on his land or in his own abode or fixed place of business any pistol, revolver, stun gun or taser or other firearm, except that this subsection (a) (4) does not apply to or affect transportation of weapons that meet one of the following conditions:
(i) are broken down in a non-functioning state; or
(ii) are not immediately accessible; or
(iii) are unloaded and enclosed in a case,firearm carrying box, shipping box, or other container by a person who has been issued a currently valid Firearm Owner’s Identification Card

IllinoisCarry.com celebrated the decision as a “huge win” for Illinois gun owners.

The case in question, People vs Diggins, involved the transportation of two unloaded firearms and two loaded magazines in the console of a vehicle driven by an individual in possession of a valid FOID card. In unanimous agreement the justices ruled the trial judge erred in denying defense the right to argue that a console is considered a “case” or “other container” under sec. 24 -1.4(c)iii and for instructing the jury that the console is not considered a “case”.

This ruling would also seem to resolve the question as to the legality of transporting unloaded hanguns in the glove box of a vehicle by IL citizens in possession of a valid FOID card.

Of course, the law still states that firearms must be carried outside of a vehicle in some sort of case specifically built for a firearm so one wonders exactly how practical this new interpretation of the law will be?

Still, this is a step in the right direction for curtailing the capriciousness of our absurdly strict gun transportation laws.

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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as NewsBusters.org, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.

He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston

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