Illinois State NFA Rules and Allowable NFA Items

The typically anti-gun state of Illinois is also very unfriendly toward the ownership of NFA items. The possession of short-barreled shotguns is totally prohibited, along with silencers and machine guns. Short-barreled rifles may be owned, but only with a Curio and Relics license. “Any other weapons” (AOW’s) and destructive devices (DD’s) may be owned, but not without the proper federal licensing and (extremely rare) approval by the state.

Possession of NFA Items:

(720 ILCS 5/24-1) (from Ch. 38, par. 24-1)
Sec. 24-1. Unlawful Use of Weapons.
(a) A person commits the offense of unlawful use of weapons when he knowingly:
     (7) Sells, manufactures, purchases, possesses or carries:

(i) a machine gun, which shall be defined for the purposes of this subsection as any weapon, which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot without manually reloading by a single function of the trigger, including the frame or receiver of any such weapon, or sells, manufactures, purchases, possesses, or carries any combination of parts designed or intended for use in converting any weapon into a machine gun, or any combination or parts from which a machine gun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or under the control of a person;
     
(ii) any rifle having one or more barrels less than 16 inches in length or a shotgun having one or more barrels less than 18 inches in length or any weapon made from a rifle or shotgun, whether by alteration, modification, or otherwise, if such a weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches; or
     
(iii) any bomb, bomb-shell, grenade, bottle or other container containing an explosive substance of over one-quarter ounce for like purposes, such as, but not limited to, black powder bombs and Molotov cocktails or artillery projectiles.

Short-barreled Rifle Exemption:

Sec. 24-2. Exemptions.
(a) Subsections 24-1(a)(3), 24-1(a)(4), 24-1(a)(10), and 24-1(a)(13) and Section 24-1.6 do not apply to or affect any of the following:
     (7) A person possessing a rifle with a barrel or
barrels less than 16 inches in length if: (A) the person has been issued a Curios and Relics license from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Legal Disclaimer:

This information is provided as a service to the public. It is NOT intended as legal advice and should never be considered as such. This information was up to date at the time of publication.