awnuts
Regular Member
It is only Chicago that is an issue. It is 100% legal to walk into ORD.MDW and declare you are in possession of a firearm to the ticket agent, provided you came from somewhere outside the jurisdiction of Chicago. Being in possesion of a firearm in IL is OK. Traveling from some other state or to some other state makes FOPA come into play. Chicago cannot prohibit transportation of a firearm thru the City/ORD/MDW. They can try to accuse someone of staying in Chicago while in possession of a firearm where a permit is required. The proof of staying outside the jurisdiction is what gets one off the hook. That way one did not "reside" in Chicago.
It is hard NOT to come into possession of your firearm if it is inside the same luggage as your underwear and you need to go to the hotel for the night. The airline is going to dump your luggage onto the carousel if the flight turns into an overnight. Nobody is going to leav it there going around in circles all night long.
Hate to say this but Ohare is part of chicago.Hence all the CPD at the airport and few know it but theres a ribbon of hard land physicaly connecting Ohare To chicago.It runs right through the western burbs and across manhiem road right into Ohare.Look at the local maps to verify.Technicaly if your in Ohare your in chicago same for Midway Airport.As for my experience traveling with a weapon at Ohare its a pain in the butt.The last time I declared the weapon I had 3 supervisors and a couple of cops watching me and they had me open the case 3 times and then follow them to the xray and conveyor.I will say heres a tip, if you see a skycap while waiting inline tell them you have a gun to declare.Each time I did I got moved to the front of the line.And if your there with your bags after a flight go on do your buisness and dont mention you got a gun. I've been there a number of times and had no probs getting out of the airport it was just coming back for my flight that sucked to get home.Also once your off the plane with your bags why say anything to anyone where your going or you got a gun in your bag? I lived in that crooked state on the northside of chicago 43 years and didnt tell anyone I had guns.