What Are the Assault Weapon Laws in Illinois?
Woody's answers are based on published federal and state law. Not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney for your specific situation.
Illinois has comprehensive assault weapon laws that ban the sale, manufacture, and transfer of specific semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns with certain features, plus high-capacity magazines over 10 rounds.
What This Means for You
Illinois enacted significant assault weapon legislation that affects what you can legally build, buy, or possess in the state. The law includes both feature-based definitions and specific model lists that impact AR-15 builds, pistol configurations, and magazine capacity limits. Understanding these restrictions is crucial before starting any build project or purchasing components.
The Detail
Illinois assault weapon laws prohibit the sale, manufacture, delivery, and transfer of defined assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The law uses both a feature test approach and maintains lists of specifically banned firearms. For rifles, the general definition includes semi-automatic rifles that can accept detachable magazines and have certain features like pistol grips, folding stocks, or flash suppressors.
The legislation also bans high-capacity magazines, generally defined as those capable of holding more than 10 rounds for long guns and more than 15 rounds for pistols. This significantly impacts standard capacity magazines that are common in many popular platforms. Existing owners who possessed these items before the effective date may continue to possess them under grandfathering provisions, but new acquisitions are prohibited.
The law includes specific exemptions for law enforcement, military personnel, and certain licensed dealers conducting lawful business. There are also provisions for fixed magazine rifles and other configurations that may not fall under the assault weapon definition. However, the specifics of what constitutes compliance can be complex and fact-specific.
Penalties for violations can include felony charges, making compliance absolutely critical. The law also addresses components and parts that could be used to create prohibited configurations. Given the complexity and potential criminal liability, anyone dealing with firearms in Illinois should verify current requirements through official state resources and potentially consult with legal counsel familiar with Illinois firearms law.
Build Impact
If you're planning an AR-15 or similar build in Illinois, you need to carefully evaluate feature combinations and magazine capacity to ensure compliance with state law. Many standard configurations and components that are legal federally may be prohibited in Illinois, fundamentally changing your build options.