doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT : Illinois Firearms Travel Question

Hello Friends:

I am back in circulation after having had a killer semester trying to get ready for grad school. Have missed ya'll.

Now for a OT question.

I am planning on travelling to St. Louis from Vincennes, Indiana this summer, while on a driving vacation with my daughters and a spare niece. I always travel with a sidearm. I will go nowhere near Mayor Daley's little feudal kingdom.

After a map reconnaissance, it seems the obvious route is to take US 50 straight across southern Illinois, from Vincennes to St Louis. That's about 150 miles. The problem is, obviously, that the straight route means I am subject to Illinois bizarro gun laws. The " gun friendly" route would be to leave Vincennes head south to Evansville, then into Kentucky to Paducah to Wickliffe, then north through Missouri from Cape Girardeau to St Louis. That's 350 miles or so.

I understand that under the provisions of the FOPA of 1986, if I have the sidearm unloaded, securely encased and locked, I can travel with it legally in Illinois. However, having a firearm securely locked away sort of makes having it with you not very useful.

Ok...

So I have two solutions immedately evident, that do not cause potential problems.

1) Disarm and lock the gun up in accord with the rules of FOPA 1986, and take the short route. Belive me, I'll get out of Illinois just as fast as I can pedal.

2) Drive the gun friendly route and enjoy the drive.

Are there other possible solutions that won't get me thrown in the Crossbars hotel?

Regards

GKT

Greg,

First off there is no way that going US. 50 will be faster than going 64. I do not know your traveling style, you might find it interesting to go through one little, one light, town after another. But time wise you would be better to drop down to 64 and just zip across the state. Plus going 64 puts you 3 miles from my house, so I'm buying the pizza. It also doesn't put you too far from a couple of decent shooting courses, a 40 minute detour would put you at the Illinois Tax payers supported World Shooting Complex - where you can see miles of traps, cowboy action "corals" (whatever they are called), a couple sporting clays courses, etc.

You would also not be far from the taxpayer supported college where "huntschool" has his game farm management / shooting facility operator school.

I point out that to show that once you get down to our part of the state we are pretty gun friendly. Our tax dollars go to support the shooting industry.

I'm not advocating that you break the law, but I also do not think you need to be too worried about being harassed. You are not going to have the gun sitting out on your dash board are you? (frankly I don't feel a particular need to arm myself driving through either 50 or 64. Far away from any city crime, and not depressed like parts of far southern IL.)

On the other hand if you do go to Paducah you can check out Lewis Drake's store in Murray. You could probably pick up some trinkets to decorate your new study..., and then I am not sure if Jeff's Outfitters (formerly Cape Outfitters) really has a store for customers to stop by.


If your schedule allows, let me know when you are passing through.

Erik:

Thanks for the invite. I may take you up on it - I warn you ahead of time that at 13, 10, 8 and 8 , the girls will likely consume more pizza than is even comfortable to think about.

Thanks for the routing advice as well. Last time I was in southern Illinois, Dad was driving and I didnt pay too much attention - I figured he knew how to find Vincennes. Based on your description, the interstate is much more attractive for efficiency sake. I had made an assumption that a US highway would be smooth sailing most of the time.

Regards

GKT

No worries, my wife and I are used to buying the pizza for the youth group... As much as I love pizza I am disappointed that neither or my 7 year old twin daughters really like it.

When I travel through Ill. with a handgun, I carry it unloade in a hard pistol case with a lock. Ammo carried separately, both are un assessable to me in the drivers seat. Have never been stopped, but did have a Ill. State Police Officer see that I had assisstance with a flat tire on I 39. Very nice and helpful Officer. If traveling that way I would not worry about breaking any of thier laws.

You know you'll get pulled over if you have the gun stored illegally. That's Murphy's Law.

There's only one way you can do it with no fear of getting stopped by the po-lice. Follow these instructions carefully:

1) Buy a 1980's economy car, remove the rear bumper and weld a receiver hitch to the car.
2) Get a tow dolly, and use it to couple up a larger, more beat up vehicle to the economy car. Fill both cars with car parts from yet more vehicles.
3) Use tape to write 'IN TOW' on the rear window of car #2.
4) Drive in the right lane at 5MPH under the speed limit, and be sure you are always heading South towards old Mexico.

No cop will ever think of stopping you.