Carrying a firearm in Illinois
What state law requires, and what federal law adds on top of it. Every fact below shows where it came from and how far we have verified it.
Check a specific address on the map →- Permit required to carry concealed
- Yes — Illinois requires a permit it issues or recognises.
- Duty to inform law enforcement
- Not yet established for this state.
- Permits Illinois recognises
- We have not yet ingested Illinois's published recognition list. That is a gap in our data, not a statement that it recognises nothing.
- Restricted areas mapped in this state
- Federal school zones (1,000 ft)5,410
- Corps of Engineers areas79
- Military installations14
The federal layer applies regardless
Federal law bars possession within 1,000 ft of a school, and the exemption requires a licence issued by the state the school sits in — a permit Illinois merely honours through reciprocity does not satisfy it. Carrying permitlessly satisfies it even less, because there is no licence at all. This is the trap that catches travellers who correctly concluded their permit was good here.
18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(2)
Sources and how far we have verified them
- permitless_carry·State permitless-carry statutes (aggregated); 29 states as of Jan 2026Aggregated source — not yet verified against the statute · in force from 2026-01-01