Unlike many states that broadly preempt local firearms regulation, Illinois allows home-rule municipalities to enact firearms ordinances that are more restrictive than state law. This partial preemption framework is rooted in the Illinois Constitution and has been shaped by the Firearm Concealed Carry Act of 2013. The result is a patchwork of local firearms regulations that varies from one jurisdiction to the next -- particularly in the Chicago metropolitan area.[1]
Constitutional Home-Rule Authority
Article VII, Section 6 of the Illinois Constitution provides that a home-rule unit may "exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs, including, but not limited to, the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare." Any municipality with a population exceeding 25,000 is automatically a home-rule unit. Smaller municipalities may adopt home-rule status by referendum. Cook County holds home-rule authority as a county.[1]
The General Assembly may limit home-rule powers by a three-fifths vote of both chambers or by expressly preempting local regulation in a particular statute. Absent such action, home-rule units retain the authority to legislate on firearms matters.
What Is Preempted: Concealed Carry
The Firearm Concealed Carry Act (430 ILCS 66/90) includes the most significant express preemption in Illinois firearms law. Section 90 states that the regulation of the carrying of concealed firearms is an "exclusive power and function of the State" and that any ordinance or regulation enacted by a home-rule unit that purports to regulate the carrying of concealed firearms in a manner inconsistent with the Act is void.[2]
This means municipalities cannot impose additional concealed carry requirements beyond those in the state Act. They cannot require local concealed carry permits, add prohibited locations beyond the state's list, or impose additional training requirements. The concealed carry framework is uniform statewide.
What Is Not Preempted: Most Other Firearms Regulation
Outside the concealed carry context, home-rule municipalities retain broad authority to regulate firearms. Areas where local regulation is permitted include:
- Assault weapons bans: Municipalities may enact their own bans with definitions differing from the state's Protect Illinois Communities Act[3]
- Firearm registration: Municipalities may require local registration of firearms, as Chicago has done for decades
- Firearm dealer regulation: Local governments may impose requirements beyond the state FDLC (430 ILCS 68)
- Taxation: Home-rule units may levy local taxes on firearm and ammunition sales
- Discharge and storage: Municipalities may regulate firearm discharge and enact storage requirements stricter than the state's Safe Gun Storage Act
The 2013 Preemption Deadline
When the Firearm Concealed Carry Act was enacted in 2013, it included a provision (430 ILCS 66/90) that required municipalities to enact any new firearms regulations within 10 days of the Act's effective date (July 9, 2013) if they wished to preserve those regulations. Ordinances enacted or amended after this 10-day window that regulate the possession or ownership of firearms in a manner inconsistent with the Concealed Carry Act could be challenged as preempted.[2]
Ordinances that were already in place before the deadline -- such as Chicago's registration requirements and various Cook County municipal assault weapons bans -- were grandfathered.
Practical Impact: A Patchwork of Local Laws
The lack of full preemption creates a fragmented regulatory landscape. A firearm that is legal in one municipality may be prohibited in the neighboring jurisdiction. The burden falls on the individual firearm owner to know and comply with the laws of each jurisdiction they enter. Non-home-rule municipalities -- those with populations under 25,000 that have not adopted home-rule by referendum -- do not have the authority to enact firearms regulations that conflict with state law. Residents of those smaller municipalities are generally subject only to state and federal firearms law.[1]