720 ILCS 5/24-3:
Unlawful Sale or Delivery of Firearms

Section 24-3 of the Illinois Criminal Code (720 ILCS 5/24-3) criminalizes the unlawful sale, delivery, or transfer of firearms to prohibited persons and in prohibited circumstances. The statute addresses both individual transactions and deliveries of stolen or converted firearms, with penalties that depend on the number of firearms and the period of delivery.^[1]

Prohibited Transfers

Section 24-3(A) prohibits specified knowing sales, gifts, ownership transfers, and deliveries of firearms. It also restricts federal licensees from manufacturing, selling, or delivering certain low-melting-point handguns to unlicensed persons.^[1]

• Selling or giving a firearm that may be concealed upon the person to a person under 18 (720 ILCS 5/24-3(A)(a)), or selling or giving any firearm to a person under 18 who does not hold a valid FOID card (24-3(A)(i))
• Selling or giving any firearm to a narcotic addict
• Selling or transferring ownership of a firearm to a person who does not display a currently valid FOID card or Illinois concealed carry license, unless the person is exempt from the FOID requirement. For this purpose, a currently valid card or license means receipt of an approval number issued under Section 3(a-10) or Section 3.1 of the FOID Act
• Selling or giving any firearm to a person convicted of a felony under the laws of Illinois or any other jurisdiction
• Delivering any firearm, incidental to a sale, without withholding delivery for at least 72 hours after application for purchase (720 ILCS 5/24-3(A)(g), the mandatory waiting period, which applies to every firearm type). Exceptions cover specified sales to law enforcement officers and persons purchasing for bank guard, armed truck guard, or similar employment, mail-order sales by a federally licensed dealer to a nonresident of Illinois when the firearm is mailed to a federally licensed dealer outside Illinois, sales to federally licensed dealers, and specified long-gun transfers or sales at sanctioned World Shooting Complex events

Straw Purchases

Straw purchases, transactions in which one person purchases a firearm on behalf of another who is prohibited from making the purchase themselves, are addressed by a separate statute, 720 ILCS 5/24-3.5 (unlawful purchase of a firearm). A person who knowingly purchases or attempts to purchase a firearm with the intent to deliver it to another person prohibited by federal or State law from possessing a firearm violates that section.^[4]

Graduated Penalty Structure -- Trafficking Provisions

Section 24-3(C)(10) sets escalating penalties for delivery of firearms under Section 24-3(A)(l) by a person not entitled to their possession who knows them to have been stolen or converted. For deliveries of 6 or more firearms, these penalties are Class X felonies and scale with the number of stolen firearms involved and the timeframe.^[1]

• 6 to 10 firearms (delivered at the same time or within a 2-year period): Class X felony, 6 to 30 years in prison
• 11 to 20 firearms (within a 3-year period): Class X felony, 6 to 40 years in prison
• 21 to 30 firearms (within a 4-year period): Class X felony, 6 to 50 years in prison
• 31 or more firearms (within a 5-year period): Class X felony, 6 to 60 years in prison

Base-Level Penalties

For unlawful sales that do not meet the volume thresholds above, penalties vary by the specific violation:

• Knowingly selling or giving a concealable firearm to a person under 18 is a Class 2 felony under 720 ILCS 5/24-3(A)(a) and (C)(3), subject to the sentencing provisions in (C)(4), (C)(5), and (C)(8). Knowingly selling or giving any firearm to a person under 18 who lacks a valid FOID card is a Class 3 felony under 24-3(A)(i) and (C)(2), subject to the sentencing provisions in (C)(4), (C)(5), and (C)(8). A waiting-period violation under 24-3(A)(g) is a Class 4 felony (24-3(C)(1))
• A first or second conviction for an unlawful sale or ownership transfer under Section 24-3(A)(k) is a Class 4 felony (1 to 3 years), except that a violation of subparagraph (A)(k)(1) is not punishable as a crime or petty offense

Interaction with Dealer Licensing

Section 24-3 operates alongside the Firearm Dealer License Certification Act (430 ILCS 68), which requires firearm dealers operating in Illinois to obtain state certification unless a statutory exemption applies. Dealers who violate Section 24-3 may face criminal charges. Violations of the certification requirements may also lead to criminal charges under the certification Act. State certification may be revoked for violations of firearm sale or transfer laws. Federal licenses may be revoked, after notice and an opportunity for a hearing, for willful violations of federal firearms law or regulations.^[2]

Private Transfer Background Check Requirement

Since July 1, 2023, the FOID Act as amended by Public Acts 102-237 and 102-1116 (430 ILCS 65/3(a-10)) requires private (non-dealer) sellers either to verify the buyer's FOID card through the ISP's online system or to process the transfer through a licensed dealer. Section 3(a-15) exempts specified transfers from this requirement, including bona fide gifts to listed relatives, transfers by operation of law or court order, gunsmith service or repair transfers, and transfers to FOID-exempt persons. Gun-show transfers follow the separate background-check requirement in Section 3(a-5). Failing to determine FOID validity under Section 24-3(A)(k)(1) is expressly not punishable as a crime or petty offense under 24-3(C)(7), but other violations of Section 24-3(A)(k) remain felonies. Under 430 ILCS 65/3(b), failure to record a required identification or approval number is a petty offense. A private seller's failure to maintain required transfer records, or a transferee's failure to identify the dealer maintaining the record, is a Class A misdemeanor for the first offense and a Class 4 felony for a second or subsequent offense within 10 years when committed after conviction of the first offense. A transferee or transferor is not criminally liable under that section if the transfer records are provided to the Illinois State Police in accordance with its procedures.^[3]