§ 24-3 — Unlawful sale or delivery of firearms

(A) A person commits the offense of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms when he or she knowingly does any of the following: (a) Sells or gives any firearm of a size which may be concealed upon the person to any person under 18 years of age. (b) Sells or gives any firearm to a person under 21 years of age who has been convicted of a misdemeanor other than a traffic offense or adjudged delinquent. (c) Sells or gives any firearm to any narcotic addict. (d) Sells or gives any firearm to any person who has been convicted of a felony under the laws of this or any other jurisdiction. (e) Sells or gives any firearm to any person who has been a patient in a mental institution within the past 5 years. In this subsection (e): "Mental institution" means any hospital, institution, clinic, evaluation facility, mental health center, or part thereof, which is used primarily for the care or treatment of persons with mental illness. "Patient in a mental institution" means the person was admitted, either voluntarily or involuntarily, to a mental institution for mental health treatment, unless the treatment was voluntary and solely for an alcohol abuse disorder and no other secondary substance abuse disorder or mental illness. (f) Sells or gives any firearms to any person who is a person with an intellectual disability. (g) Delivers any firearm, incidental to a sale, without withholding delivery of the firearm for at least 72 hours after application for its purchase has been made, or delivers a stun gun or taser, incidental to a sale, without withholding delivery of the stun gun or taser for at least 24 hours after application for its purchase has been made. However, this paragraph (g) does not apply to: (1) the sale of a firearm to a law enforcement officer if the seller of the firearm knows that the person to whom he or she is selling the firearm is a law enforcement officer or the sale of a firearm to a person who desires to purchase a firearm for use in promoting the public interest incident to his or her employment as a bank guard, armed truck guard, or other similar employment; (2) a mail order sale of a firearm from a federally licensed firearms dealer to a nonresident of Illinois under which the firearm is mailed to a federally licensed firearms dealer outside the boundaries of Illinois; (3) (blank); (4) the sale of a firearm to a dealer licensed as a federal firearms dealer under Section 923 of the federal Gun Control Act of 1968 (18 U.S.C. 923); or (5) the transfer or sale of any rifle, shotgun, or other long gun to a resident registered competitor or attendee or non-resident registered competitor or attendee by any dealer licensed as a federal firearms dealer under Section 923 of the federal Gun Control Act of 1968 at competitive shooting events held at the World Shooting Complex sanctioned by a national governing body. For purposes of transfers or sales under subparagraph (5) of this paragraph (g), the Department of Natural Resources shall give notice to the Illinois State Police at least 30 calendar days prior to any competitive shooting events at the World Shooting Complex sanctioned by a national governing body. The notification shall be made on a form prescribed by the Illinois State Police. The sanctioning body shall provide a list of all registered competitors and attendees at least 24 hours before the events to the Illinois State Police. Any changes to the list of registered competitors and attendees shall be forwarded to the Illinois State Police as soon as practicable. The Illinois State Police must destroy the list of registered competitors and attendees no later than 30 days after the date of the event. Nothing in this paragraph (g) relieves a federally licensed firearm dealer from the requirements of conducting a NICS background check through the Illinois Point of Contact under 18 U.S.C. 922(t). For purposes of this paragraph (g), "application" means when the buyer and seller reach an agreement to purchase a firearm. For purposes of this paragraph (g), "national governing body" means a group of persons who adopt rules and formulate policy on behalf of a national firearm sporting organization. (h) While holding any license as a dealer, importer, manufacturer or pawnbroker under the federal Gun Control Act of 1968, manufactures, sells or delivers to any unlicensed person a handgun having a barrel, slide, frame or receiver which is a die casting of zinc alloy or any other nonhomogeneous metal which will melt or deform at a temperature of less than 800 degrees Fahrenheit. For purposes of this paragraph, (1) "firearm" is defined as in the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act; and (2) "handgun" is defined as a firearm designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand, and includes a combination of parts from which such a firearm can be assembled. (i) Sells or gives a firearm of any size to any person under 18 years of age who does not possess a valid Firearm Owner's Identification Card. (j) Sells or gives a firearm while engaged in the business of selling firearms at wholesale or retail without being licensed as a federal firearms dealer under Section 923 of the federal Gun Control Act of 1968 (18 U.S.C. 923). In this paragraph (j): A person "engaged in the business" means a person who devotes time, attention, and labor to engaging in the activity as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit, but does not include a person who makes occasional repairs of firearms or who occasionally fits special barrels, stocks, or trigger mechanisms to firearms. "With the principal objective of livelihood and profit" means that the intent underlying the sale or disposition of firearms is predominantly one of obtaining livelihood and pecuniary gain, as opposed to other intents, such as improving or liquidating a personal firearms collection; however, proof of profit shall not be required as to a person who engages in the regular and repetitive purchase and disposition of firearms for criminal purposes or terrorism. (k) Sells or transfers ownership of a firearm to a person who does not display to the seller or transferor of the firearm either: (1) a currently valid Firearm Owner's Identification Card that has previously been issued in the transferee's name by the Illinois State Police under the provisions of the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act; or (2) a currently valid license to carry a concealed firearm that has previously been issued in the transferee's name by the Illinois State Police under the Firearm Concealed Carry Act. This paragraph (k) does not apply to the transfer of a firearm to a person who is exempt from the requirement of possessing a Firearm Owner's Identification Card under Section 2 of the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act. For the purposes of this Section, a currently valid Firearm Owner's Identification Card or license to carry a concealed firearm means receipt of an approval number issued in accordance with subsection (a-10) of Section 3 or Section 3.1 of the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act. (1) In addition to the other requirements of this paragraph (k), all persons who are not federally licensed firearms dealers must also have complied with subsection (a-10) of Section 3 of the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act by determining the validity of a purchaser's Firearm Owner's Identification Card. (2) All sellers or transferors who have complied with the requirements of subparagraph (1) of this paragraph (k) shall not be liable for damages in any civil action arising from the use or misuse by the transferee of the firearm transferred, except for willful or wanton misconduct on the part of the seller or transferor. (l) Not being entitled to the possession of a firearm, delivers the firearm, knowing it to have been stolen or converted. It may be inferred that a person who possesses a firearm with knowledge that its serial number has been removed or altered has knowledge that the firearm is stolen or converted. (B) Paragraph (h) of subsection (A) does not include firearms sold within 6 months after enactment of Public Act 78-355 (approved August 21, 1973, effective October 1, 1973), nor is any firearm legally owned or possessed by any citizen or purchased by any citizen within 6 months after the enactment of Public Act 78-355 subject to confiscation or seizure under the provisions of that Public Act. Nothing in Public Act 78-355 shall be construed to prohibit the gift or trade of any firearm if that firearm was legally held or acquired within 6 months after the enactment of that Public Act. (C) Sentence. (1) Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (c), (e), (f), (g), or (h) of subsection (A) commits a Class 4 felony. (2) Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (b) or (i) of subsection (A) commits a Class 3 felony. (3) Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (a) of subsection (A) commits a Class 2 felony. (4) Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (a), (b), or (i) of subsection (A) in any school, on the real property comprising a school, within 1,000 feet of the real property comprising a school, at a school related activity, or on or within 1,000 feet of any conveyance owned, leased, or contracted by a school or school district to transport students to or from school or a school related activity, regardless of the time of day or time of year at which the offense was committed, commits a Class 1 felony. Any person convicted of a second or subsequent violation of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (a), (b), or (i) of subsection (A) in any school, on the real property comprising a school, within 1,000 feet of the real property comprising a school, at a school related activity, or on or within 1,000 feet of any conveyance owned, leased, or contracted by a school or school district to transport students to or from school or a school related activity, regardless of the time of day or time of year at which the offense was committed, commits a Class 1 felony for which the sentence shall be a term of imprisonment of no less than 5 years and no more than 15 years. (5) Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (a) or (i) of subsection (A) in residential property owned, operated, or managed by a public housing agency or leased by a public housing agency as part of a scattered site or mixed-income development, in a public park, in a courthouse, on residential property owned, operated, or managed by a public housing agency or leased by a public housing agency as part of a scattered site or mixed-income development, on the real property comprising any public park, on the real property comprising any courthouse, or on any public way within 1,000 feet of the real property comprising any public park, courthouse, or residential property owned, operated, or managed by a public housing agency or leased by a public housing agency as part of a scattered site or mixed-income development commits a Class 2 felony. (6) Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (j) of subsection (A) commits a Class A misdemeanor. A second or subsequent violation is a Class 4 felony. (7) Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (k) of subsection (A) commits a Class 4 felony, except that a violation of subparagraph (1) of paragraph (k) of subsection (A) shall not be punishable as a crime or petty offense. A third or subsequent conviction for a violation of paragraph (k) of subsection (A) is a Class 1 felony. (8) A person 18 years of age or older convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (a) or (i) of subsection (A), when the firearm that was sold or given to another person under 18 years of age was used in the commission of or attempt to commit a forcible felony, shall be fined or imprisoned, or both, not to exceed the maximum provided for the most serious forcible felony so committed or attempted by the person under 18 years of age who was sold or given the firearm. (9) Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (d) of subsection (A) commits a Class 3 felony. (10) Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (l) of subsection (A) commits a Class 2 felony if the delivery is of one firearm. Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (l) of subsection (A) commits a Class 1 felony if the delivery is of not less than 2 and not more than 5 firearms at the same time or within a one-year period. Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (l) of subsection (A) commits a Class X felony for which he or she shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 6 years and not more than 30 years if the delivery is of not less than 6 and not more than 10 firearms at the same time or within a 2-year period. Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (l) of subsection (A) commits a Class X felony for which he or she shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 6 years and not more than 40 years if the delivery is of not less than 11 and not more than 20 firearms at the same time or within a 3-year period. Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (l) of subsection (A) commits a Class X felony for which he or she shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 6 years and not more than 50 years if the delivery is of not less than 21 and not more than 30 firearms at the same time or within a 4-year period. Any person convicted of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms in violation of paragraph (l) of subsection (A) commits a Class X felony for which he or she shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 6 years and not more than 60 years if the delivery is of 31 or more firearms at the same time or within a 5-year period. (D) For purposes of this Section: "School" means a public or private elementary or secondary school, community college, college, or university. "School related activity" means any sporting, social, academic, or other activity for which students' attendance or participation is sponsored, organized, or funded in whole or in part by a school or school district. (E) A prosecution for a violation of paragraph (k) of subsection (A) of this Section may be commenced within 6 years after the commission of the offense. A prosecution for a violation of this Section other than paragraph (g) of subsection (A) of this Section may be commenced within 5 years after the commission of the offense defined in the particular paragraph.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 102-237, eff. 1-1-22; 102-538, eff. 8-20-21; 102-813, eff. 5-13-22.)