Shipping an AR Upper to Cook County

[RatDrall]

Is it legal to ship an AR Upper Assembly only to Cook County? A guy lives in IN and works in cook county just across the border and wants the parts shipped to his office.

I believe this is legal, because the upper assembly is "broken down and in a nonfunctioning state", but wanted reassurance from those with experience or a better understanding of how the laws work.

It seems that this guy will be alright so long as he waits until he is out of the county to snap on a lower, and I would not be in violation of the law for shipping it to him?

Here is the statute of the Cook County AWB (applicable parts bolded):

Sec. 54-212. - Assault weapons and large capacity magazines; sale prohibited; exceptions.

(a)
No person shall manufacture, sell, offer or display for sale, give, lend, transfer ownership of, acquire or possess any assault weapon or large capacity magazine. This subsection shall not apply to:

(1)
The sale or transfer to, or possession by any officer, agent, or employee of Cook County or any other municipality or state or of the United States, members of the armed forces of the United States; or the organized militia of this or any other state; or peace officers to the extent that any such person named in this subsection is otherwise authorized to acquire or possess an assault weapon and/or large capacity magazine and does so while acting within the scope of his or her duties;

(2)
Transportation of assault weapons or large capacity magazine if such weapons are broken down and in a nonfunctioning state and are not immediately accessible to any person.
(b)
Any assault weapon or large capacity magazine possessed, sold or transferred in violation of Subsection (a) of this section is hereby declared to be contraband and shall be seized and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of Section 54-213

(c)
Any person found in violation of this section shall be sentenced to not more than six months imprisonment or fined not less than $500.00 and not more than $1,000.00, or both.

(d)
Any person who, prior to the effective date of the ordinance codified in this section, was legally in possession of an assault weapon or large capacity magazine prohibited by this section shall have 90 days from the effective date of the ordinance to do any of the following without being subject to prosecution hereunder:

(1)
To remove the assault weapon or large capacity magazine from within the limits of the County of Cook; or

(2)
To modify the assault weapon or large capacity magazine either to render it permanently inoperable or to permanently make it a device no longer defined as an assault weapon or large capacity magazine; or

(3)
To surrender the assault weapon or large capacity magazine to the Sheriff or his designee for disposal as provided below.

 

[xnmw]

It's not a firearm, it's not a high capacity magazine.. It's just parts. I vote legal.



...if we're taking a vote.

 

[David E]

Need to find what they're including in their definition of "assault weapon," as it may have nothing to do with actual facts.

 

[DonP]

Talk to the vendor.

Cook County has so many arcane rules that every supplier deals with it differently. Many of them just stay away from any Cook County, Chicago or even all Illinois sales. I've seen gun stores turn away customers from Cook County that wanted to look at an AR or AK style rifle.

I live in Will County and had to have a Model 1 Sales upper kit shipped to a friend in Indiana, because at the time (4 or 5 years ago) Model 1 would not ship to any Illinois address that abuts Cook County.

Others, like Midway just want to have your FOID card on file.

 

[RatDrall]

Need to find what they're including in their definition of "assault weapon," as it may have nothing to do with actual facts.

Here it is:

Sec. 54-211. - Definitions.
Sec. 54-212. - Assault weapons and large capacity magazines; sale prohibited; exceptions.
Sec. 54-213. - Destruction of weapons confiscated.
Secs. 54-214—54-240. - Reserved.

Sec. 54-211. - Definitions.

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this division, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Assault weapon means:
(1) A semiautomatic rifle that has the capacity to accept a large capacity magazine detachable or otherwise and one or more of the following:
(A) Only a pistol grip without a stock attached;
(B) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand;
(C) A folding, telescoping or thumbhole stock;
(D) A shroud attached to the barrel, or that partially or completely encircles the barrel, allowing the bearer to hold the firearm with the non-trigger hand without being burned, but excluding a slide that encloses the barrel; or
(E) A muzzle brake or muzzle compensator;

(2) A semiautomatic pistol or any semi-automatic rifle that has a fixed magazine, that has the capacity to accept more than ten rounds of ammunition;

(3) A semiautomatic pistol that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has one or more of the following:
(A) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand;
(B) A folding, telescoping or thumbhole stock;
(C) A shroud attached to the barrel, or that partially or completely encircles the barrel, allowing the bearer to hold the firearm with the non-trigger hand without being burned, but excluding a slide that encloses the barrel;
(D) A muzzle brake or muzzle compensator; or
(E) The capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location outside of the pistol grip.

(4) A semiautomatic shotgun that has one or more of the following:
(A) Only a pistol grip without a stock attached;
(B) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand;
(C) A folding, telescoping or thumbhole stock;
(D) A fixed magazine capacity in excess of five rounds; or
(E) An ability to accept a detachable magazine;

(5) Any shotgun with a revolving cylinder.

(6) Conversion kit, part or combination of parts, from which an assault weapon can be assembled if those parts are in the possession or under the control of the same person;

(7) Shall include, but not be limited to, the assault weapons models identified as follows:
(A) The following rifles or copies or duplicates thereof:
(i) AK, AKM, AKS, AK-47, AK-74, ARM, MAK90, Misr, NHM 90, NHM 91, SA 85, SA 93, VEPR;
(ii) AR-10;
(iii) AR-15, Bushmaster XM15, Armalite M15, or Olympic Arms PCR;
(iv) AR70;
(v) Calico Liberty;
(vi) Dragunov SVD Sniper Rifle or Dragunov SVU;
(vii) Fabrique National FN/FAL, FN/LAR, or FNC;
(viii) Hi-Point Carbine;
(ix) HK-91, HK-93, HK-94, or HK-PSG-1;
(x) Kel-Tec Sub Rifle;
(xi) Saiga;
(xii) SAR-8, SAR-4800;
(xiii) SKS with detachable magazine;
(xiv) SLG 95;
(xv) SLR 95 or 96;
(xvi) Steyr AUG;
(xvii) Sturm, Ruger Mini-14;
(xviii) Tavor;
(xix) Thompson 1927, Thompson M1, or Thompson 1927 Commando; or
(xx) Uzi, Galil and Uzi Sporter, Galil Sporter, or Galil Sniper Rifle (Galatz).

(B) The following pistols or copies or duplicates thereof:
(i) Calico M-110;
(ii) MAC-10, MAC-11, or MPA3;
(iii) Olympic Arms OA;
(iv) TEC-9, TEC-DC9, TEC-22 Scorpion, or AB-10; or
(v) Uzi.

(C) The following shotguns or copies or duplicates thereof:
(i) Armscor 30 BG;
(ii) SPAS 12 or LAW 12;
(iii) Striker 12; or
(iv) Streetsweeper.

"Assault weapon" does not include any firearm that has been made permanently inoperable, or satisfies the definition of "antique firearm," stated in this section, or weapons designed for Olympic target shooting events.

Detachable magazine means any ammunition feeding device, the function of which is to deliver one or more ammunition cartridges into the firing chamber, which can be removed from the firearm without the use of any tool, including a bullet or ammunition cartridge.

Large capacity magazine means any ammunition feeding device with the capacity to accept more than ten rounds, but shall not be construed to include the following:
(1) A feeding device that has been permanently altered so that it cannot accommodate more than ten rounds.
(2) A 22 caliber tube ammunition feeding device.
(3) A tubular magazine that is contained in a lever-action firearm.

Muzzle brake means a device attached to the muzzle of a weapon that utilizes escaping gas to reduce recoil.

Muzzle compensator means a device attached to the muzzle of a weapon that utilizes escaping gas to control muzzle movement.

(Ord. No. 93-O-37, § 6-1, 10-19-1993; Ord. No. 93-O-46, § 6-1, 11-16-1993; Ord. No. 94-O-33, 7-6-1994; Ord. No. 99-O-27, Pt. 3(6-1), 11-23-1999; Ord. No. 06-O-50, 11-14-2006.)

 

[xwing]

I think you're playing with fire here. I know that almost all gun dealers and ammo dealers refuse to ship anything to Cook County, due to the very anti-firearm policies there. They do make consider firearms with > 10 rounds illegal. And an upper would generally be considered a firearm.

If you want to "play it safe", ship to IN. And Cook County is known for taking a wide interpretation of the law, when it suits their purposes...

IANAL, and this is just my opinion. But I do live in the county next to cook and work in cook.

 

[smalls]

And an upper would generally be considered a firearm

No. The lower receiver is the "firearm".

 

[rodinal220]

The County ORD only affects un-incorporated Crook County. If your town has home rule powers the clowney rules do not apply. Cabelas has a store in Crook County and you can buy all the AR15s and hi-cap mags you want.

 

[xwing]

No. The lower receiver is the "firearm".

What is the critical piece that makes a "part" a "firearm"?

 

[Spats McGee]

The serial number.

 

[Neo-Luddite]

You're OK--no worries. We can huff and puff about IL, Crook Co, and Chi; find me one example of ANYONE EVER being arrested (and convicted solely) under the Cook Co. AWB. If you can, I've got a double sawski for you.

Youre sending parts, no mags (banned or otherwise), and so on. In the end it's your deal--if it were me (an no, I'm not a lawyer) I wouldn't sweat it apart from the worry of it being 'lost' in the shipping process.

 

[Thiokol]

It's perfectly legal to have an upper shipped to Cook County.