Almost weekly, we see television reports where the Chicago Police Superintendent, or some politician, stands by a table full of firearms and says that they have taken some large number of illegal firearms off the streets of Chicago. While the police may have confiscated a large number of firearms, only a small portion might be considered to be truly illegal. Illegal weapons are things like sawed-off shotguns, fully automatic firearms, weapons with the serial numbers filed off, et cetera. They are generally not the types of weapons displayed on television.
What is going on is that the weapon is labeled “illegal”—when it’s a specific individual carrying the weapon that is the illegal act. Illinois residents who don't have a FOID card cannot possess a firearm. People under 18 cannot have a handgun. Possession of ammunition without a FOID card is illegal for Illinois residents. Carrying a concealed weapon, though not illegal because of a court order, is not legal because the state has not yet issued the required permits. This has resulted the legalistic limbo of having a constitutional right, while a state bureaucracy is dragging its feet and preventing the legal exercise of that right.