And yeah, it's only Illinois but this sucks balls.

Stopped at a LGS this morning to see if they had the Sig P320 X-Compact and the X-Carry to compare. They had sold their last X-carry and had 2 on order. The X-compact was currently unavailable through their distributors.

I had my wife with me and we hit the road for Plainfield Il, some 90 or so miles southeast, near Joliet. Plainfield is the home of Mega Sport which is the largest gun store in Illinois that I'm aware of.
Mega had one X-Carry and several X-Compacts on the shelf. This is a store that due, I suppose, to their proximity to Chicago has a lot of stuff that smaller shops don't, but their prices also seem to reflect their proximity to the city. Everything seem to be priced about 8-10% above what I'd expect to pay at home.
They also rent a good selection of guns, and I have come here before to rent before I decided to buy. The range is currently closed and being renovated while the store is under pandemic restriction. Still, they had what I was interested in and I was able to look at and handle them.

My usual routine is to either compare guns, or rent and fire them at Mega, then return home and order from the LGS. Today, because the LGS had voiced uncertainty as to availability of what I wanted, I had decided to purchase at Mega, even though the price was higher and IL 3 day waiting period would mean a second 180 mile round trip to pick up my purchase.

I told the sales guy I'd take the X-Compact, and he directed me around the case to a computer and sales station. He took my ID and gave me a form with the store's letterhead on it. There was a lot of info about Illinois laws and requirements, and also a lot of safety stuff and disclaimers. At the bottom of the form was a place to sign, and also places to list your vocation, and your reason for purchasing the firearm.
I scribbled a signature and listed my vocation as a millwright. On the line for reason to buy I simply wrote the word "personal".
Now the sales guy is watching me fill this out and he informed me that they required an actual reason for the sale in order for it to be completed. Guy was young, but seemed to be respectful. He explained that now that the state licenses firearms dealers that they (the state) required this information. I don't know if it's bullshit or what, but I've bought guns in a couple of other places since the state licensing law was passed and gave no such information. And like I said, this wasn't a state form, but on a store letterhead.

I told the guy that my reasons were my own and I didn't owe the state or the store any explanations. Told him that he could complete the sale or I'd be glad to buy elsewhere. He made a phone call, then came back and said that the store's compliance manager had declined the sale.

And the story just updated this very minute as my youngest son stopped, on his way home from work, at our nearby LGS to do paperwork on a Glock 20 he has ordered. He told me that he filled out the same type of form when the store requested it.

Alarmed I am...

Do you have a sense for what would constitute an acceptable answer? "Target practice?" "Hunting?"

Yeah, the kid told me several times that about any answer would do. I offered to change my vocation to "Ninja" and my purpose for buying as "Assassination".

Kid told me that personal defense, collecting, target work or hunting were all acceptable answers.

He did stress that "Sales" as vocation, and "Security" as purpose was not acceptable. Indicated you were selling illicit drugs.

I just don't care why they're asking, or what they consider acceptable.

UFO Hunter.
Self defense against anal probing aliens.

Fixed that for ya...

My wife asked me awhile back when we were looking for a new house about also looking across the river in Illinois as well as here in Iowa. I replied that I would NEVER consider living in Illinois. Period. Sorry to hear about your experience.
The X Compact is a great gun and you will enjoy it when you get one. My opinion but I think Sig is doing a whole lot of things right lately. I had stepped away from plastic guns for awhile but have bought 3 Sigs in the last two years. They have all been fantastic.

I think that the frog (Illinois’ citizens) has acclimated to the Near-boiling hot water and this won’t be met with any more resistance than the last little push toward tyranny.

And no, that isn’t a slap at you or your friends and family in the state but a warning to us all.

Good thing we own guns.

I can’t even buy ammo across the border anymore

As long as folks comply, stores like that will facilitate the State’s quest for information. If everyone refused to answer, the store’s “compliance manager” would be out of work.

I was going to buy a Ruger Old Army black powder revolver from Simpson's. They said it had to be shipped to an FFL because of their laws.... I noticed a while back they still have that gun. I hope they can still sell a revolver in Illinois, but I won't buy one from them. Black powder guns are allowed to be sold in free states without licensing etc. I don't even want to drive across IL to get elsewhere farther east. I drove way south to Tennessee last time I had to go east. Be Well from the so far not commie state of Misery, Rustyzipper.

They should be sued for violating your civil rights.

I can see why you think that but I'd bet there's a court battle coming. We'da been rolled flat decades ago if it weren't for the ISRA.

100% agree about the ISRA! Very worthwhile organization, I tell every IL gun owner they need to join them. I'm about a half hour or so from Mega Sports and have thought about there but haven't yet, Second Amendment Sports in McHenry is pretty good. Bought a nice W German all matching Sig P228 there right before all this covid crap started, don't remember a store form like that.

Target practice, hunting, self defense.... all legal reasons. Whats to hide?

It's not about hiding anything, it's about yet another intrusion. I would think you'd understand that being from NY.

The standard "what's to hide" and then using it against you

I guess the only two reasons I can think of to buy a gun are shooting or collecting.

I’m so glad to be out of NYS and in SC where I can just go buy a gun without a lot of government interference.

NY is a mess with their handgun restrictions. You need a state permit and it goes by county. The county judges, over the years, have been allowed to slap all sorts of arbitrary and capricious restrictions on those permits. There’s been little or no consistency.

My hats off to you guys who live in places like Illinois. I would of taken the easy route and moved out a long time ago.

I was born and raised here, my family goes back generations here. And now have raised my family here and have grandchildren here. Most times, things are more easily said than done. I'd really like to get out of here now, things are just getting worse and worse and unfortunately, Chicago does run this state and it's pitiful and maddening. And for now, I'm caring for elderly parents and can't/won't put them through a move. But hoping to some day...

Closing the barn door after the horse is gone.


I run into this all the time when people find out about a gun law. I hear... "When did that happen?"

12 years ago.
23 years ago.
51 years ago.
109 years ago..

"WHERE THE F@#K YOU BEEN!!??"

Business in your business. Geez.

And people watched in dumbfounded wonder while I stocked up when I did..

Still plenty of people fighting the fight here, every day. All gun owners in IL need to join the ISRA, very worthwhile organization. I was an IL DNR Hunter Safety Instructor for many years, over 20. Somehow, when Rod Blagojevich was governor, his Lt. Governor, Sheila Simon, personally contacted me and asked me to be involved in her "gun safety" discussions and panel. It amounted to nothing, and eventually, I think they were sorry they asked me to be involved. But for me, it was a front row seat to just how illogical things can be.

The only solution is to move. Illinois will not stop until they make firearms illegal. The only thing this state will listen to is the loss of tax revenue.

On reflection, I shoulda been more prepared for the way this particular place did business.

City Place... City Ways....

There was a sign on the entry door that cell phone usage was prohibited inside. OK, I don't really mind that, but i'd dropped my wife off at a store 10 minutes away, and if she called, I was gonna answer.

Inside the entry there's a gateway and they ask for your ID on entry. Ok with that, as it's their place, their rules. The gal who checked my ID told me that cell phone conversations were not allowed. I told her that If my wife called I would answer. She seemed OK with that.

When I told the sales guy I'd take the Sig, he asked how I'd be paying. I asked if a debit card was OK. He replied, "And does this card have your name on it?" It was at that point that I realized I was in a different sort of place.

As the sales guy started getting paper work out, he told me that at this point there were no cell phone conversations, text messaging or picture taking allowed. I just stared at him. He started to say it again, and I just held my "wait a minute" hand up. I asked him why. He said it was to prevent communication between straw buyers and their buying agent.
At that moment it started to feel like a state operated facility, and I gotta say I was ready to go before the "compliance manager" shut things down.

Big nice place, with lots of neat guns and accessories.And not just handguns either. the had racks full of beretta and franchi shotguns It's a large place with probably half their wall space showcasing long guns. And a lot of them high end.
The entire center floor area is devoted to handguns. If you've ever heard of it, and it's still in production, they've probably got one on the shelf.

If there was a place like this outside of the Chicago influence sphere, it'd be a stellar experience. I've enjoyed several trips there to look at stuff and rent guns/use their range.

Probably never darken their doorway again...

Yeah, the political situation in Illinois sucks. Controversial laws tend to get passed in the "Lameduck" session just after an election, when they can no longer be an issue in the election.

I don't know when the law was passed subjecting modern-made muzzle-loaders to the same regs as breechloaders, but it was done quietly, some time in the last 30 years, as those kinds of regulatory details will get sneaked through without much fanfare. Maybe during the lameduck session, or maybe in the rush to get things (like the state budget)passed at the end of the legislative session May 31.

The problem is not just that the Chicago political establishment owns the state legislature, but also that the media in Illinois is in bed and on board with the Chicago agenda. In 2019 the ISRA held its annual Lobby Day, and the ISRA organizers claimed 8000 people showed up. Maybe that was an optimistic number, but I was there and I would have to guess there were at least five or six thousand there. It was a lot of people in downtown Springfield. Yet it got little attention in the media state-wide: a short piece in the Springfield paper, and a couple other papers around the state(but not in the Chicago metro area, of course). A month later, though, the local central Illinois newspaper in my hometown carried a story on page one, with a photo, of an anti-gun rally backing a measure by a suburban legislator to raise FOID card fees and require applicants submit fingerprints. Might have been 150-200 people at that rally. I'd guess the yahoos that edit the local paper here had no idea of the ISRA event because Capitol News Service Illinois didn't run a story on it. Capitol News is the wire service supplying state-government news to papers outside the Chicago area. One of the editorial honchos at is a character named Rich Miller who has a blog on which he belittles anyone, individual, group, legislator, or activist who dissents from the Chicago-establishment line. A real pr**k, in my opinion. And, no doubt considers himself a "real journalist". Check out his blog "Capitol Fax" if you want raise your blood pressure sometime.