Guns aren’t illegal in Chicago
CLAIM: Guns, including handguns, are illegal in Chicago.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. While Chicago has strict gun laws, it is not illegal to own most guns, including handguns, in the city. Guns considered to be “assault weapons,” such as certain semi-automatic rifles, and “ghost” guns, which are privately-made firearms without serial numbers, are banned in the city.
THE FACTS: Following last week’s shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman fatally shot 19 children and two teachers, politicians and social media users claimed that Chicago, Illinois, is an example of an area with strict yet ineffective firearm laws that don’t stop gun violence.
During a May 25 press conference, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said tough gun laws in Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago don’t work, The Associated Press reported.
Others claimed that guns are illegal in Chicago. At the National Rifle Association Convention in Houston on May 27, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said, “Gun bans do not work. Look at Chicago. If they worked, Chicago wouldn’t be the murder hellhole that it has been for far too long.”
The claim also spread on social media. One Twitter user wrote in a May 26 tweet that: “Guns are illegal in Chicago. Chicago has major gun crime every weekend. Explain that, libs.” The post gained more than 16,000 likes.
But the suggestion that all types of guns are illegal in Chicago is incorrect.
“This claim is simply false,” Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “Guns are not illegal in Chicago.”
While Chicago approved a ban on handgun ownership in 1982, the measure was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010, the AP reported in 2018.
“Handguns are as legal in Chicago as they are in Dallas,” said John Donohue III, a law professor at Stanford University.
Still, gun laws in Chicago and Illinois are strict. In Illinois, background checks and permits are required for purchasing firearms, according to Jody Madeira, a law professor at Indiana University Bloomington. Untraceable so-called “ghost guns” are also banned. Both Chicago and Cook County, which includes the city, have also separately banned guns considered to be assault weapons, such as certain semi-automatic rifles.
States like California and New York generally have stricter gun laws than Illinois, experts say. Both states have limited access to concealed carry permits, while in Illinois it is easier to access a concealed permit, for instance.
“Gun laws in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York are all stricter,” Madeira told the AP in reference to Chicago’s gun laws.
As the AP has previously reported, federal data shows that California, Illinois and New York experience lower per capita firearm death rates than Texas, which has less stringent gun laws.
Illinois’ proximity to other states with less restrictive gun laws contributes to gun violence that occurs in Chicago, experts say. The majority of guns recovered in Chicago that are used or possessed illegally are traced back to other states with less gun regulation, such as Indiana, according to a 2017 report published by Chicago city government. The report found that the trends have been consistent over the past decade, the AP reported in 2018.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.