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March 28, 2024

Is Breuder in violation of multiple Illinois gun laws?

By Kirk Allen & John Kraft

On July 2, 2015

DuPage Co. (ECWd)
In an effort to avoid any confusion regarding the illegality of Breuder bringing a firearm onto public property, we are providing this update for clarification, which includes what should be a substantial concern for Mr. Breuder, assuming the rule of law applies in DuPage County.
Although Illinois does consider the gun purchased by Breuder and brought onto school property a firearm by definition, it is possible the Federal Law would not be applicable from a strict application of the definition as it relates to the Gun Free Zone Act. (See previous article with update)
The input provided from a reader in a previous article stated, “It would seem to me that the author is trying to smear Breuder.”
Rest assured the goal is not to smear Breuder, but to expose each and every possible violation of the law he has committed.  I appreciate the reader’s comment that violating board policy does not constitute a crime, however, bringing a firearm onto campus and into an establishment that services alcohol does in fact constitute a crime.
(720 ILCS 5/24-1) (from Ch. 38, par. 24-1)
Sec. 24-1. Unlawful Use of Weapons.
(a) A person commits the offense of unlawful use of weapons when he knowingly:
(8) Carries or possesses any firearm, stun gun or taser or other deadly weapon in any place which is licensed to sell intoxicating beverages, or at any public gathering held pursuant to a license issued by any governmental body or any public gathering at which an admission is charged, excluding a place where a showing, demonstration or lecture involving the exhibition of unloaded firearms is conducted.

A person convicted of a violation of subsection 24-1(a)(8) commits a class 4 felony.

There is no question that this firearm was brought into the Waterleaf restaurant and presented to a person as a gift.  The bringing of that firearm into an establishment that sells intoxicating beverages is in fact a violation of the Criminal Code, section 24-1(a)8.
(10) Carries or possesses on or about his person, upon any public street, alley, or other public lands within the corporate limits of a city, village or incorporated town, except when an invitee thereon or therein, for the purpose of the display of such weapon or the lawful commerce in weapons, or except when on his land or in his own abode, legal dwelling, or fixed place of business, or on the land or in the legal dwelling of another person as an invitee with that person’s permission, any pistol, revolver, stun gun or taser or other firearm, except that this subsection (a) (10) does not apply to or affect transportation of weapons that meet one of the following conditions:
(i) are broken down in a non-functioning state; or
(ii) are not immediately accessible; or
(iii) are unloaded and enclosed in a case, firearm carrying box, shipping box, or other container by a person who has been issued a currently valid Firearm Owner’s Identification Card.
Breuder had the firearm delivered to himself at the COD campus.  Upon receipt of that firearm, he was in possession of a firearm on public land within the corporate limited of the Village of Glen Ellyn.  The three exemptions listed in section 10 appear to not apply in this case because those exemptions are applicable to the transportation of, not the possession of the firearm.
So there is no confusion, there is a distinct difference between possession and transportation.  In section 10, had the legislature wanted to include the exemptions for possession they would have done so as they did in Sec. 24-1.6.(c) which states:
(c) This Section does not apply to or affect the transportation or possession of weapons that:
(i) are broken down in a non-functioning state; or
(ii) are not immediately accessible; or
(iii) are unloaded and enclosed in a case, firearm carrying box, shipping box, or other container by a person who has been issued a currently valid Firearm Owner’s Identification Card.

Considering section (10) is void of the possession language it becomes clear the exemptions listed were specific to transportation of the firearm. 

(c) Violations in specific places.
(1.5) A person who violates subsection 24-1(a)(4), 24-1(a)(9), or 24-1(a)(10) in any school, regardless of the time of day or the time of year, 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 the real property comprising any school, regardless of the time of day or the time of year, 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, in any conveyance owned, leased, or contracted by a school to transport students to or from school or a school related activity, in any conveyance owned, leased, or contracted by a public transportation agency, or on any public way within 1,000 feet of the real property comprising any school, public park, courthouse, public transportation facility, 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 3 felony.
By all indications, the act of Breuder having a firearm shipped to the College Campus and bringing it into the Waterleaf violates multiple state statutes of which a section (10) violation constitutes a class 3 felony while section (8) constitutes a class 4 felony.

As additional research is completed we will update accordingly. 

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