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Legal Information: Illinois

State Gun Laws

Updated: 
January 23, 2024

What is the definition of a felony?

Throughout these gun law pages, we will refer to gun laws that make it illegal for someone convicted of a felony to have a gun. A felony is a more serious crime than a misdemeanor.

Under Illinois state law, a felony is a crime that is punishable by a sentence of one year or more in a penitentiary.1 However, you cannot always tell if someone was convicted of a felony only by looking at the amount of time s/he actually served in prison since sentences are often reduced or plead down. If you are unsure if the abuser was convicted of a felony, you might want to talk to the prosecutor who handled the criminal case against the abuser to find out or go to the courthouse and search the conviction records.

1 720 ILCS 5/2-7

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