Guns OK in Car Center Consoles in Illinois

&&&&&EMBEDDED_ELEMENT_START&&&&& {“id”:1420668666583,”originalName”:”2015_03_04_17_01_03_787_http___blogs_cars_com__a_6a00d83451b3c669e20120a625cc2b970c_800wi”,”name”:”MMS ID 47141 (created by CM Utility)”,”URI”:”/95/-1320260653-1425510064395.”,”createDate”:”2015-03-04 05:01:04″,”metadata”:{“AUTHOR”:”automatic-content-migration”,”KEYWORDS”:””},”href”:”https://www.cstatic-images.com/stock/1170×1170/95/-1320260653-1425510064395.”,”description”:”Came from http://blogs.cars.com/.a/6a00d83451b3c669e20120a625cc2b970c-800wi”,”externalid”:”47141″,”updatedby”:”cmuadmin”,”updateddate”:1425511427494,”associations”:{}} &&&&&EMBEDDED_ELEMENT_END&&&&&

Automakers have been enlarging the compartments in center consoles, which sit between the driver and passenger seats, to answer requests from owners for more storage space for phones, glasses and assorted items. The size wars got so intense that some automakers built these compartments large enough to fit laptop computers. Kelsey Mays shows you how big such a console is in the 2010 GMC Terrain at the two minute mark in the video below.

One use automakers probably didn’t think of for these cubbyholes is to carry guns.

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that these compartments can be defined as “cases” in terms of gun laws, which require a gun to be in a case when transported in a car. A man had been sentenced to two years in prison for carrying two guns in his center console.

Ill. court OKs storing guns in car consoles (ChicagoTribune)