Illinois knife laws question

[Percipient]

Politics are confusing.

I looked up whether or not a knife is legal in IL on the Knife Laws of the 50 States website linked in one of the stickies on this forum. This helped somewhat, but I'm still confused.

Here is the link for IL: http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/il.txt

It says that "A person commits the offense of unlawful use
of weapons when he knowingly... (2) Carries or possesses
with intent to use the same unlawfully against another, a
dagger, dirk, billy, dangerous knife, razor, stiletto,
broken bottle or other piece of glass... or any other
dangerous or deadly weapon of like character..."

This makes it sound like it's OK to carry a knife of any kind as long as you do not intend to hurt anyone with it (which sounds like it's probably not the case, to me. I must be misconceiving.)

Then it goes on to say:
"A person is considered armed with a
dangerous weapon... when he carries on or about his person
or is otherwise armed with a category I or category II
weapon. (b) A category I weapon is a [firearm or] a knife
with a blade at least 3 inches in length, dagger, dirk,
switchblade knife, stiletto, or any other deadly or
dangerous weapon of like character."

But then a little bit after that near the end of the document it mentions explicitly:
"Possession of hunting knife is not a crime; however,
knowingly carrying or possessing dangerous weapon with
intent to use same unlawfully against another constitutes
offense..." (1982)

Isn't a hunting knife bigger than 3 inches? These laws are still kind of confusing to me, I was wondering if anyone could clearly state to me what the laws of IL are. Thanks for your time if you've read this far , and in advance for your help if you offer me any advice,

--Tony

 

[Watchful]

Tony--

In Illinois, it's pretty much all about your intent.

Generally, a knife's blade should be smaller than 3 inches if you're going to keep it on you all the time.

However, a longer blade is allowable if you're using it for an obvious non-criminal purpose such as hunting, work, fishing, yardwork, etc.

Carrying a knife for "whatever" reason is not acceptable: you really need a clear purpose for it. And then, *almost* anything goes, as you recognize.

The three-inch limitation is intended to prevent people from strolling around downtown with a machete.