This post at D.A. Confidential includes a link to a list of “The 6 Most Badass Skills You Can Learn in Under a Week.” Skill number 4 is lock picking, and the article refers to a Lock Picking School In A Box. which sounds like something you could make yourself by taking a lock apart.
I’ve always been fascinated by things like lock picking and safe cracking, and maybe some day I’ll take the time to learn more about it. Of course, I’d probably have to have some lock picks to do that, which got me wondering what the laws are on possession of lock picking tools. If only I knew a lawyer I could ask…
This seemed like a good time to try another question for Avvo Answers—Avvo’s forum where lawyers earn points by answering questions for free. The last time I tried this, it didn’t work out too well. The first lawyer pulled an answer out of his butt, and the second lawyer—Illinois criminal defense lawyer Jeremy Richey—was able to give the answer I was looking for only after we talked about it a bit here on the blog.
Is it legal to own lock picks in Illinois?
Chicago, IL
And it it’s legal, are there places where you’re not supposed to have them? In particular, does Chicago have different laws?
[typos in my original question]
Now let’s see if anyone provides any interesting answers.
Update: I’ve posted about a response.
JR says
I am staying out of it this time. If I didn’t, we would more or less repeat the last experiment. :)
Mark Draughn says
Darn. I was counting on your response to help me pad the blog.
As it turns out, another Avvo Answers lawyer provided me with some material for the next post in this series.