[Webleymkv]

THORN74, you are technically correct as far as I can tell. The key to IL law, as I read it, is "intent". The thing that worries me is how vaugley "intent" could be interpreted. I'm really not particularly worried about Champaign-Urbana itself as I am about some of the smaller towns nearby such as Monticello, Tuscola, Atwood, and Bement. Some of these smaller towns have some, shall we say, overly zealous police officers (this comes from firsthand experience as I grew up in that area) and I can see them wanting to hassle someone driving a car with out-of-state plates. My line of thinking is that it would be easier to establish "intent" with a fixed-blade, double-edged fighting knife such as my Cold Steel than it would with a single-edged, general purpose folder like my Kershaw.

Honestly, I don't really think any charges stemming from me carrying my Cold Steel would be likely to stick given how vauge "intent" is, but the hassle that would be involved just isn't worth it to me when it could be so easily avoided.