sgt23preston
USMC LLA. NRA Life Member
I would keep my gun completely out of sight & UNLOADED...
Hello I spend a lot my summers on the boat. It can be weeks at a time. I’d really like to have something with me for personal defense.
How does MD treat a boat? Like a car? Like a house? Something else. My primary residence is in MD so all my guns meet MD laws. I do not have a carry permit. My father lived on his boat so had his guns on his boat but my boat is treated like a second home for tax purposes. For reference it’s 37’ with two cabins one bathroom and a full galley.
Thanks for any info
I forgot to add that I keep signal flares with the shotgun ammo on a bandoleer.Hello I spend a lot my summers on the boat. It can be weeks at a time. I’d really like to have something with me for personal defense.
How does MD treat a boat? Like a car? Like a house? Something else. My primary residence is in MD so all my guns meet MD laws. I do not have a carry permit. My father lived on his boat so had his guns on his boat but my boat is treated like a second home for tax purposes. For reference it’s 37’ with two cabins one bathroom and a full galley.
Thanks for any info
I forgot to add that I keep signal flares with the shotgun ammo on a bandoleer.
I have a similar boat, 36 albin. I do a pump shotgun unloaded until were anchored for the night. The worst part for me is carrying the gun to the boat on a busy saturday at the marina. I think a pistol would be legal while anchored or living aboard but could get funny while moving so I just avoid that whole issue.
I
If you carry a pistol and do not have a CCW it shall be unloaded and ammo separate, along with either a trigger lock or holstered in a secure location.
If boarded by the USCG you must notify them that weapons are aboard and when boarding the USCG will ask if weapons are aboard. The USCG follows Federal laws and unless you are doing something stupid like BWI or acting a fool you will be OK. Title 14 section 2 USC ,522 all active duty Officers and Petty Officers are Federal Police Officers and are not subject to the Posse Comitatus Act. Also, 14U.S.C. 1401 they are also Federal Custom Officers
I think he meant while on duty, not while travelling personally.
No. The only Coast Guard positions who can fly armed for work AND personally are their credentialed Investigators. Those are the true LEO's of The Coast Guard. A supply Officer cannot, for example, fly carrying a pistol he is taking to some duty station somewhere.
The Coast Guard could give everyone in the service credentials saying they are "Federal Officers", but they don't. Not 1 of the 100's(probably low 1,000s) of Officers and Agents on any of my flights over the years was there ever "A non CIS commissioned Coast Guard officer". If there had been, I would not have let him on the flight. Because they are not credentialed Federal LEOs.
What about a kayak?
The facts below, I have traveled by air and armed under orders and you would not have a choice.
Title 14 USC, section 2 authorizes the Coast Guard to enforce U.S. federal laws. This authority is further defined in*14*U.S.C.*§*522, which gives law enforcement powers to all Coast Guard commissioned officers, warrant officers, and petty officers. Unlike the other branches of the*United States Armed Forces, which are prevented from acting in a law enforcement capacity by*18*U.S.C.*§*1385, the*Posse Comitatus Act, and*Department of Defense*policy, the Coast Guard is exempt from and not subject to the restrictions of the Posse Comitatus Act.
Further law enforcement authority is given by*14*U.S.C.*§*703*and*19*U.S.C.*§*1401, which empower U.S. Coast Guard active and reserve commissioned officers, warrant officers, and petty officers as federal*customs officers. This places them under*19*U.S.C.*§*1589a, which grants customs officers general federal law enforcement authority, including the authority to:
(1) carry a firearm;
(2) execute and serve any order, warrant, subpoena, summons, or other process issued under the authority of the United States;
(3) make an arrest without a warrant for any offense against the United States committed in the officer's presence or for a felony, cognizable under the laws of the United States committed outside the officer's presence if the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing a felony; and
(4) perform any other law enforcement duty that the Secretary of Homeland
Security may designate.
— 19 USC §1589a. Enforcement authority of customs officers
The U.S.*Government Accountability Office*Report to the*House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary on its 2006 Survey of Federal Civilian Law Enforcement Functions and Authorities, identified the Coast Guard as one of 104 federal components that employed*law enforcement officers. The report also included a summary table of the authorities of the Coast Guard's 192 special agents and 3,780 maritime law enforcement boarding officers.
Coast Guardsmen have the legal authority to carry their service-issued firearms on and off base. This is rarely done in practice, however; at many Coast Guard stations, commanders prefer to have all service-issued weapons in armories when not in use. Still, one court has held in the case of*People v. Booth*that Coast Guard boarding officers are qualified law enforcement officers authorized to carry personal firearms off-duty for self-defense.