Taking gun camping

[mbarker]

In a few weeks I will be camping in Loft mountain campground in the Shenandoah National Park. I wanted to take a handgun with me in case there is a range near by. Will it be illegal to have one in my vehicle while camping?

 

[jac43k]

see here: http://www.vsp.state.va.us/Firearms.shtm

 

[mbarker]

see here: http://www.vsp.state.va.us/Firearms.shtm

Looks like its ok as long as it is in a case, unloaded and not hidden.

 

[NOVA A]

With a VA Concealed Carry Permit, or one that VA recognizes, you can carry concealed in National Parks now, just not in the buildings. So, those visitor Centers and such are off limits.

 

[jimbobborg]

Looks like its ok as long as it is in a case, unloaded and not hidden.

If it's cased, you can stick it in your trunk or your luggage.

Jim

 

[Cowboy T]

With a VA Concealed Carry Permit, or one that VA recognizes, you can carry concealed in National Parks now, just not in the buildings. So, those visitor Centers and such are off limits.

That in and of itself is good reason enough to get a concealed carry permit. One time in Shenandoah Nat'l Park, I had the good fortune to meet a black bear--from about 40 feet away. He was just minding his own business, and I just let him! Slowly backed away, he didn't even seem to care, which was very good. However, it would've been nice to have a little extra insurance that time.

 

[Half-cocked]

I have run into black bears at SNP on trails, in picnic areas, and in campgrounds. They have always been as happy to keep their distance from us, as we are from them. I think you'd have to really try hard to piss one off, before it would attack someone. Although I'd love to CC on the trails, honestly I worry more about 2-legged predators than anything on 4 legs.

 

[jimbobborg]

honestly I worry more about 2-legged predators than anything on 4 legs.

This. Does anyone remember the serial killer who was working the Appalachian Trail? And it's easy to make you "disappear" out there.

Jim

 

[Half-cocked]

This. Does anyone remember the serial killer who was working the Appalachian Trail? And it's easy to make you "disappear" out there.

Jim

I remember a girl couple, 12-13 years ago, were murdered by some deliverance-type, lesbian-hating wackjob, while backcountry camping in SNP. Are they the killings you're talking about?

 

[mrjam2jab]

Looks like its ok as long as it is in a case, unloaded and not hidden.

Does not have to be unloaded. You can have it loaded in a glove box or console.

§ 18.2-308. Personal protection; carrying concealed weapons; when lawful to carry.

Except as provided in subsection J1, this section shall not apply to:

10. Any person who may lawfully possess a firearm and is carrying a handgun while in a personal, private motor vehicle or vessel and such handgun is secured in a container or compartment in the vehicle or vessel.

 

[montoya32]

I remember a girl couple, 12-13 years ago, were murdered by some deliverance-type, lesbian-hating wackjob, while backcountry camping in SNP. Are they the killings you're talking about?

I think it was in Southern Va. I was in the park at the time roughly 14-15 years ago and someone was murdered. I was near Old Rag/White Oak Canyon and we got the news from a ranger or restaurant owner.

 

[BenL]

This. Does anyone remember the serial killer who was working the Appalachian Trail? And it's easy to make you "disappear" out there.

Jim

From Wikipedia:

In 1981, the issue of violence on the Appalachian Trail received national attention when Robert Mountford Jr. and Laura Susan Ramsay, both social workers in Ellsworth, Maine, were murdered by Randall Lee Smith.[38] Another homicide occurred in May 1996, when two women were abducted, bound and murdered near the trail in Shenandoah National Park. The primary suspect was later discovered harassing a female bicycler in the vicinity,[39] but charges against him were dropped, and the case remains unsolved.[40]

Having completed fifteen years in prison,[41] on May 6, 2008, Randall Lee Smith, the killer of Mountford and Ramsay in 1981, shot two fishermen near the trail in Giles County, Virginia, not far from the site of his 1981 murder; he then stole their pickup truck but crashed it and was imprisoned.

 

[jimbobborg]

I remember a girl couple, 12-13 years ago, were murdered by some deliverance-type, lesbian-hating wackjob, while backcountry camping in SNP. Are they the killings you're talking about?

Yes, that's the case.

Jim

 

[Thaimonkee]

As mentioned I think you are allowed to carry in state parks if you have a carry permit.

 

[...]

This. Does anyone remember the serial killer who was working the Appalachian Trail? And it's easy to make you "disappear" out there.

Jim

If you shoot them in the head they usually stop. And wtf? working the trail? As if serial killer is an actual job with a salary. That is pretty funny.

 

[mica]

As mentioned I think you are allowed to carry in state parks if you have a carry permit.

Shenandoah National Park is not a State Park.


Open carry is legal in Va so it is legal in SNP also. I OC'd there once,even had a chat with a Ranger while OC'ing, no problems.