You are technically correct. But the day-to-day facts and actualities are 180 out from any court rulings.
Let's get to the nitty gritty.
Tribal land is sovereign. Enter Indian Country and it is the same as going to Canada, Mrexico or China w/o the need for a passport. They have their own law enforcement.
Your state-issued carry permit, regardless of where issued or by what entity, is NOT VALID on tribal land. That is case law as well as tribal law.
I am going to quote from a friend's blog:
One general rule that actually does exist should be properly understood by all firearms owners visiting Indian lands. This “general rule” is that, for the most part, Indian tribal courts have no jurisdiction over non-Indians. The U.S. Supreme Court unambiguously reached this conclusion in its 1978 Oliphant decision that remains the law of the land. Unfortunately, it is widely misunderstood and recited on various concealed carry firearms websites.
Many of the blogs and websites omit the crucial exceptions to this general rule. Just because the tribal courts do not have jurisdiction over non-Indians, does not mean you have free reign to carry on their lands. Tribal police can stop, detain and eject you, while keeping your guns and ammunition. Even if they do so incorrectly or unlawfully, your recourse may be extremely limited.
Tribal police can stop, detain and eject you, while keeping your guns and ammunition.
The federal courts have made very clear that, although non-Indians cannot be criminally charged in tribal courts, the tribal police can exercise almost all of their law enforcement functions over non-Indians. If you violate Indian gun laws, you can expect to be stopped, detained and questioned. It is also permissible for the tribal law enforcement to eject you from the Indian lands.
This can result in extraordinarily harsh consequences. For example, in United States v. Terry, the tribal police arrested a non-Indian for unlawful possession of a firearm. He was arrested on a number of tribal charges, had his ammunition and firearm seized, spent the night in jail and was then transported 80 miles to a state law enforcement official. No doubt, Mr. Terry found little comfort in the fact that the tribe had “no jurisdiction” over him.
Further, the tribal police can hold you while they investigate your status as a non-Indian to see if they actually have jurisdiction. In U.S. v. Keys, Mr. Keys, a non-Indian, was kept in jail for 3 days during this process. The court ultimately ruled that this was too long, but this would obviously be of almost no consolation after spending 3 nights in custody.
A more complicated issue is the seizure of your weapon and ammunition. The confiscation of your weapon could technically be the wrongful seizure of your property. Unfortunately, your only remedy would be go to the tribal court and ask for its return. For the most part, you cannot go to a state court to ask a judge to release it to you (even if you could, the attorneys’ fees and filing fees could easily exceed the value of the firearm).
The important point here is that the general rule – Indian tribes lack jurisdiction over non-Indians – means very little in the context of carrying a weapon on Indian lands. At most it means you will be spared significant prison time on the reservation. At worst it means your arrest, detention, the loss of your firearm and ammunition, and your eventual transportation to state law enforcement for prosecution. This will vary tribe to tribe and state to state, so please do your research before attempting to carry your gun on Indian lands.
I personally got interested in the tribal land thing when I saw a documentary either on Discovery or Nat. Geographic where a citizen was stopped for a minor traffic offense on Indian Land, but while on a state highway that transversed same, (somewhere in the SW USA) and he was arrested, cuffed, turned over to the state police and subsequently ticketed and the driver ended up paying a $174 fine to the tribe for improper display (or whatever) of a firearm. Tribal law required the pistol to be disassembled during transport. Indian cops have full arrest power on their sovereign land regardless of who you are. Also witness what the FL Miccosukee tribe in the Big Cypress (Tamiami Trail-U.S. 41) were doing a few years ago (under the guise of "homeland security") and where both Tal and Miami-Dade had no power to stop them.
A person possessing arms at his or her home or place of business
