OC or CCW in the Appalachians

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I will be going to North Carolina this spring for a wedding, after which my wife and I may end up hiking and or camping in the Appalachians with some friends. How much of the trails and such would fall under "National Parks" classification (thus "not allowed")? IMO, NOT having a weapon is crazy between the two legged and four legged critters out there. Would OC (like a rifle or carbine) be allowed there?

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You would have to find a map that shows where exactly the parks are located. If you're having trouble finding said map, I'm sure we can come up with something for you. If the area you're going is an otherwise legal place to carry, there is no law that restricts the open carry of a long gun any more than a short gun .

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I told my wife if we're going to do this, we need to start planning NOW to avoid anything NPS managed or otherwise anti-gun, since as a federal park officer in KY was quoted as saying: “You would have to be a damned fool to be out here unarmed with everything going on these days". If anyone has any suggestions for gun-friendly hiking and camping in the Appalachians in NC, TN or KY (emphasis on TN or KY due to Open carry freindlieness), I'm all ears.

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I'm curious why you don't think NC is open carry friendly?

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Well, I'm not saying it isn't, but TN is "Licensed Open Carry" (meaning my MO CCW will allow OC no problem, and KY is a Gold Star OC State, so no problem there; NC is an "Anomalous Open Carry" which if I understand it right, means there may be legislation in areas making it illegal, like here in Missouri, so TN and KY are the safest, friendliest bets.

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357SigFan wrote:

Well, I'm not saying it isn't, but TN is "Licensed Open Carry" (meaning my MO CCW will allow OC no problem, and KY is a Gold Star OC State, so no problem there; NC is an "Anomalous Open Carry" which if I understand it right, means there may be legislation in areas making it illegal, like here in Missouri, so TN and KY are the safest, friendliest bets.

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The anomalies in NC are few and far between. From my own personal experience, NC is VERY friendly to OC. VA is a gold star OC State, and look at how much law enforcement issues they've been having. Every cop I've run into while carrying has either openly supported me, or acted like it was completely normal.

All I'm sayin is don't write us off so quickly .

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I go to college in the mountains and maybe I can help you out with some off limits places. Where are you attending the wedding at?

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The wedding is going to be in (or near) Salisbury. For hiking/camping, it can be pretty much anywhere between there and KY/MO. I'm going to buy a Hi-Point 9mm carbine to have with me as well.

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In my neck of the woods, the Nantahala National Forest, south of theGreat Smoky Mountains National Parkthere are a lot of places for hiking, camping, etc. butsome of the area is gameland which means that out ofhunting season you may only carry a .22 pistol less than 7.5 inches in length. As long as you follow all of the North Carolina Laws and it is not a gameland you may carry a firearm in a national forest. TheGSMNP is off limits and I'm not too sure about the state parks around here since I rarely visit them. In a camping area in a national forest, regardless if it is a gameland, you may have other firearms for defense of life and property but that becomes a problem when you leave the camping area and go out hiking on a gameland.

Here is a map of the recreation areas of the Pisgah and Nantahala national forest.

Here are the gameland maps for the Nantahalaand PisgahNational Forests so you can make sure that you are not on gamelands.



Does anybody else think that all of this is too much trouble? Maybe we should contact theNCWRC and see about getting some regulations changed for defensive firearms. I would rather the National Forests not be used as Gamelands and be able to effectively defend myself than be able to hunt in them, which I do avidly.Between things like this, our off-limits places, and our wonderful deadly force law,thisstate does not make sense sometimes.