DrakeZ07
Regular Member
Hello y'all, I had just got back from camping in the Red River Gorge, and had an odd encounter with two different LEO's at two different locations in the gorge, and wanted to share it with you all. The encounter was friendly, but left me rather confused, the two encounters are as follows;
1. While setting up my tent at a camp site along a small creek, I had my .45 Revolver on my hip and in plain sight, loaded of course, like I always do when camping in the woods anywhere. A Ranger LEO pulled up to check my parking pass, and cleared it, then noticed my revolver. He asked; "Is that loaded?" I responded with a "Yes sir". He told me "It's illegal to carry a loaded firearm in a national forest, unload it and keep the ammo separate" With him knowing I'm a resident. He watched me unload it, put the ammo in my tent, then drove off.
It was my impression that openly carrying a sidearm while loaded in a holster with a guard-strap over the hammer was fine as long as you wasn't drinking.
2. The next day, was driving to a swimming hole, and had to drive through the Nada tunnel, there was a different Ranger LEO doing a traffic check; Came up to me, gave him my Insurance, License, etc, he checked it out, and gave it back to me. He sees my Revolver sitting in plain and open view, within it's holster, on a lil shelf on my dash board, just out of arms reach from me. Same question as the last LEO; "is that loaded?" My reply being "No, It's unloaded" (I don't keep my sidearms loaded in my vehicle unless I'm in an unfamiliar city ). He told me in a matter-of-fact tone; "You cannot have a firearm in the open like that, it has to be in the glove-box, or on the seat" and gave me a written warning.
Again, It was my understanding you could legally have an unloaded sidearm in plain view in your vehicle as long as its outside of arm reach or something to that effect.
Am I just wrong, or (as my gut tells me) are these LEO's mistaken?
I remember Obama passing some sort of law a while back that allowed carry in National Parks, does that not extend to National Forests?
Sorry for the long post, Wanted to give plenty of details; And thank you in advanced for any insight, comments, or corrections
1. While setting up my tent at a camp site along a small creek, I had my .45 Revolver on my hip and in plain sight, loaded of course, like I always do when camping in the woods anywhere. A Ranger LEO pulled up to check my parking pass, and cleared it, then noticed my revolver. He asked; "Is that loaded?" I responded with a "Yes sir". He told me "It's illegal to carry a loaded firearm in a national forest, unload it and keep the ammo separate" With him knowing I'm a resident. He watched me unload it, put the ammo in my tent, then drove off.
It was my impression that openly carrying a sidearm while loaded in a holster with a guard-strap over the hammer was fine as long as you wasn't drinking.
2. The next day, was driving to a swimming hole, and had to drive through the Nada tunnel, there was a different Ranger LEO doing a traffic check; Came up to me, gave him my Insurance, License, etc, he checked it out, and gave it back to me. He sees my Revolver sitting in plain and open view, within it's holster, on a lil shelf on my dash board, just out of arms reach from me. Same question as the last LEO; "is that loaded?" My reply being "No, It's unloaded" (I don't keep my sidearms loaded in my vehicle unless I'm in an unfamiliar city ). He told me in a matter-of-fact tone; "You cannot have a firearm in the open like that, it has to be in the glove-box, or on the seat" and gave me a written warning.
Again, It was my understanding you could legally have an unloaded sidearm in plain view in your vehicle as long as its outside of arm reach or something to that effect.
Am I just wrong, or (as my gut tells me) are these LEO's mistaken?
I remember Obama passing some sort of law a while back that allowed carry in National Parks, does that not extend to National Forests?
Sorry for the long post, Wanted to give plenty of details; And thank you in advanced for any insight, comments, or corrections