Thursday, November 10, 2005

Boomsticks: A gun in the car.

Via Alphecca, we see that Utah is attempting to loosen restrictions on transporting loaded firearms in vehicles. Having spent most of my life in Georgia, which has fairly sensible laws on that point, you can imagine my surprise on finding that Tennessee had such byzantine rules on transporting firearms. I'd wager that I spend fifteen minutes out of every workday trying to explain the easily misinterpreted Tennessee law to customers. It's written vaguely enough that if a prosecutor really wanted to, he could probably nail you for having your ammo in the same range bag as your unloaded pistol if you don't have a toter's permit, although in practice, simply having accoutrements like pistol cases and range bags generally marks you as one of the good guys. Here's hoping that the good guys win in Utah, and that we can get an equally sensible law here in TN.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha, in Maryland, you are breaking the law if you stop at the burger fling drive-thru on your way home from the range.

I was told at the range that state troopers regularly stake out people at the range and follow them home just to see if they are complying with the law. If they can, they will arrest you to pump up their “guns off the street” count.

I feel safer already. You see, it's not about gun violence, it's about getting guns off the street, and your guns will do just fine.

cite: http://www.packing.org/state/maryland/#statecar_law

Anonymous said...

Used to be like that in Texas... what it is like in Maryland, but they finally made it legal to carry in your car, regardless of where you are. It is treated like an extension of your house now (about darn time).

As for the rest... it is so expensive to get a CHL here that it is insane. The total cost approaches pretty close to $300. It baffles me, since this is SUPPOSED to be Texas, a state where guns are everywhere, if you listen to the media... oh well.

Anonymous said...

All the smart people in TN get their CHPs, so we can transport our weapons any way we dang well please?

What was that line about turning a right into a privilege and attaching a fee?

I think I'ma go pick up an SKS for the trunk this weekend at the Jackson show. :)

-Paul Simer

Anonymous said...

Windaria, can you explore getting an out of state license that's accepted in Texas? Packing.org is really good for that.
There's apparently a small town in South Dakota or somewhere that caters to the RV crowd by making it easy to register to be a citizen of the state and town. The tax laws are favorable and the vehicle permit and license fees are low, something like $8 a year for a RV. All that's required is a 2 day stay in the town's RV parks.
Won't help me in Maryland, though. Although Maryland does issue some carry licenses, they are likely plated with pure unobtainum because they are so rare.
By some legal mojo, Maryland will accept your out-of-state marriage license, or your out-of-state license plate, but not your carry license.