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We are planning an extended trip this summer pulling our travel travel up into the New York & New England area(Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, etc). Both my wife and I have our CHL and of plan on carrying our weapons. We know which states we can carry in and which ones we can't. We plan on driving through Illinois, but we know what to do there. Will we be OK disarming and keeping our weapons in the travel trailer for the states like New York where we plan on staying for close to week? We will be staying in the Buffalo area. We also plan on visiting Canada, but of course we will leave our weapons on the US side. After that we plan to relocate our trailer to the Vermont area, and use that a base to visit the other New england states on day trips.

If I have posted this in the wrong spot, my apologies and mods should feel free to move it.

Marty

Marty,

If you plan on staying in NY even overnight, much less a week, I wouldn't bring a gun through the NY State. Not sure that you'd be covered under FOPA for up to a week.

"The best way to travel through NY or any state that has restriction is to carry a copy of Title 18-Part 1- Chapter 44 926A of the federal code with you. Some law enforcement may not know the law. DO keep the firearm in a locked box. Keep ammo in another locked box. No ammo in Magazines or speed loaders in the trunk or if no trunk as far back in the vehicle as possible in a locked box. By NY Law if you are traveling across the state and can legally possess the firearm where you started and where you are going you can transport it as above. But if you stop in NY and spend the night in a motel/hotel/camp ground etc you are in violation of NY law and can be arrested if found with a firearm. Stopping for gas and food would most likely be OK but this is not a given in NY."

http://www.handgunlaw.us/states/newyork.pdf

Be aware of mag capacity restrictions in some States, even if you're just passing through...

We plan on stopping to disarm, unload the weapons and store in lock boxes in the trailer before crossing into New York state. As far as not staying in New York we attending a reunion of the crew of the ship I served on while in the Navy. We did the same thing a few years ago when we visited California. Left the guns in lock boxes in the bottom of our suitcases in our hotel room. This time the guns will be in our travel trailer.

parabelum wrote:Marty,

If you plan on staying in NY even overnight, much less a week, I wouldn't bring a gun through the NY State. Not sure that you'd be covered under FOPA for up to a week.

"The best way to travel through NY or any state that has restriction is to carry a copy of Title 18-Part 1- Chapter 44 926A of the federal code with you. Some law enforcement may not know the law. DO keep the firearm in a locked box. Keep ammo in another locked box. No ammo in Magazines or speed loaders in the trunk or if no trunk as far back in the vehicle as possible in a locked box. By NY Law if you are traveling across the state and can legally possess the firearm where you started and where you are going you can transport it as above. But if you stop in NY and spend the night in a motel/hotel/camp ground etc you are in violation of NY law and can be arrested if found with a firearm. Stopping for gas and food would most likely be OK but this is not a given in NY."

http://www.handgunlaw.us/states/newyork.pdf

Be aware of mag capacity restrictions in some States, even if you're just passing through...

Summary of FOPA for travelers: From wikipedia:

One of the law's provisions was that persons traveling from one place to another cannot be incarcerated for a firearms offense in a state that has strict gun control laws if the traveler is just passing through (short stops for food and gas), provided that the firearms and ammunition are not immediately accessible, that the firearms are unloaded and, in the case of a vehicle without a compartment separate from the driver’s compartment, the firearms are located in a locked container.[11]

NY, Ma, NJ, and Ct are your problem areas. As parabelum said when you stop for the night in NY they contend that you have reached a destination where you are not permitted to have a hand gun. In their opinion you are no longer covered by FOPA. If discovered you will go to jail. Lord help you if you need to use the gun. Now supposedly if you pass through NY without stopping overnight you are covered. Having plates from a gun friendly state may make you a target for a stop.
When I travel up that way I take the most direct route from Binghamton, NY to Bennington , Vt. I gas up and eat in Pa and don't stop till I hit Vt.

2farnorth wrote:Summary of FOPA for travelers: From wikipedia:

One of the law's provisions was that persons traveling from one place to another cannot be incarcerated for a firearms offense in a state that has strict gun control laws if the traveler is just passing through (short stops for food and gas), provided that the firearms and ammunition are not immediately accessible, that the firearms are unloaded and, in the case of a vehicle without a compartment separate from the driver’s compartment, the firearms are located in a locked container.[11]

NY, Ma, NJ, and Ct are your problem areas. As parabelum said when you stop for the night in NY they contend that you have reached a destination where you are not permitted to have a hand gun. In their opinion you are no longer covered by FOPA. If discovered you will go to jail. Lord help you if you need to use the gun. Now supposedly if you pass through NY without stopping overnight you are covered. Having plates from a gun friendly state may make you a target for a stop.
When I travel up that way I take the most direct route from Binghamton, NY to Bennington , Vt. I gas up and eat in Pa and don't stop till I hit Vt.

That's precisely what my wife and I do when we travel to Montpelier.

If you have Texas LTCs, you are OK in Illinois to carry in your vehicle, and to lock up in a lock box and carry to your hotel room and back.

Oh, travel trailer - you should be OK in IL.

martywj wrote:We are planning an extended trip this summer pulling our travel travel up into the New York & New England area(Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, etc). Both my wife and I have our CHL and of plan on carrying our weapons. We know which states we can carry in and which ones we can't. We plan on driving through Illinois, but we know what to do there. Will we be OK disarming and keeping our weapons in the travel trailer for the states like New York where we plan on staying for close to week? We will be staying in the Buffalo area. We also plan on visiting Canada, but of course we will leave our weapons on the US side. After that we plan to relocate our trailer to the Vermont area, and use that a base to visit the other New england states on day trips.

If I have posted this in the wrong spot, my apologies and mods should feel free to move it.

Marty

If you stay even one night in NY you are subject to an arrest and conviction for FELONY possession of a firearm. What every your reunion with your shipmates is worth to you, I doubt it is worth a Felony conviction. Find a spot in Vermont to Park your trailer and leave it and your firearms there.

OldCurlyWolf wrote: If you stay even one night in NY you are subject to an arrest and conviction for FELONY possession of a firearm. What every your reunion with your shipmates is worth to you, I doubt it is worth a Felony conviction. Find a spot in Vermont to Park your trailer and leave it and your firearms there.

Along these lines, maybe consider reaching out to an RV storage lot in a PA or VT border town and renting a space as a single month rental? Although I would be careful in wording my request in that a thinking person would probably figure out why you need it if you tell them you'll be in NY for a week. I'd leave that part out. Maybe do a state park in PA or VT? Simply rent a slot in a campground. Although general theft could be an issue there as well.

I'm on the side of camping in a safe place and commuting to your reunion. The states over there are so small you can drive all of the way across several in just one afternoon.
I'll agree that the odds of getting caught are low, but the stakes are very high!

NY is not small.
Buffalo is about 90 minutes from PA (Erie).

Wow. I had no idea. I've been thinking life in Texas was complicated, what with every single day having to get up and decide which gun to carry wherever the heck I wanted, save a few nagging exceptions.

Let's see, the grips on the 1911 work nicely with the shoes I'm going to wear today, but the little Nine just disappears under a tee shirt...

Fashion. I'd almost prefer gun control. Almost. I can work this out.

RoyGBiv wrote:NY is not small.
Buffalo is about 90 minutes from PA (Erie).

We had a trip a couple of years ago where we went to Mystic Seaport, CT for a week and then across NY to Niagara Falls, staying on the Canadian side to go across Ontario afterward. Of course, we did not take any guns on that trip. While you can get many places from VT as day trips, you cannot get from Buffalo to a safe gun place with a travel trailer heading East without unnatural driving.

From a gun law enforcement perspective, the Buffalo area is probably closer to NYC than most of the rest of the state. And the Port Authority police, which man the bridges are the most aggressive in my experience. We lived near the NY Thruway in NJ for a number of years and discovered that the Port Authority officers are not under the control of any of the surrounding electorate. An out of State license plate could be your ticket to many more problems than you thought possible.

Just a follow up reply about our trip to the far North.

We, my wife and I, drove over 5000 miles pulling our travel trailer. Before we crossed into New York state we disarmed, unloaded and locked our weapons and ammo up separately in our travel trailer. We stayed near Buffalo, NY in a RV park on Grand Island for 6 days while we attended the reunion and visited Canada. The only issue at the Canadian border was they wanted to know where we were staying? Did we have guns in our trailer? Which I answered NO to. Did we have guns at home? Which I answered yes to! We then drove over to the Boston area where we stay another 3 days in a RV park. Still with our weapons locked up. While there we drove to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island without any issue. After leaving Massachusetts we drove across Pennsylvania where I at least rearmed myself, across Ohio, then up into Michigan. where we stayed for a couple of days. From there down to through Indiana and Illinois where I had to disarm again for one day then back through Missouri then home to Texas.

We never encountered any problems with being stopped by law enforcement because our Texas tags, but then I ran under the speed limit most of the time since I was pulling a 4000 pound trailer. I did have one problem with a burned out stop light on the truck, but someone at one of the RV parks told me about it. I repaired it before it became an issue.

All in all our trip went very well without incident!!

Marty

martywj wrote:Just a follow up reply about our trip to the far North.

We, my wife and I, drove over 5000 miles pulling our travel trailer. Before we crossed into New York state we disarmed, unloaded and locked our weapons and ammo up separately in our travel trailer. We stayed near Buffalo, NY in a RV park on Grand Island for 6 days while we attended the reunion and visited Canada. The only issue at the Canadian border was they wanted to know where we were staying? Did we have guns in our trailer? Which I answered NO to. Did we have guns at home? Which I answered yes to! We then drove over to the Boston area where we stay another 3 days in a RV park. Still with our weapons locked up. While there we drove to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island without any issue. After leaving Massachusetts we drove across Pennsylvania where I at least rearmed myself, across Ohio, then up into Michigan. where we stayed for a couple of days. From there down to through Indiana and Illinois where I had to disarm again for one day then back through Missouri then home to Texas.

We never encountered any problems with being stopped by law enforcement because our Texas tags, but then I ran under the speed limit most of the time since I was pulling a 4000 pound trailer. I did have one problem with a burned out stop light on the truck, but someone at one of the RV parks told me about it. I repaired it before it became an issue.

All in all our trip went very well without incident!!

Marty

You were taking some risk in possessing a handgun without a (NY) license while staying in New York . It is illegal to possess an unregistered handgun in New York with some very specific exceptions related to pistol competitions.

ScottDLS wrote:

You were taking some risk in possessing a handgun without a (NY) license while staying in New York . It is illegal to possess an unregistered handgun in New York with some very specific exceptions related to pistol competitions.

We were well aware of that before we started on the trip, but were unwilling to not carry our weapons for that distance. All I am saying here is that we were not targeted because of our out state status as some on here said we would be?