RVing

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Venus Pax
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RVing

#1

Post by Venus Pax »

To those of you that travel by motorhome, travel trailer, fifth wheel, pop-up, etc., how do you secure any weapons while traveling? I'm thinking more in terms of needing to store it before going in a location that is posted or cannot otherwise enter, or if swimming nearby, etc. and you cannot wear it.
"If a man breaks in your house, he ain't there for iced tea." Mom & Dad.

The NRA & TSRA are a bargain; they're much cheaper than the cold, dead hands experience.
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Grundy1133
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Re: RVing

#2

Post by Grundy1133 »

Venus Pax wrote:To those of you that travel by motorhome, travel trailer, fifth wheel, pop-up, etc., how do you secure any weapons while traveling? I'm thinking more in terms of needing to store it before going in a location that is posted or cannot otherwise enter, or if swimming nearby, etc. and you cannot wear it.
If it was me I'd just put in in a drawer somewhere in the RV. im not sure but i assume that a motorhome 5th wheel rv etc would constitute a temporary residence which means you cna have them in there.... right? someone correct me if im wrong :rolll
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twomillenium
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Re: RVing

#3

Post by twomillenium »

Grundy1133 wrote:
Venus Pax wrote:To those of you that travel by motorhome, travel trailer, fifth wheel, pop-up, etc., how do you secure any weapons while traveling? I'm thinking more in terms of needing to store it before going in a location that is posted or cannot otherwise enter, or if swimming nearby, etc. and you cannot wear it.
If it was me I'd just put in in a drawer somewhere in the RV. im not sure but i assume that a motorhome 5th wheel rv etc would constitute a temporary residence which means you cna have them in there.... right? someone correct me if im wrong :rolll
I believe the OP was not talking so much about where to put store it but how to store it securely. In a drawer is not really secure, if you are not present. Lock it up.
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Oldgringo
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Re: RVing

#4

Post by Oldgringo »

Your home is your home and your vehicle is your vehicle. Keep 'em in one or the other even in a USACE park. Inasmuch as we don't OC, we have no problems but they are usually in reach if not in sight....and we RV a bunch.

miljet
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Re: RVing

#5

Post by miljet »

The only dicey situations we encounter are staying in Fam-Camps (RV parks located on Military Reservations) and/or staying in RV sites at a casino located on Indian Tribal land. The only realistic solution we have found is to lock them up in the RV and hope for the best. We have never had our RV searched in the over 40 years we have been staying at Fam-Camps, but there is always the possibility of the first time.

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Venus Pax
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Re: RVing

#6

Post by Venus Pax »

I don't really expect problems; I've been told by seasoned campers that RV campgrounds are some of the safest ways to travel. However, I like my metal security blanket. lol Honestly, I've carried a gun for over ten years and have never needed it, but I also never needed flood insurance coverage until this past August, and I'm glad I had it.
I'm mainly wondering how some RVers are securing them. RV cabinets are flimsy, and I'm not sure if there is a good way to secure a small safe. I do like to keep my gun locked away when I'm not wearing since I have small children.
"If a man breaks in your house, he ain't there for iced tea." Mom & Dad.

The NRA & TSRA are a bargain; they're much cheaper than the cold, dead hands experience.

priusron
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Re: RVing

#7

Post by priusron »

I don’t lock my firearms in the rv. It is only my wife and I. We don’t have little ones anymore. When traveling my long guns lay on the bed. They don’t move around. If someone breaks in, they will have access no matter what I do. It is not reasonable to place a big heavy safe in the rv. Where would it fit anyway. I also don’t advertise that I have firearms. I don’t have bumper stickers on any of my vehicles and don’t wear a NRA hat even though I am a member.
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The Annoyed Man
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Re: RVing

#8

Post by The Annoyed Man »

Venus Pax wrote:I don't really expect problems; I've been told by seasoned campers that RV campgrounds are some of the safest ways to travel. However, I like my metal security blanket. lol Honestly, I've carried a gun for over ten years and have never needed it, but I also never needed flood insurance coverage until this past August, and I'm glad I had it.
I'm mainly wondering how some RVers are securing them. RV cabinets are flimsy, and I'm not sure if there is a good way to secure a small safe. I do like to keep my gun locked away when I'm not wearing since I have small children.
VP, what kind of guns are we talking about here? If it’s just a couple of pistols, why not get one of those pistol lock boxes that uses a key, or combination lock, or a fingerprint recognition lock; and then bolt the thing down inside a cabinet? If you’re talking about a shotgun, keep it locked in a hard plastic case, stored in a closet. If the case is too big, put a trigger lock on the shotgun, and store it uncased in a closet. You can put a small padlock on the closet if you feel like you need the extra security.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”

― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"

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Venus Pax
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Re: RVing

#9

Post by Venus Pax »

The Annoyed Man wrote:
Venus Pax wrote:I don't really expect problems; I've been told by seasoned campers that RV campgrounds are some of the safest ways to travel. However, I like my metal security blanket. lol Honestly, I've carried a gun for over ten years and have never needed it, but I also never needed flood insurance coverage until this past August, and I'm glad I had it.
I'm mainly wondering how some RVers are securing them. RV cabinets are flimsy, and I'm not sure if there is a good way to secure a small safe. I do like to keep my gun locked away when I'm not wearing since I have small children.
VP, what kind of guns are we talking about here? If it’s just a couple of pistols, why not get one of those pistol lock boxes that uses a key, or combination lock, or a fingerprint recognition lock; and then bolt the thing down inside a cabinet? If you’re talking about a shotgun, keep it locked in a hard plastic case, stored in a closet. If the case is too big, put a trigger lock on the shotgun, and store it uncased in a closet. You can put a small padlock on the closet if you feel like you need the extra security
The Annoyed Man wrote:
I'm just traveling with one or two pistols, although I might bring all I have if we are evacuating from another storm to keep looters from helping themselves. My dad was telling me about small car safes that are sold at academy and secured by a cable. I'm considering those, but I know of zero places to run the cable to secure it. Also, RV cabinets are flimsy; I'm afraid if I mounted something remotely heavy the cabinets would break or fall off the wall. And our trailer is particularly small. I might simply get the small safes and store them in my dirty clothes hamper. Nobody ever seems to want to dig through that. lol

Still thinking. Wanting to make a decision safest for kids, most difficult for theives, and easiest for me to access if we come across either two or four legged predators.
"If a man breaks in your house, he ain't there for iced tea." Mom & Dad.

The NRA & TSRA are a bargain; they're much cheaper than the cold, dead hands experience.

chasfm11
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Re: RVing

#10

Post by chasfm11 »

We've been RVing since 1999 and bought our own in 2004. It had 26K miles on it then and now has 90K miles. We've had it all over the country and in all but a few of the lower 48 States. We've parked in a number of "sketchy" places, though we try to avoid them. Based on our experience and the experiences of all that I've spoken with, here is my risk analysis.

1. We've never been any place where an RV was broken into. There are plenty of reports of breakins in storage lots but I've never heard one in a campground. I don't lock our outside compartments. It has been very rare to hear about something disappearing that was left outside. People leave "tailgaters" (the automatic satellite antennas) unsecured and I've never heard of even one of those disappearing in a campground. I agree with your assessment that there are almost no places to fasten the cables from the gun safes so I don't worry about them. We travel often with our granddaughter and my use of the safes is to keep the guns out of her hands, though I seriously doubt that she would bother. She has guns of her own. She killed a feral hog with an AR. We have a lot of nooks and crannies (under the lower drawer in the bedroom is a good one) to put the safes. It would take someone a lot of time to search and find them and those drawers are not easy to get out if you aren't used to doing it. There is very little clearance to get the right tilt.

2. I am concerned about confrontations with bad people. There are many stories about problems especially in State Parks. I do on-body carry all of the time. That includes rest stops and especially fuel stops. We use diesel and end up at truck stops because we cannot get into most regular gas stations because we are too long towing the car (nearly 60 feet). We've had a couple of what I felt were near misses. I've found that it can be pretty uncomfortable driving the RV for 500 miles a day with a holster so I use a fanny pack. It is a model that doesn't scream "gun" and it takes just a couple of seconds to strap on when I step outside the RV. When I'm driving, it is beside the driver's seat where only I can get to it. I carry a travel credit card in it so even my granddaughter probably doesn't recognize that it has a pistol in it, too. I wear it over my belt buckle and practice drawing from it when I do my normal holster practice. It also has a spare mag.

We avoid Indian land and USACE campgrounds, though I'm fairly certain that the latter wouldn't be a problem as Old Gringo suggests. We've seen a few "no firearms allowed" signs but since we don't travel to States any more where my LTC isn't valid, I don't worry about those much either. The question about the RV being a house, especially in our motor home changes by State. Texas has exemptions, for example, for open alcohol containers in the house portion where other States do not spell that out. Again, we've never had a problem or known about a problem with that.

One of our dogs takes personal ownership of all the area surrounding our RV. I seriously doubt that someone could get close without her barking. They are inside the RV when we take side trips and I believe that they provide an additional deterrent, even though they weigh less than 20lbs each. Our barker sounds a lot meaner than she is.

I hope this information helps you.
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Interblog
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Re: RVing

#11

Post by Interblog »

Hi, Venus. The answer to your question depends in part on how much money you want to spend. My rig has a simple safe built into it in a location I won't mention publicly but if you email me (interstate.blog gmail) I can describe it to you directly.

There are other permanently-installed safe options, from the simple to the elaborate. I know of some RVers who have gone to great lengths in this respect, some of them bolting their safes into the frames of their vehicles.

If you want partial protection against a smash-and-grab scenario, you might want to check out products such as the Pacsafe Travelsafe, which is a cable-lined bag that may slow down a thief who has not come prepared to defeat such measures.

In addition to my safe, I've got a couple of monstrous D-rings bolted into my rig, for the purposes of chaining specific higher-value items to them. Can this method be defeated? Yes, of course. But that would take TIME, and a smasher-and-grabber may not choose to spend that time. Below I'll paste a pic of one such ring prior to installation.

Additionally, see also this previous forum thread on firearms in the RV / van / work truck context:

https://www.texaschlforum.com/viewtopic ... 23&t=91248

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bigtek
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Re: RVing

#12

Post by bigtek »

Venus Pax wrote:I'm just traveling with one or two pistols, although I might bring all I have if we are evacuating from another storm to keep looters from helping themselves. My dad was telling me about small car safes that are sold at academy and secured by a cable. I'm considering those, but I know of zero places to run the cable to secure it.
I suggest inside the truck not the trailer. You can attach one under each side of the front seats for normal use. If you're evacuating from a storm I think the main concern is keeping the others safe from the little ones because I doubt you'll leave the trailer unattended until you reach your destination. The junk cable locks that come with new guns are probable sufficient for that if not much else.
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Venus Pax
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Re: RVing

#13

Post by Venus Pax »

bigtek wrote:
Venus Pax wrote:I'm just traveling with one or two pistols, although I might bring all I have if we are evacuating from another storm to keep looters from helping themselves. My dad was telling me about small car safes that are sold at academy and secured by a cable. I'm considering those, but I know of zero places to run the cable to secure it.
I suggest inside the truck not the trailer. You can attach one under each side of the front seats for normal use. If you're evacuating from a storm I think the main concern is keeping the others safe from the little ones because I doubt you'll leave the trailer unattended until you reach your destination. The junk cable locks that come with new guns are probable sufficient for that if not much else.
My recent experience has me concerned that my truck is more vulnerable at a campground than my trailer is. We're about to invest in an upgraded alarm system, but this merely makes the truck more theft-resistant than theft-proof.

I think your idea is a good one, and from everyone's posts, I'm getting a fairly good idea as to what I should do.
"If a man breaks in your house, he ain't there for iced tea." Mom & Dad.

The NRA & TSRA are a bargain; they're much cheaper than the cold, dead hands experience.

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Venus Pax
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Re: RVing

#14

Post by Venus Pax »

chasfm11 wrote:We've been RVing since 1999 and bought our own in 2004. It had 26K miles on it then and now has 90K miles. We've had it all over the country and in all but a few of the lower 48 States. We've parked in a number of "sketchy" places, though we try to avoid them. Based on our experience and the experiences of all that I've spoken with, here is my risk analysis.

1. We've never been any place where an RV was broken into. There are plenty of reports of breakins in storage lots but I've never heard one in a campground. I don't lock our outside compartments. It has been very rare to hear about something disappearing that was left outside. People leave "tailgaters" (the automatic satellite antennas) unsecured and I've never heard of even one of those disappearing in a campground. I agree with your assessment that there are almost no places to fasten the cables from the gun safes so I don't worry about them. We travel often with our granddaughter and my use of the safes is to keep the guns out of her hands, though I seriously doubt that she would bother. She has guns of her own. She killed a feral hog with an AR. We have a lot of nooks and crannies (under the lower drawer in the bedroom is a good one) to put the safes. It would take someone a lot of time to search and find them and those drawers are not easy to get out if you aren't used to doing it. There is very little clearance to get the right tilt.

2. I am concerned about confrontations with bad people. There are many stories about problems especially in State Parks. I do on-body carry all of the time. That includes rest stops and especially fuel stops. We use diesel and end up at truck stops because we cannot get into most regular gas stations because we are too long towing the car (nearly 60 feet). We've had a couple of what I felt were near misses. I've found that it can be pretty uncomfortable driving the RV for 500 miles a day with a holster so I use a fanny pack. It is a model that doesn't scream "gun" and it takes just a couple of seconds to strap on when I step outside the RV. When I'm driving, it is beside the driver's seat where only I can get to it. I carry a travel credit card in it so even my granddaughter probably doesn't recognize that it has a pistol in it, too. I wear it over my belt buckle and practice drawing from it when I do my normal holster practice. It also has a spare mag.

We avoid Indian land and USACE campgrounds, though I'm fairly certain that the latter wouldn't be a problem as Old Gringo suggests. We've seen a few "no firearms allowed" signs but since we don't travel to States any more where my LTC isn't valid, I don't worry about those much either. The question about the RV being a house, especially in our motor home changes by State. Texas has exemptions, for example, for open alcohol containers in the house portion where other States do not spell that out. Again, we've never had a problem or known about a problem with that.

One of our dogs takes personal ownership of all the area surrounding our RV. I seriously doubt that someone could get close without her barking. They are inside the RV when we take side trips and I believe that they provide an additional deterrent, even though they weigh less than 20lbs each. Our barker sounds a lot meaner than she is.

I hope this information helps you.

Would you mind elaborating on this for me?

We have a few trips planned this summer, and part of one will be spent at a state park. I was under the impression that they were safer since the park rangers make frequent rounds, especially at night. Are other campers a problem, or would we need to look out for day-use people?

Also, on rest stops, what kinds of trouble have you encountered? The same with gas stations.

I've never considered native American lands. Are they unsafe or are they simply not gun-friendly?

I noticed you said your dog was a good deterrent. My dog died five years ago this month; he was a kind soul with an incredibly trashy mouth. (He was a miniature schnauzer that was convinced he was more of a pit bull or Rottweiler.) We have only one cat now; she isn't very intimidating.

I hope you don't mind my asking. We are new to this. I've been wanting a camper for YEARS. We've been saving and finally bought earlier this year. I've done a ton of reading but I've learned that, as with firearms, you can never really know enough.
"If a man breaks in your house, he ain't there for iced tea." Mom & Dad.

The NRA & TSRA are a bargain; they're much cheaper than the cold, dead hands experience.
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The Annoyed Man
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Re: RVing

#15

Post by The Annoyed Man »

Venus Pax wrote:
chasfm11 wrote:We've been RVing since 1999 and bought our own in 2004. It had 26K miles on it then and now has 90K miles. We've had it all over the country and in all but a few of the lower 48 States. We've parked in a number of "sketchy" places, though we try to avoid them. Based on our experience and the experiences of all that I've spoken with, here is my risk analysis.

1. We've never been any place where an RV was broken into. There are plenty of reports of breakins in storage lots but I've never heard one in a campground. I don't lock our outside compartments. It has been very rare to hear about something disappearing that was left outside. People leave "tailgaters" (the automatic satellite antennas) unsecured and I've never heard of even one of those disappearing in a campground. I agree with your assessment that there are almost no places to fasten the cables from the gun safes so I don't worry about them. We travel often with our granddaughter and my use of the safes is to keep the guns out of her hands, though I seriously doubt that she would bother. She has guns of her own. She killed a feral hog with an AR. We have a lot of nooks and crannies (under the lower drawer in the bedroom is a good one) to put the safes. It would take someone a lot of time to search and find them and those drawers are not easy to get out if you aren't used to doing it. There is very little clearance to get the right tilt.

2. I am concerned about confrontations with bad people. There are many stories about problems especially in State Parks. I do on-body carry all of the time. That includes rest stops and especially fuel stops. We use diesel and end up at truck stops because we cannot get into most regular gas stations because we are too long towing the car (nearly 60 feet). We've had a couple of what I felt were near misses. I've found that it can be pretty uncomfortable driving the RV for 500 miles a day with a holster so I use a fanny pack. It is a model that doesn't scream "gun" and it takes just a couple of seconds to strap on when I step outside the RV. When I'm driving, it is beside the driver's seat where only I can get to it. I carry a travel credit card in it so even my granddaughter probably doesn't recognize that it has a pistol in it, too. I wear it over my belt buckle and practice drawing from it when I do my normal holster practice. It also has a spare mag.

We avoid Indian land and USACE campgrounds, though I'm fairly certain that the latter wouldn't be a problem as Old Gringo suggests. We've seen a few "no firearms allowed" signs but since we don't travel to States any more where my LTC isn't valid, I don't worry about those much either. The question about the RV being a house, especially in our motor home changes by State. Texas has exemptions, for example, for open alcohol containers in the house portion where other States do not spell that out. Again, we've never had a problem or known about a problem with that.

One of our dogs takes personal ownership of all the area surrounding our RV. I seriously doubt that someone could get close without her barking. They are inside the RV when we take side trips and I believe that they provide an additional deterrent, even though they weigh less than 20lbs each. Our barker sounds a lot meaner than she is.

I hope this information helps you.

Would you mind elaborating on this for me?

We have a few trips planned this summer, and part of one will be spent at a state park. I was under the impression that they were safer since the park rangers make frequent rounds, especially at night. Are other campers a problem, or would we need to look out for day-use people?

Also, on rest stops, what kinds of trouble have you encountered? The same with gas stations.

I've never considered native American lands. Are they unsafe or are they simply not gun-friendly?

I noticed you said your dog was a good deterrent. My dog died five years ago this month; he was a kind soul with an incredibly trashy mouth. (He was a miniature schnauzer that was convinced he was more of a pit bull or Rottweiler.) We have only one cat now; she isn't very intimidating.

I hope you don't mind my asking. We are new to this. I've been wanting a camper for YEARS. We've been saving and finally bought earlier this year. I've done a ton of reading but I've learned that, as with firearms, you can never really know enough.
Our trailer is pretty small - a 19’ Jayco Hummingbird - and the longest trip I’ve taken with it is to California and back, in which we lived 90% of the time in that trailer for 2.5 weeks. (A couple of times, we spent the night in a hotel when the trailer’s bed proved just too crippling.) Anywho, I bought a Glock 26 and a pump action shotgun. Granted, we didn’t have any children along, but security was still a concern. California excepted, I just carried the G26 on body, either concealed in an OWB holster, or in a fanny pack. MY fanny pack more or less shouts “GUN” to anyone paying attention. I don’t care. Anywhere except California, it was legal. In CA, I complied with their fascist laws with both firearms. I kept the shotgun cased in the back of my SUV while traveling, and stored in a closet in the trailer - loaded at all times when we were in camp, except when in CA, when it was stored unloaded in the trailer. When not being carried, I kept the pistol locked in its case, unloaded, ammo stored separately in compliance with CA law. We never camped anywhere that wasn’t either a KOA or a Good Sams campground, and security was never an issue, and I never met anyone at any of those campgrounds whom I would have considered to be a security threat.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”

― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"

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