Do you carry a firearm while camping?

[ShrimpBurrito]

This topic may be a bit controversial, but I'm curious as to how many members carry a firearm with them while camping, particularly while boondocking. Camping in a campsite may be inherently less risky, if it's in a good area, since there are people around, but what is to stop some joker from harassing you and your family when you are in the middle of no where, where no one can be seen or heard?

I don't, but have been giving it some thought lately.....

Dave

Very interesting and touchy subject. I have always been of the opinion that a gun has the potential to do more harm than good. If I don't have one, then it can't be used. We are all very vulnerable to evil deeds everywhere we go. I consider the camping environment to be safer than the urban environment. I just try to live smart and hope all continues to go well... But like Dave, I do give it some thought from time to time.

Yes, but only when and where legal, and in the manner prescribed by the laws of the area we are in. DW ( Marine Corp Sargent ) has a license to carry her 44.

[mcgyver210]

Yes I am a Gun Permit holder (have been for yrs) & do carry where it is legal & always will. I have had extra training not required though & have actually been in a few situations that let me know I will not overreact in most cases. The biggest worry I had was shooting someone without cause when I first started carrying.

There is a book on reciprocal laws for other states that tells me what the guidelines are while traveling.

I find campgrounds to be more dangerous than boondocking it in the middle of nowhere, personally. I've camped alone and with my girlfriend in many places, everywhere from KOAs to state parks to a truck stop parking lot. I've only felt even slightly uncomfortable twice, once in a KOA of all places, and once in a very large campground that was more mobile home park than campground. I've never felt uncomfortable in the mountains, even when I'm the only person for tens of miles.

Even at the places that made me uncomfortable, I worried more about the beer being stolen from my cooler than violence against me.

A lot of this probably depends on where people live, and what they are used to (studies confirm this: people generally rank risky behavior as less risky when familiar, more risky when it is unfamiliar - hense why people often worry more about getting onto a jet airplane than into their own car, despite the car being far more riskier). I'm much more used to, having grown up in Wyoming, to wide open spaces and few people around - so it makes sense I'd get a little nervous sometimes when hundreds of people share a couple acres of land at a campground, but not when I have a couple hundred acres to myself.

I think it’s good where legal and if you are competent with firearms.
We’ve had a high number of bear maulings this year so I like to take along some protection while hiking and competing with the bears while fishing. We will be traveling to the lower 48 for a few months this winter and with the strict laws on transporting firearms across the Canadian boarder I’ll not be taking any guns on the trip. As grakin said, I will be more worried about someone stealing beer from my cooler than personal harm. We also have a 3 yr old Golden that lets us know when some is snooping around. Although if someone did try to break in, she’d be the first one to hide.

I don't carry a weapon, even though I was taught to handle one safely as a teen.
I travel frequently with just the two kids, since my DH's job prevents summer travel, and can honestly say I have never felt threatened anywhere we camped, and we do a lot of forest service camping, no private campgrounds for me unless there is no other choice.
We do have a boxer we travel with that sounds ferocious if someone approaches too closely, and she might lick someone to death, but that's really not much protection.

[dugb527]

Have never carried a gun but if I ever go to Alaska again I may. Not for people protection but for Grizzly protection. I saw at least 20 when I was there in 2005 and would hate to be caught off guard. Shooting one with a gun would be a last resort. It might just anger the beast even more.

I had this exact conversation with my father when my family and I were contemplating a couple weeks in the Northeast. I was and am really torn on it, a firearm in a camper with 2 small kids scares me to death, but I would like to know I had something if I needed it. If you can tell I never did come up with a solution we went to Western NC instead and since we go there all the time I didn't feel it was necessary. If and when we head north again I'll have to think about all of this again.

Would a Taser meet part of the need for protection at less risk? Are there similar permit laws and state-by-state variation in requirements?

A friend in law enforcement says that's what he recommends. He also says a Taser without handcuffs or other means of restraint after the power runs out is not a good idea - the intruder can get right back up and continue what he was doing. I guess you need to immobilize, remove any weapons, and cuff him up.