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I was out at my favorite shooting spot on BLM land this weekend and had an interesting encounter with a park ranger out there. This particular spot is smack in the middle of Joshua Tree (a National Park) but there are ways to access it (good 4x4 vehicle) without driving through the park. I usually drive in one way - hardcore jeep trail - and out the other - dirt roads then out through the park main road.
So, here is how the encounter goes:
Ranger drives up on me and my fiance right before we start shooting, because we saw him coming in the distance and wanted to wait. As he's walking up on us I say hello and declare that we have guns and just loosely indicate that my hands are empty and point at where the guns are. He smiles and says he figured that much and then strikes up a conversation about looking for two dudes on quads. Well, I actually figured he was going to segue that into "What kind of guns ya got there?" because a few people had come by earlier and I figured they saw my (perfectly legal) evil black rifles and went and told the ranger about it, but he didn't. We had an amiable conversation about this and that and then he took off. He did ask me if I ever drive out through the park and I indicated that I did that from time to time and he left it at that. The funny thing is, about five minutes after he left, two guys on quads come rolling up from a side road that got them by the ranger without being spotted. I spoke with them briefly (didn't tell them they were "wanted") and stood with a rifle held loosely in my hands, because I didn't know why the were "wanted" by the park ranger. They drive off and all is fine the rest of the day.
Cut to the end of the day as we're driving out of the park and I see the ranger parked at the station. So, I decide to pull in and tell him that the guys he was looking for came up on my camp a few minutes after he left and he smiled and thanked me for the information and then says, "So, now that you are driving through the park, how are you transporting your firearms?" This kind of took me back (I didn't have to stop and talk to the ranger,) but I indicated that handguns were unloaded and in locked containers and all long guns were unloaded with no magazines in the wells. Then he smiles and tells me that in a National Park, unless you have a CCW permit all guns must be completely disassembled while transporting. I ask him to clarify that and he stated that bolts need to be taken out of rifles and hundguns need to be torn down - slide, barrel and action all separate and locked! I didn't want to argue with the guy, because he indicated that we seemed cool and he just wanted to let me know, but seriously? Is that the law? It seems pretty excessive to me. I looked up the National Parks website and searched "transporting firearms in national park" and just can't find what I'm looking for. Anybody know for sure about this? I found a bunch of stuff about allowing firearms in a National Park, but this question isn't related to that - I just want to know any particular exceptions in National Parks to my normal and perfectly legal way of transporting firearms.
Sorry that turned out so frickin long - had a fun weekend though!
So, here is how the encounter goes:
Ranger drives up on me and my fiance right before we start shooting, because we saw him coming in the distance and wanted to wait. As he's walking up on us I say hello and declare that we have guns and just loosely indicate that my hands are empty and point at where the guns are. He smiles and says he figured that much and then strikes up a conversation about looking for two dudes on quads. Well, I actually figured he was going to segue that into "What kind of guns ya got there?" because a few people had come by earlier and I figured they saw my (perfectly legal) evil black rifles and went and told the ranger about it, but he didn't. We had an amiable conversation about this and that and then he took off. He did ask me if I ever drive out through the park and I indicated that I did that from time to time and he left it at that. The funny thing is, about five minutes after he left, two guys on quads come rolling up from a side road that got them by the ranger without being spotted. I spoke with them briefly (didn't tell them they were "wanted") and stood with a rifle held loosely in my hands, because I didn't know why the were "wanted" by the park ranger. They drive off and all is fine the rest of the day.
Cut to the end of the day as we're driving out of the park and I see the ranger parked at the station. So, I decide to pull in and tell him that the guys he was looking for came up on my camp a few minutes after he left and he smiled and thanked me for the information and then says, "So, now that you are driving through the park, how are you transporting your firearms?" This kind of took me back (I didn't have to stop and talk to the ranger,) but I indicated that handguns were unloaded and in locked containers and all long guns were unloaded with no magazines in the wells. Then he smiles and tells me that in a National Park, unless you have a CCW permit all guns must be completely disassembled while transporting. I ask him to clarify that and he stated that bolts need to be taken out of rifles and hundguns need to be torn down - slide, barrel and action all separate and locked! I didn't want to argue with the guy, because he indicated that we seemed cool and he just wanted to let me know, but seriously? Is that the law? It seems pretty excessive to me. I looked up the National Parks website and searched "transporting firearms in national park" and just can't find what I'm looking for. Anybody know for sure about this? I found a bunch of stuff about allowing firearms in a National Park, but this question isn't related to that - I just want to know any particular exceptions in National Parks to my normal and perfectly legal way of transporting firearms.
Sorry that turned out so frickin long - had a fun weekend though!
) responsible & knowledgeable of the laws- usually keep the pistols and semi auto &/or lever rifles in cases locked in the trunk and pull the bolts from the rimfires and let 'em knock around in the back seat.
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