CCW on National Forest Land?

[stemple99]

I know it's a general No-No to CCW in a National Park, but what about National Forests? I am planning on hiking in White Mountain National Forest this weekend, and I can't find anything specific on their website. I have my NH CCW license, but I'm a little worried it doesn't mean squat on federal land.

[Nitro66DS]

Hmm, most of the places we go to shoot, hunt, fish, camp, etc. around here in Central Oregon are all on USFS or BLM land. I'm not aware of any carry restrictions other than if one were to go into one of their office buildings for some reason.

[Daryl in Az]

As long as you're carrying in compliance with your state laws, the national forests should be fine, too.

People hunt in most national forests.

Daryl

[rvrctyrngr]

If your state allows carry in State parks and National forests, good to go. The lands designated as 'National Forests' falls under the state purview for ccw purposes.

FL began allowing this several years ago. Heck...there's been a public shooting range in the Ocala National Forest for eons.

[Notrega]

http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/163829

Editorial: Guns 'n parks? Make any rule easy to obey
Gun-rights advocates are pushing to allow concealed firearms in national parks.

The Interior Department in Washington is considering changing a rule that forbids people to carry concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne proposes to let visitors carry them if they're allowed on similar state lands.

National parks frequently cross state borders, though. So where there is clarity, the change would sow confusion. That's not a good idea.

While driving the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia, where visitors to state parks can carry guns, people with concealed carry permits would be able to pack loaded firearms -- so long as they were concealed; the great majority of national parks do not allow hunting, and long gun restrictions would still apply.

When armed parkway visitors cross the state line into North Carolina, though, they would have to store their sidearms unloaded and out of reach. North Carolina bans concealed firearms in its state parks.

"The public wants consistency," the National Park Service's public affairs chief, David Barna, told the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times this week. "And the park service view has always [said] well, there is consistency: You just can't bring them [guns] into national parks."

Simple enough.

Gun-rights advocates argue for consistency as well, though -- throughout the federal lands system, rather than across state borders. People can bring guns onto U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land in some states, but not national parkland.

Just where consistency should lie is in dispute, and how one views the issue seems to depend on a person's thoughts on who needs protection from whom.

Gun-rights advocates say isolated park visitors need to be able to protect themselves against wild animals and human predators.

Park Service personnel say wild animals need to be protected from human visitors: poachers, vandals and, well, doofuses -- not their word, but ours, for people who report they shot at a grizzly and think they might have hit it. It might be dead, or it might be out in the woods in a heap of hurtin'.

Whatever the gun rule, it should be clear so that all law-abiding citizens can follow it without confusion.
jobs.roanoke.com| homes.roanoke.com| cars.roanoke.com
.....Advertisement.....

[LittleRedToyota]

http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/163829

national parks and national forest are two different issues, though.

as long as the state you are in does not prohibit you from carrying a national forest, you can carry there. national forests defer to the state laws.

national parks are different.