Road trip to New Hampshire.

[Maggiemaeodie]

The key for all of these is do not start, stop or end in a state where your gun is illegal, and follow teh FOPA rules (gun locked separately from ammo, both in the trunk and preferable packed in separate luggage so they aren't visible.

Your carry permit means nothing for a good chunk of the trip, so don't even bother thinking about it. The good news is that both VT and NH are Constitutional Carry, so you are good once you get there.

The best thing about New England is the states are small, so you can get across most. I would stop in Pennsylvania for the night, then blast through to NH that next day.

And leave the 'short' shotgun at home... there no need and even in 'free' states NFA-tweakers like the Shockwave can get you in hot water, no matter what the court finally decides. Do yourself a favor and leave the toys at home. A good pistol and a couple of extra mags is all you need and no one can argue about how they are classified.

My short shot gun is 26”. DBL
Thanks everyone for your comments.

 

[spencer60]

My short shot gun is 26”. DBL
Thanks everyone for your comments.

LOL.... That should be OK then.

The only issue is, as mentioned, some states like NY do not believe in rule of law. If you travel FOPA style but with guns or ammo in an obviously 'gun' case, you run the risk of perking their interest. A pistol case can easily be put inside a suitcase, making a search pretty unlikely unless they had another reason to suspect a firearm.

A shotgun is a whole different kettle of fish though. Even if you can break it down, it's going to need to be in a locked case which will pretty much scream 'gun' unless you you go to some effort to camouflage it. Maybe find a larger suitcase to put it in, or at least keep it in a duffle bag with clothes packed around it.

It is pathetic that we have to sneak around like this because a few states don;t respect the law, but the easiest way to beat a court case is not to get charged at all. If you open your trunk and all there is are suitcases you will be a lot better off than if the NY State troopers see a gun case.

 

[SirBannedAlot]

Leave the gun at home. Getting caught and convicted of some stupid law, could cost you your right to own a gun in your home state... imagine doing jail time for a year or two over something stupid in New York and you lose your gun rights in every state.

not worth it, carry a folding pocket knife, even anti gun states like nj are pretty lax when it comes to blades...

your chances of being mugged at gun point that week, are extremely low. Tens of Millions of people live up there and go their entire lives without ever needing a gun...

 

[The Old Jaybird]

Does that include shotguns?

Yes, and in New Jersey a Daisy Red Rider BB gun or any pellet gun is a firearm just like anything using "gunpowder".
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I am NOT AN EXPERT but I thought that the only state where if asked by police if you have a gun on you or in your car and you didn't have to answer was Georgia. In every other state if po-po asks you have to answer, correctly.

 

[Radar363]

Good luck, bring jackets at Thanksgiving !!

When I lived in central PA we drove up to Burlington VT on Labor Day weekend to visit friends. That's only a few hours apart but it got so cold there was frost on the ground each morning and we had to buy sweaters for the kids to stay warm.
Beautiful state but that place may as well be Canada. And covered up with Liberals.

 

[SirBannedAlot]

Yes, and in New Jersey a Daisy Red Rider BB gun or any pellet gun is a firearm just like anything using "gunpowder".
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I am NOT AN EXPERT but I thought that the only state where if asked by police if you have a gun on you or in your car and you didn't have to answer was Georgia. In every other state if po-po asks you have to answer, correctly.

I grew up in nj and it took me 13 months and a lot of paperwork to get the permit required to buy a spring powered .177 cal pellet gun... it’s insane up there.

 

[UptaCamp]

My wife and I want to take a trip in the fall, not necessarily this fall, to the New England states. I have decided that as much as it will bother me, I will do so unarmed. The risk of legal problems resulting from a stop and search for some minor infraction in NY, Ma NH, or ME, is too great.
Pisses me off and may in fact cause us not to go.
Might go to Canada as well, which would definitely be a no go on the firearm.

Maine has constitutional carry

 

[SirBannedAlot]

To me when traveling up north, which I only do if I absolutely have to, is that I figure my risk of getting mugged that week and needing a gun are far less than me getting pulled over for something and getting arrested because I didn't have the gun stored properly... or it was in NJ and hollowpoints are illegal, or the gun holds more than 10 rounds in NY, etc...

It's just not worth it. While we all take our personal safety seriously, the reality is that almost all of us will go our entire lives without ever actually needing a gun for defense outside the home. Those are the stats. The chances of needing it THAT DAY, are about the same as hitting the lottery. So while I carry whenever I can, because I can... I know that if I have to go to NJ for something I will likely be fine without it.

I grew up there and lived there for 28 years and never even thought about owning a gun, let alone carrying one there, and I worked in places like Newark, Camden, Trenton, Patterson and some really crap areas... I never even gave it a thought... It was only after I moved down here that I got into guns and shooting and got a carry permit, etc...

So as much as I hate to go up there unarmed, it's really not a big deal. I am bothered more by the change of habit... the fact that I am used to a gun being on my hip and suddenly it's not there and the OCD part of my brain kicking in...

So I carry a blade instead, which is legal in most states. Look up the knife laws, make sure it's not an automatic or over the legal length limit and you are good to go. Knife laws are pretty good in most states... It's better than nothing and your chances of needing it are negligible...

Not worth taking it up there, inadvertently tripping over a stupid law and getting thrown in jail, ruining my career and losing my gun rights forever... I either leave the gun at home, or I simply don't go to the state if I am that afraid of getting murdered on that Thursday...

 

[spencer60]

Maine has constitutional carry

As does NH I believe.. and strange as it sounds being so Liberal, Vermont has ALWAYS had Constitutional carry. If fact until last year you could argue they had the best gun laws in the US, because they really only had laws required by the Feds.