Is it legal???

[BCBRAD]

I dont think its that silly, Obviously there are few guys out there that dont know all the laws while they are out hunting/camping..... Its always good to learn more about a sport you like.

its true that it is a must to know the laws of the land and your activity in particular, however, all laws may not pretain to your situation. Sorta who are you going to call 911 or 357. Use your own sense and weigh the risks against the rewards and even though a firearm may be just a feel good device in some circumstances it is better than the feeling of defenselessness.

[BOOTS!]

I'm envisioning the rifle jumping up from beside your sleeping bag and start shooting people...

nyuck nyuck nyuck..... yes we all know guns don't kill people, people kill people.

Nevertheless, i don't think it's safe to have a fully loaded firearm in your tent while you're sleeping. Firearms are dangerous things and the only way to make them safe is to unload them.

Would you take a 12guage, fill it full of 000 buck, and leave it on your coffee table while you took a nap? You're leaving a firearm in a dangerous state completely unattended. When you're asleep you have no control over it.

Certainly in the woods, hungry bears coming in to camp would be a problem. But not big enough a problem to leave a fully loaded gun laying around camp.

Or maybe I'm getting the concept of 'loaded' wrong here? Forgive my noob ignorance. Wait a minute! I'm a hunting noob, not a gun noob! A fully loaded firearm is one that has a full magazine and one in the chamber. A firearm with rounds in the mag but none in the chamber is not fully loaded.

So best practices here would be to take your shotty, put four in the tube, put the safety on, and then put it in a case inside your tent. That way you know where it is in the event you need it, and there isn't a shell sitting in the chamber waiting for an accident to happen.

[Slee]

its true that it is a must to know the laws of the land and your activity in particular, however, all laws may not pretain to your situation. Sorta who are you going to call 911 or 357. Use your own sense and weigh the risks against the rewards and even though a firearm may be just a feel good device in some circumstances it is better than the feeling of defenselessness.

Very true, Im just on the thought that its a nice one to know. If your camped on the side of the road somewhere and you a CO pull up, you dont have to worry that you have one in the tube.....

[BCBRAD]

would an 870 with 4 rounds in the magazine, chamber empty, and tucked into your sleeping bag with you be politically correct...........of course instructions must be given on with trigger the gf or wf is allowed to touch

[mcrae]

This past fall I had a black bear climb into the back of my truck attempting to take my hard earned deer away. I had my deer hanging on a rack in the back of the box.

I fumbled around in the tent looking for my rifle and I ended up getting pissed off and grabbing my hatchet. Tossed it at the bear and smoked it in the ribs. Never seen a bear run so fast...

The morale of my story, a hatchet is an effective bear defence tool on a very SMALL bear, but from that point on the rifle was right beside me as was my head lamp. I left the bolt closed and the magazine full but I did not keep one in the chamber.

[Moose Guide]

A couple in Alaska were camped by a river(in the arctic, not a salmon stream), they had a 457 alaskan co-pilot loaded and ready but never got off a shot, the bear attacked so fast and violently that both died without getting a shot off!!! Mine is loaded, don't jump on my tent!!!

[Gateholio]

nyuck nyuck nyuck..... yes we all know guns don't kill people, people kill people.

Nevertheless, i don't think it's safe to have a fully loaded firearm in your tent while you're sleeping. Firearms are dangerous things and the only way to make them safe is to unload them.

Actually, the only way to make them safe is to NOT violate one of the 4 safety rules.

Would you take a 12guage, fill it full of 000 buck, and leave it on your coffee table while you took a nap?

Yeah, sure I would, if I felt the desire or need to use it in a hurry.

You're leaving a firearm in a dangerous state completely unattended. When you're asleep you have no control over it

.

How exactly is someone going to break into my tent without me knowing about it?

Certainly in the woods, hungry bears coming in to camp would be a problem. But not big enough a problem to leave a fully loaded gun laying around camp.

How is it that myself and millions of others have doen just this for many years without the gun in question jumping up and shooting people?

Or maybe I'm getting the concept of 'loaded' wrong here? Forgive my noob ignorance. Wait a minute! I'm a hunting noob, not a gun noob! A fully loaded firearm is one that has a full magazine and one in the chamber. A firearm with rounds in the mag but none in the chamber is not fully loaded

Makes no difference for "legal" questions.

So best practices here would be to take your shotty, put four in the tube, put the safety on, and then put it in a case inside your tent. That way you know where it is in the event you need it, and there isn't a shell sitting in the chamber waiting for an accident to happen.

Why woudl you put the safety on if there wasn't a shell in the chamber?

[boxhitch]

Sorry I didn't mean to omit anything...I actually don't have an opinion on it either way, was just pasting the info from the link that was posted earlier...however

living place used during vacation periods

That to me is what makes me think the law sees it as a residence, unless they are actually indicating 'private living place used during vacation periods' it would omit a tent in the woods...however they didn't use the word private in that portion of the statement, yet they used it in the remainder.

You supplied a good link, good info.
I picked it apart for shitzengiggles.
I suppose they had to write it that way as somewhere someone does use a tent as a primary permanent residence.

Myself, I load up the chamber as soon as I get off the plane, and 10 weeks later it gets emptied. Usually not the same rounds as at the start though

[BOOTS!]

Actually, the only way to make them safe is to NOT violate one of the 4 safety rules.

Rule #3 is muzzle control. How can you control the muzzle if you're sawing logs in your tent? I don't know about you, but when I'm asleep I'm asleep. Out cold. I roll around in my sleep too, I suspect you do too. Tents are usually tight spaces. I don't want to be rolling around in a tent with a fully loaded shotgun, put it in a case.

How exactly is someone going to break into my tent without me knowing about it?

'cause you're asleep? Maybe you're a light sleeper, I don't know.

How is it that myself and millions of others have doen just this for many years without the gun in question jumping up and shooting people?

Because -you- are probably a responsible firearms owner and so are your friends. However spend one saturday at the PoCo range and you wil see that there are a LOT of gun numpties out there, that really shouldn't have more supervision.

Why woudl you put the safety on if there wasn't a shell in the chamber?

To prevent an accident. Since we're talking about bear defence, we'll work with the concept of a 12ga. The 12ga, with either slug or 000/00 buck inside, is a devestating weapon. When it goes off, anyone hit with it at close range is goine to die, period. Getting hit by 2 to 5 >.32 caliber pellets in the centre-mass/torso will kill you, maybe not instantly but soon enough you will be dead. Getting a full load of buckshot won't even give you time to think about how much you wasted your life, you will be dead before that happens. Shotguns are the most dangerous of all firearms because of this, and need to be treated as such.

Leaving a shotgun -fully- loaded, 4 in the tube one in the chamber, and just relying on the saftey being on is just plain dumb. I don't care what the law says, it's a bad idea. The 870 has a cross bolt saftey, but the mossy 590 is completely different, and the winchester 1100 is another design or maybe you have an Ithica? What about all these cheapo chinese clones people are buying? Are you going to rely on that saftey being on and that it's a completely 100% working saftey? N-F-W says I. Leave one out of the chamber until you are ready to shoot.

Putting just 4 in the tube, none in the chamber and leaving the saftey off is still not making the weapon safe. By turning the saftey on you're making the gun as safe as possible given the circumstances. If it's your gun, you know the condition of it. But your buddy doesnt know. Maybe you have the gun rigged to slam fire. Maybe the firing pin is sticky. Maybe, maybe maybe. Too many variables for such a dangerous weapon.

By leaving one out of the chamber and the saftey on, it's also far better to articulate the conscientious descision to shoot. In order to fire the gun, you had to rack the action, turn the saftey off, aim and squeeze. There's no denying you made that conscientious decision to shoot Yogi. For somebody else, using it in a panic, they can pick it up and it won't work until they slow their thought process down enough to rack the action, turn the saftey off and shoot. If Yogi's mauling me, I don't want some nervous nelly to be shooting, I want someone who's calmed down enough to figure out how to work the damned gun.

For bear defence, this is an emergency saftey device. I wouldn't leave somethign that my life depends on unattended or in a state where another person could alter the condition I left it in. When you loaded the shotgun, you knew what ammo you put in it. Some people like to put a sock round or a banger in the tube first, others like straight slugs, or a mix of slug and buck, or just buck. Point is, if you're loading that gun for your own defence you better know what the hell is in that thing, and be double damn certain nobody's monkied with it since you loaded it. The last thing I'd want is to have Yogi mauling my buddy, then go to fire off what I think is a 1oz slug and all that happens is "bang-screech-flash" coming out of the gun.

Poop happens. We all know this. When it does, I like to be ready for it and not bubmling around wondering where I left my gun and not being certain of the condition it is in. I want it in a place where I know it is, where I know what ammunition is in it, and in a state that is safe to pick up and use in a critical stress situation.

But that's me, I'm not a hunter (yet).

[Hank Hunter]

BOOTS, you have much to learn about reality and not just text book quoting and all the rest of that mumbo jumbo what if crap