If you camp in N.C.'s national forests, don't go "Naked", wear a .22LR

I used to camp when my kids were young, but now they're grown and gone and I oughta be camping with my grandkids. But I got a good excuse.

My sweet wife thinks camping out involves a motel room. And now I got an even better excuse. The best places to camp in North Carolina are in the many national forests, almost all of which are also designated as state gamelands, meaning residents can hunt there.

But according to state wildlife officials, that also means that national forests are not the same as national parks, therefore those citizens like me with concealed-carry permits are not legally allowed to carry despite the new national law that authorizes concealed-carry in national parks. So sez Fear & Loading, as reported in the Whiteville newspaper.

A change in federal law that allows firearms in many national parks does not include state parks and forests or other state recreational areas, including North Carolina’s game lands. According to the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of Interior, people who can legally possess firearms under federal and state law can now possess those firearms in the national parks in that state. This pertains to anyone with a concealed carry permit.

National parks should not be confused with national forests. In North Carolina, the Nantahala, Pisgah, Uwharrie and Croatan national forests are also designated as game lands.

“Concealed carry permits do not supersede the other regulations that apply,” said Maj. Keith Templeton, with the law enforcement division of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. “It is up to the individual with a valid concealed carry permit to know the law and obey it.”

Under game land regulations, it is unlawful to possess a firearm or bow and arrow on a game land at any time, except:

• During the open hunting seasons for game birds and game animals

• When the firearm is cased or not immediately available for use

• When possessed and used by participants in field trials on field trial areas

• When possessed and used on target shooting areas designated by the landowner

• When possessed in designated camping areas for defense of persons and property

Game land regulations allow .22 caliber pistols, with barrels not greater than seven and a half inches in length and shooting only short, long or long rifle ammunition, to be carried as a sidearm on game lands at any time, other than by hunters during the special bow and arrow and muzzleloading deer hunting seasons.

So bad news is I can't carry my defense pistols concealed. But good news is I can carry my S&W 22A target pistol openly. Or my Sig P229 or P220 as long as I have the .22LR slides installed.

Oh well, I guess that's better than going "naked." As I heard one instructor advise a lady shooter who carries a .32 pistol, "Better shoot 'em in the eyeball."

Advice on concealed-carry from Mas Ayoob and Clint Smith

Massad Ayoob begins at the beginning in this excerpt from his book on concealed-carry handguns.

One can’t carry a concealed weapon without having a concealable weapon. Some are suitable for the concealed carry task, and some are not.

We can’t cover every possible choice here. A swing through the Krause catalog will show you whole books on the 1911, the Glock, the SIG-Sauer, the Beretta, the Smith & Wesson series, etc. al.

The competent shooter loses little going double action only with a snubby. This old M/36 Chief Special with Herrett stocks made 5 out of 5 head shots at 20 yards single action (left) and double action (right)

Other good choices from Paladin include Living with 1911s and Living with Glocks by Robert Boatman, and the outstanding The Snubby Revolver by Ed Lovette. I think Lovette’s book should be read by anyone who owns or is thinking of owning a “snub-nose.” It puts the whole genre in perspective.

As noted earlier, it’s more convenient to have a “wardrobe” of concealable handguns, but it’s not entirely necessary.

Generations of young cops have learned that it’s cheaper to buy a concealment holster for their full-size department-issue service handgun than to purchase a whole new gun and leather set for off-duty carry.

Similarly, many armed citizens have learned that the full-size handgun they bought for home protection is concealable if they set their mind to it.

My personal favorite illustration of that last point, conceal-carry of a full-size handgun, is Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch. Clint's choice for a pocket pistol is a S&W 29 .44 Magnum 4"-barrel wheel gun with a bobbed hammer. Obviously Clint likes cargo pants with great big front pockets.

As Clint sez, "It's a big gun when I put it in my pocket and it's a big gun when I pull it out."

Sorta like the famous saying that everybody wants a .25 ACP to carry but a .44 Magnum when they pull it out. But I gotta admit, I ain't man enough to tote my Model 29 in my pocket.

Patrot's Day celebrates 'The Shot Heard 'Round the World'

How did you celebrate "Patriot's Day"? Jules Crittenden 'splains it for those ignorant of history who never heard of "the shot heard 'round the world."

Speaking of tectonic templates Massachusetts has provided for the nation, happy Patriots Day. Today, we mark the day in 1775 when Americans took up arms against their king, and bled, at the crack of terrible dawn.

My generation could recite the famous poem that begins "By the rude bridge that arched the flood..." but since they stopped teaching "dead white men's history" in the schools, the current generation most likely has not heard of the shot heard 'round the world. If you'd like a refresher course on the events of that day, Jules has the historical facts.

On Monday, Massad Ayoob made a prediction that was so easy to make it's certainly not surprising that it came to pass that same day.

Today the Second Amendment March is scheduled to take place in Washington, DC. I expect it to go peacefully, and therefore be largely ignored by the anti-gun elements of the mainstream media. It would not surprise me at all if the turnout dwarfed that of the Million Man March of anti-gunners a few years ago, whose attendance was a miniscule fraction of their eponymous name/number.

This immediate past weekend saw our friends in the Appleseed Project hold their excellent rifle clinics/history lectures all around the country, in celebration of the anniversary of the events at Concord and Lexington that sparked the American Revolution and the birth of this nation. The date for the peaceful march in Washington was chosen for the same reason. Of course, much of the mainstream media will choose to mention instead that it coincides with such anniversaries as the Branch Davidian debacle in Waco and the terrorist McVeigh’s bombing in Oklahoma City.

Sure nuff, the knee jerks and jerk Dana Milbank of the Washington Post reports this morning:

They came in camouflage and ammunition vests, carrying AK-47s slung over their shoulders and pistols in their hip holsters. They were in Northern Virginia, on the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, to stand on federal land and to voice violent thoughts.

In the nation's capital, where possession of guns is strictly regulated, they came carrying only signs and handbills, which one man had thrust into an empty holster.

The protest by hundreds of gun-rights advocates, billed as a national march in support of the Second Amendment, drew small but fervent groups to the Washington area. As many as 2,000 people gathered in the shadow of the Washington Monument, and about 50 at Gravelly Point and Fort Hunt parks in Virginia.

Not only did Milbank make the Oklahoma City bombing connection and tar the peaceful protesters with "violent thoughts" he also ridiculed their numbers as "hundreds." Whatcha bet Milbank saw "millions" on the day the anti-gunners gathered at the same spot?

Tam as usual gives a short, succinct roundup of the day's events from her porch view.

So, there were some Second Amendment marches and protests around the country over the weekend, including here in Indianapolis, culminating in Monday's rallies, both armed and unarmed, in Washington D.C.

No shots fired. No swarms of inbred yahoos rising from the hollers and bayous of Red State Amerikkka to put civilization to fire and the sword. No cyborg invasions.

Reactions from the soft, toothless, pro-disarmament Lefties on the intertubes ranged from pants-filling shrillness to smug and self-congratulatory Freudian allusions.

Speaking of "pants-filling shrillness," Milbank voices his own alarmed view of the pro-gun movement, reporting on recent successes.

The rallies come at a time when the trend appears to be toward normalizing the carrying of firearms in public. Even before the U.S. Supreme Court's 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller recognized an individual's constitutional right to possess firearms, an increasing number of states had allowed citizens to carry guns openly or conceal them on their person.

Last year, 24 states loosened restrictions in firearms laws, and Iowa and Arizona passed laws this year easing restrictions on gun possession. Starbucks recently announced that it would heed applicable federal state and local laws on gun possession, opening the door to allowing people to order a mochaccino with a Glock on their hip.

Ayoob also noted the growing movement toward exercising Second Amendment rights.

Last week, the Governor of Arizona signed the legislation that will make that state the third in the nation that allows law-abiding adult citizens to carry loaded, concealed handguns in public without a permit. The law goes into effect this summer, I’m told. (LINK HERE). Vermont has had that system for as long as any living human can remember, and has always had one of the lowest rates of violent crime of any state in the nation – many years, THE lowest. Bad judgment shootings by law-abiding carriers are so infrequent as to be off the radar screen.

A few years ago, Alaska followed with what might be an even better system. I say that because Vermont, never having needed a permit system, has none in place, so the Vermont citizen can get no indigenous permit with which to reciprocate when he or she travels to states that recognize other state’s resident permits. Alaska kept its permit system in place, to allow for its citizens to have reciprocity elsewhere. This is the model Arizona is following.

Milbank couldn't resist putting in a plug for the anti-gunners trying to resist the growing tide, but even his boosterism is pitiful as he reports the numbers at two rallies as "about 30."

Gun-control groups have pushed back. This weekend, gun-control advocates coordinated protests at Starbucks in Blacksburg, Va., and Denver to coincide with anniversaries of the Virginia Tech and Columbine shootings. Abby Spangler, founder of Virginia-based Protest Easy Guns, said about 30 people attended each demonstration.

Since Florida led the way some 20+ years ago with a "shall issue" concealed carry law for its citizens, the movement has spread across the nation. Today 40 of the union's 50 states have "shall issue" laws or even better, no restrictions at all like Vermont, Alaska and now Arizona.

I'm proud to say North Carolina is among those "shall issue" states and I'm also proud to say I'm doing my part to help our state's residents become legally armed with monthly concealed carry classes held at the gun shop where I work.