Boondocking safety-Are you armed?

[drmopar]

Looking for suggestions regarding Boondocking safety. With California RV camping spaces tough to get, I have been looking at secluded, boondocking areas and issues. Thanks

[momentum_rv]

Don't ask don't tell.

If the bad guys believe all us campers are armed, the safer we all are.

[1stgenfarmboy]

to answer the OP's question.....


Yes.

[doc_brown]

toedtoes wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:

toedtoes wrote:

doc brown wrote:
Sweet! Eight pages and we are still on. Interesting, the antgunners will never convince the progunners and visa versa. I carry whether you like it or not, you'll never know I have one but you better pray that when you are in a really bad situation someone is nearby and willing to help. Help could involve a firearm, not necessarily. But if a firearm is required you'll be thankful the armed citizen was willing to help. No law says he has to. As my neighbor in my sticks and bricks neighborhood who knows I carry and knows my house is stocked well asked, "if I'm in trouble over here will you come and help?" My answer, "I'd call 911" , but he says "that will take about 10 minutes for the police to arrive", "sorry why don't you get a weapon for your families safety", " no way I would never own a gun". There you go, I hear that quite often. I refuse to be a victim.

I protect myself. I do not depend on a stranger carrying to keep me safe. Likewise, I don't expect an armed neighbor to come to my rescue. I take precautions as I see fit, not as others dictate.

I am willing to accept the "risk" of not having a gun. I refuse to be a victim too. I just don't believe I need a gun for that.

As part of discussion......
What do you use to protect yourself?

First and foremost - my brain.

Second - my attitude.

Third - my dogs.

Fourth - whatever I have handy.

I have never had to go to the fourth - the other three have always been successful. And yes, I have been in situations that were dangerous (two vagrants fresh off a train trying to bash in my front door with a railroad tie, etc.).

Agree on first, always be aware
Agree on second, attitude showing confidence
Don't have a dog
Agree on fourth, my gun is always handy

[TxGearhead]

toedtoes wrote:

rjxj wrote:

toedtoes wrote:

rjxj wrote:
They never seem to like the idea but my best recommendation for those who dont like guns is to post it on the front of their homes and RV's "No guns in here". You know, sort of like those very safe gun free zones.

You say that's your "best recommendation". Recommendation for what? What purpose does that serve other than to continue to break down civilized discussion.

Do you have a sign on your house or RV saying NO GUNS IN HERE? It's a yes or no question.

That's not what you said before - you said you recommend that people post a sign, not asking if they do.

To answer your question, no I do not. I also don't post "I don't have any knives", "I have money", "I took self defense courses","beware of dogs", and so on. I don't post signs on my house or Rv period. I don't post such a sign because I'm afraid I'll be a target, I just don't post signs. I don't even have a welcome sign or my name on the mailbox. Why would I? What does it have to do with whether one chooses to carry a weapon when boondocking?

And why get upset with someone who has stated she doesn't care if you choose to carry a gun, but she chooses not to do so and chooses not to let them in her home? I'm not infringing on anyone's rights - I'm just asking others to not infringe on mine.

The only gun regulations I'd like to see is registration (so a gun used in a crime can be used to assist in the arrest of the perpetrator), penalties for those who buy guns for someone who can't qualify to buy one themselves (same with buying alcohol for minors), and required courses. Nothing in my stand suggests taking away anyone's guns just because I don't personally like them.

But this is where the discussion dies every time. Everyone gets defensive and then it resorts to "you're trying to take away my rights" and "no one should have a gun". I had a relative tell me that banning lakes and rivers is the same as banning guns - they both can kill people. That type of argument does no one any good. One can't walk into a school with a lake in their pocket and kill grade schoolers. On the flip side, the argument "guns are evil" is just as lame. The gun was the tool used, it was the person to blame. And that's my stand - there are certain people who should not be allowed to have guns - several in my own family (I've seen their trigger finger and their unsafe handling of guns and they are a greater risk to me than some stranger in the forest).

The only things you would like to see.....registration...already law...you buy a gun retail, it is registered. If you buy a gun for someone who can't, you are in big trouble. I suggest you read the federal form that has to be filled out to buy a gun.

[drmopar]

Thanks to everyone that posted to my original post. The responses have been great. I am not new to guns, but raising kids and keeping a gun out of the house took priority over having one available. As a kid, we would go shoot with my Savage 22-410 over & under rifle. Also hand guns with snake shot. So far my RV experience has been free from any situations that would require a gun. Now that I have a few miles on me, I know when I don't feel comfortable in an area when we camp. A couple of times we changed the areas we thought would be nice. If you carry or not, please use common sense and stay safe-Thanks

[LenSatic]

The OP's question was about boondocking and it's best not to drift too far afield from that, but wallydocking and the like should be on target. 😄 The couple murdered in NM were hijacked from a rest area and that, as well as visitor centers, are also places that we overnight.

Always carried by me: HK USPc .45 in a Crossbreed Supertuck holster. My wife carries an XD 9mm in a holster and a Ruger LCP .38 in her purse. She's also a coach and Range Saftey Officer at the local range. Plus, we have a 120lb Akita that is a great "watch" dog. He doesn't bark, just watches. 😉

LS

[OldSmokey]

Mossberg 500 with bear slugs for "wildlife" protection.;)

[toedtoes]

Old-Biscuit wrote:

toedtoes wrote:

doc brown wrote:
Sweet! Eight pages and we are still on. Interesting, the antgunners will never convince the progunners and visa versa. I carry whether you like it or not, you'll never know I have one but you better pray that when you are in a really bad situation someone is nearby and willing to help. Help could involve a firearm, not necessarily. But if a firearm is required you'll be thankful the armed citizen was willing to help. No law says he has to. As my neighbor in my sticks and bricks neighborhood who knows I carry and knows my house is stocked well asked, "if I'm in trouble over here will you come and help?" My answer, "I'd call 911" , but he says "that will take about 10 minutes for the police to arrive", "sorry why don't you get a weapon for your families safety", " no way I would never own a gun". There you go, I hear that quite often. I refuse to be a victim.

I protect myself. I do not depend on a stranger carrying to keep me safe. Likewise, I don't expect an armed neighbor to come to my rescue. I take precautions as I see fit, not as others dictate.

I am willing to accept the "risk" of not having a gun. I refuse to be a victim too. I just don't believe I need a gun for that.

As part of discussion......
What do you use to protect yourself?

First and foremost - my brain.

Second - my attitude.

Third - my dogs.

Fourth - whatever I have handy.

I have never had to go to the fourth - the other three have always been successful. And yes, I have been in situations that were dangerous (two vagrants fresh off a train trying to bash in my front door with a railroad tie, etc.).

[Old-Biscuit]

toedtoes wrote:

doc brown wrote:
Sweet! Eight pages and we are still on. Interesting, the antgunners will never convince the progunners and visa versa. I carry whether you like it or not, you'll never know I have one but you better pray that when you are in a really bad situation someone is nearby and willing to help. Help could involve a firearm, not necessarily. But if a firearm is required you'll be thankful the armed citizen was willing to help. No law says he has to. As my neighbor in my sticks and bricks neighborhood who knows I carry and knows my house is stocked well asked, "if I'm in trouble over here will you come and help?" My answer, "I'd call 911" , but he says "that will take about 10 minutes for the police to arrive", "sorry why don't you get a weapon for your families safety", " no way I would never own a gun". There you go, I hear that quite often. I refuse to be a victim.

I protect myself. I do not depend on a stranger carrying to keep me safe. Likewise, I don't expect an armed neighbor to come to my rescue. I take precautions as I see fit, not as others dictate.

I am willing to accept the "risk" of not having a gun. I refuse to be a victim too. I just don't believe I need a gun for that.

As part of discussion......
What do you use to protect yourself?

[4runnerguy]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
The USA has a problem with guns. I don't know the solution--but what is being done now certainly is NOT working.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/upshot/compare-these-gun-death-rates-the-us-is-in-a-different-wor...

A scatter graph of the over 45,000 incidents (so far in 2017) including over 11000 deaths.



Something to take away from the graph is that the farther you are from a high population density--the safer it appears to be. That's what boondocking is all about, yes?

LOL, posted by a Canadian referencing a NY Times article. That's special. Perhaps do not visit the USA if you're that concerned, and if you do just visit one of the states where they have it all figured out and safe, all through legislation, such as NY, NJ, MD, MA and most New England states, or most of the west coast lol.

That graphic is interesting. Compare it to a map of states that have the most stringent gun control and you'll see the red dots are mostly concentrated there lol.

Don't think so. Just look at this map:



Dark blue states have the highest rate of deaths caused by firearms, lightest blue the lowest. The number of circles indicates the number of laws, four circles meaning the most, one meaning the least. Pretty good correlation. NY, NJ, CA, CT MA etc. have lots of gun laws and low death rates. States like MS, LA, AR, AZ and AK have few gun laws and are in the top 25% for gun death rates.

There are exceptions. Nebraska and NH have fewer laws yet a low death rate while Alabama and SC have more laws but a higher death rate. But plotted up on a graph, there's still a strong correlation between higher number of gun deaths and fewer laws.

On this map, remember that deaths can be from suicide, accident, homicide, etc. And homicide deaths are often at the hands of family members or acquaintances, not random shootings.

But some of the states with the lowest death rates, like CT and RI are a little short on boondocking locations.

[pianotuna]

Dig down by all means. But Japan is 0.06 per 100,000 and USA is 10.54 per 100,000.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

memtb wrote:
So as "not" to be "politically incorrect ".... if you dig deeply enough into the FBI's own statistics,you can find "where" the large numbers come from. If these contributing numbers are removed from the statistical data, we fall below many of the Eroupean nations and (several years ago) even Japan. I haven't seen these statistics in several years, and this may not be accurate at present!

[memtb]

pianotuna wrote:
Ralph,

The only thing "special" is that many folks in USA don't see there are issues that need to be solved. See the article JaxDad posted.

So as "not" to be "politically incorrect ".... if you dig deeply enough into the FBI's own statistics,you can find "where" the large numbers come from. If these contributing numbers are removed from the statistical data, we fall below many of the Eroupean nations and (several years ago) even Japan. I haven't seen these statistics in several years, and this may not be accurate at present!

[my440]

No guns allowed here in Canada. First we apologize eh, then above my door hangs an air horn can, bear spray and 2 Shitzus nearby.

[pianotuna]

Ralph,

The only thing "special" is that many folks in USA don't see there are issues that need to be solved. See the article JaxDad posted.

[JaxDad]

I'm an American, who lives in Canada, not that I see what that has to do with anything, however.....

According to this article the US has a death by firearms rate that is 25 times higher than 22 similarly wealthy nations.

Since there are (obviously) no 'border checkpoints' between States there is no practical way to stop the flow of firearms between them either.

Using a line commonly heard up here 'criminals aren't too concerned by laws saying they can't have guns'.