Hand guns on the trail?

[AZ_Hiker]

I was just wondering how many or if any of you take a gun when you hike. I do. there are many reasons I can think of to take one along.

I have a few friends here at work that are both experanced hikers. one was part of search and rescue for many years, the other was a cop. Both have hiked just about every area of AZ and both have told me to always take a gun for many different reasons.

[joebartels]

that's my kind of chutin'
she's a pistol alright

[mttgilbert]

Thank god for photoshop. I might never have seen that otherwise!

[jeremy77777]

Three months ago I was hiking Horton Springs Trail. I came across a guy carrying an AR-15 and had two Pistols on his belt. I would say that was a little extreme. I think he could have gotten by with just 1 pistol. (and some reloads! )

[big_load]

In response to jeremy77777's reply:

Congratulations on living to tell the tale. Whenever I cross paths with a guy like that (a few times now), I worry that he'll cook up an excuse to use them. The first time was about 10 years ago; he was at a trailhead in Lost Dutchman State Park, shooting up everything in sight. I took a big off-trail detour.

[AZ_Hiker]

you know folks I posted this topic a long time ago. I had no idea that it was going to go on this long.

I have been hiking in AZ for 3 years now. I have seen some amazing things that no picture can tell. I am blessed to have had the chance to see the things ive seen.

that aside. I have to say that I have run in to people packing a hand gun and it has in no way made me up tight or scared. but i have always owned a gun. I dont have a bunch of them, nor am I a member of the NRA or any ultra right wing group. I do know how to use one. at the risk of sounding boastful, Im a pretty good shot too.

I have hiked all over AZ and have so much more to explore, I cant wait to get to it.. as for taking a hand gun with me? I have about 30% of the time. when I do carry one, its for reasons I cant really explain. it may be that I have never been in the area befor and am worried about my personal safty. it could be that i have an un easy feeling about how remote an area i am in. there are places I have been that I have been warned about as being dangerous.. so in general, if I feel uneasy when I get the the TH, theres a chance I may be packing in with a sidearm. that in no way makes me a right wing nut.. its just a feeling kind of thing.

to be honest, I would like it if I never felt uneasy and the only sidearm I have at the moment is a browning 9mm and its heavier than i would like.. but my grandpa always told me " its better to have it and not need it than to need and not have it" so thats how I handle it..

if you want to carry.. if it makes you feel better/safe.. you know how to handle it.. and you dont mind the weight.. I see no reason why you shouldnt. if you dont want the weight, guns make you uneasy, you dont know what your doing with one, dont carry one!!

just a side note, in the 3 years I have been hiking here, I do know poeple that have got in to situations where a gun did indeed save their life. one did involve a snake and one involved a mountian lion.. take that for what its worth.. I havnt seen anything on the trail that I needed a gun for.. but that doesnt mean it cant happen. luck favors the prepared:)

be good

[big_load]

In response to AZ_Hiker's reply:

I wasn't referring to all folks with guns, most of whom appear mature and responsible and don't worry me. But I have run across a few wing nuts and some other folks who are obviously worried about being seen doing something they know is illegal (carrying or hunting in prohibited areas, hunting out of season, cactus or trail marker shoot-em-up).

[AZ_Hiker]

I really havne taken anything you said personaly.. no worries

I have meet some wing nuts myself:)

[jeremy77777]

In response to kurthzone's reply:

Good stuff Kurthzone

[ttrottier]

I used to, but the weight to usefulness ratio just wasn't worth it. I have never came up on anything that was a real threat. I think most people probably think you are kind of a menace if they see a gun and don't know you, it just makes it hard to make friends.

[PaleoRob]

Friends? What the heck are those?

[te_wa]

as if carrying a gun is not redneck enough for you, now you can carry almost anywhere!

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/01/08

Gun owners entering churches, restaurants or public parks could take their guns with them, under a bill passed by the Georgia House on Thursday.

They also could leave them in their glove compartments at work.

On a 111-58 vote, the House voted to expand greatly the rights of permitted gun owners to carry their concealed weapons into places prohibited now under Georgia law.

"Georgia is the most restrictive state for law-abiding citizens, with Georgia firearms-license permits, in the nation," said state Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica), the bill's author.

"I think we've got work to do in this state, when California and New York [have] better gun laws than us."

"This is the 'take your gun to church' bill," said state Rep. Doug McKillip (D-Athens), who voted against the legislation.

"This is the 'take your gun to work' bill. ... Under this bill, you can take your gun to Chili's."

The measure returns to the Senate, which passed a similar bill in January but must vote again because the House amended the legislation Thursday.

Those changes include lifting the ban on taking a gun into church and liberalizing the existing ban on carrying firearms into bars.

Under the amended bill, a permitted gun owner can carry a firearm into restaurants that make less than half of their money from alcohol sales.

Bearden said private-property owners, including church congregations, would retain the right to keep guns off their lands.

State Rep. Bobby Reese (R-Sugar Hill) invoked the name of Meredith Emerson during a question to Bearden.

Emerson is the Buford woman who was kidnapped while hiking in North Georgia on Jan. 1 and later killed. On Thursday, a judge sentenced Gary Michael Hilton to life in prison after Hilton pleaded guilty to Emerson's murder.

"Is it not true also that if she chose on her own free will to arm herself," Reese asked, "possibly with a handgun, at that time being by herself in the woods, that she may very well be alive today?"

Bearden replied: "As a law-abiding citizen, she was forced to disarm, just like anyone else who would be forced to disarm, if they want to go for a hike."

you gotta love it.

[ttrottier]

Friends? What the heck are those?

Asking is your admission of knowledge.
t

[azbackpackr]

I sometimes carry one. I agree with the guy who said weight to whatever ratio was too high. However, I like living in Arizona where there is a choice--that way if I want to go down to Sycamore Canyon, the one right on the Mexican border, or other areas down there I can legally be armed. Read that thread about the guy who wondered if he could carry one in Calif. on the PCT. It is a felony in Calif. no matter if you are on BLM land, Forest Service land, etc.

The post about the laws in Georgia was informative, but doesn't really have to do with Arizona. In Arizona you can legally carry a handgun unconcealed in a holster on your belt just about anywhere you want to, including in church, unless there is a sign or specific law prohibiting it, such as at a school. And you can take a class and get your CCW to carry concealed if you are not a felon or mental patient.

There was a move on to allow teachers to carry concealed, if they so chose. I don't know what happened to that. People get all scared about the idea of the armed citizen when they don't know the statistics. A lot of criminals are thwarted every year by armed citizens. It doesn't make the 5 o'clock news very often, though. There was one instance of a kid who started a school shooting who was stopped by two armed citizens, I think it was in the South.

[hatman]

I've packed a sidearm since I was 16. I started packing in the Idaho Wilderness when I was 12. In that time I have been in countless of the normal fearful situations for which people carry sidearms to protect themselve from. When I was 12 a black bear walked across my sleeping bag while stealing a bag of pancake mix and he never woke me. Also numerous other times during salmon runs and berry season they were often encountered at close range. We found banging on a pan usually scared them away. Young ones (bears) would play hide & seek behind trees and others we would spook within feet while berry picking. 4 times I have encountered healthy mountain lions at less thwn ten yards, three of those times at less than ten feet, once with me between a big female cat and her fresh kill. NONE of those times was I armed. Neither did I ever feel unarmed. It's mostly about keeping my wits about me as the saying goes. I shy away from people on the trail more than any large or dangerous animal. On the other hand a few years ago while with my daughter, we were hiking 1/2 mile away from camp and I was giving her instructions on wildflower photography. Earlier that day we had hiked to a high mountain lake mostly off trail and I was able to show her where a bear had been digging her way through logs and under boulders all the way up the mountain. We met two teenagers coming down from the lake from fishing dressed in tennies, cutoffs, & t'shirts. I felt a little overdressed with my bigbore pistol earlier that day and so later when we went picture taking I left my pistol in camp. On the old mining road we were taking back to camp I noticed 50 yards ahead of us a small black dog jump down the road embankment and scamper across the meadow. I looked at Jolene and exclaimed "I didn't know there were any sheepherders in the area" when the second dog jumped across the road. The light went on and I backed Jolene into some trees and told her they were bear cubs and I didn't know whether "mom" was sending them out of danger so she could deal with us or maybe the cubs were racintg to catch up with her. I also told Jolene that If "mother" did show up, she should run for the main road and not come back without help. Turns out the cubs were trying to catch up with the sow. So, you see, I let some underdressed, uneducated teenagers influence my thinking more than all my wilderness experience combined. I never expect trouble in the woods and deserts, but I will never go unarmed again. Well, maybe. Actually, I feel safer somehow when I see someone else armed on the trail simply because I believe they are not naive about their circumstances. On the oher hand hunters have made me feel nightmares can be real afterall. I guess there are idiots with guns and idiots without guns. I hope to be classified as neither.

[Teebor]

So, you see, I let some underdressed, uneducated teenagers influence my thinking more than all my wilderness experience combined.

I tend to feel a bit overdressed too when I'm out on the trails. But I carry more gear than I need for a reason opposite to yours. I know that I'm inexperienced in the desert and I'd rather have stuff in case of an emergency than not have it. Maybe some people have experience fighting mountain lions with their bare hands, but I don't, so I'd rather have my Sig and a couple knives.

I was out in the Superstitions for the first time recently and I ran across a group of hikers early on in my hike. They were all in shorts and tshirts with camelbacks on, nothing wrong with that, but I noticed them crossing a stream perpendicular to the trail. These were the first people I met up with and I felt overdressed in my BDU pants, ka-bar, and large military style backpack. But none of them even had a map, leaving me to give directions. And I bet none of them had a first-aid kit either.

I take a pretty large first-aid kit out on long hikes. Though I know how to use it, I pray that I won't need to. The same philosophy goes for whatever weapons I bring out.

[JimmyLyding]

You're much better off carrying a first-aid kit than a firearm. If you don't believe me then think about all of the stories since 1890 that you've read about people who've saved their skin from a mountain lion, bear, sasquatch, or illegal immigrant because of a firearm. Driving safely to the trailhead is a much better way to preserve one's life than carrying a firearm.
I think the problem many Arizonans have with firearms isn't folks carrying them out in the wilderness, but rather carrying them in the workplace, bars, restaurants, or in front of the building where the President is speaking. Firearms (I own 12 of them BTW) should only be used for protection or to take dangerous and delicious (hopefully) animals. The sad thing that I see is that many people in our fair state have used firearms to either intimidate others or assert their right to carry un-concealed firearms no matter what the situation in order to score political points.
I could tote around my Springfield 1903 to show the liberals that I will defend my property with deadly force, but the simple fact of carrying it around in front of the Phoenix Convention Center would brand me as an extremist who doesn't care about either decorum or safety. I have no desire for Secret Service snipers to have my melon in their cross-hairs merely so I can prove some sort of idiotic point. Furthermore, anyone who walks around in front of the Phoenix Convention Center with a rifle while the President is there should have their head squarely in the middle of the cross-hairs of some Secret Service snipers.
Welcome to the wild, wild West.

[chumley]

Firearms (I own 12 of them BTW) should only be used for protection...

While I don't think its necessary to carry a firearm while viewing the President's speech in front of the convention center (there should be plenty of law enforcement there already), I do wonder how you choose what times and places are appropriate to protect yourself?

[Jeffshadows]

Firearms (I own 12 of them BTW) should only be used for protection...

While I don't think its necessary to carry a firearm while viewing the President's speech in front of the convention center (there should be plenty of law enforcement there already), I do wonder how you choose what times and places are appropriate to protect yourself?

Each person must choose that for his or herself, IMHO. There are places I go unarmed where I would never take my family, for example. Other times I always have a firearm; good examples being anything near the border road or the south side of the Ritas.

Carrying a firearm to a speech by Obama or Giffords is just more evidence that we need to start cracking down on reckless gun owners before the rights of all gun owners get trampled by the backlash they cause.

[BobP]

Each person must choose that for his or herself

Ding.ding.ding we have a winner folks.

[Jeffshadows]

I think I meant to put "HIM" or herself...oh well.