Re: Boating hangun carry laws
Re: Boating hangun carry laws
The current regulation by the CoE is under a temporary injunction out of the state of Idaho pending a decision by the court, so yes you can if it is not against the law by the state as well, mind you this is a temporary injunction pending the decision by the court.
The problem with this is that hopefully the ranger that pulls you over knows of this injunction. If you are a CCW permit holder and are not required to inform under state law then I would advise you to go ahead and carry and keep your mouth shut, but you are responsible for your own actions. Here in Colorado the lakes are patrolled by POST certified peace officers as Park Rangers. I have never heard of any CCW carriers ticketed for carrying on any of Colorado's lakes and I would know if there was at one of the more popular lakes in my Denver metro area, specifically our Sheriff supports 2A rights and is very vocal about it so I'm sure the Park Rangers know this.
But it is important that you get specific information on the lakes you boat on. Keep in mind that this is a very contentious subject, you are likely to get many many opinions on it such as you see here, but it does not end there, the law changes so much that officers may not know there is an injunction currently so while it may still be a law it cannot be enforced, so what happens? You get a ticket or summons, and you find out in court that you never should have gotten it, oh you pay your own transportation costs to fight the summons since you cannot sue the state for it, so most simply pay the summons/fine and move on. I don't know of any where that this is a misdemeanor charge but it could be, again I can only tell you about Colorado.
Now, even here in Colorado, if you choose to be a Dbag to the Rangers you will get charged for everything, including these BS laws, the idea is be a nice guy and be asked to put it in your truck along with the beer, and then come back out and have a nice day on the water, or you can be the other guy and get charged with excessive alcohol on breathe, trespassing (the gun charge), failure to observe safe boating laws(the throwable you didn't have), etc etc see what I mean? Leverage, exactly why People hate cops.
SO, better to ask the locals and don't be afraid to cite Morris v. US Army Corps of Engineers, D. Idaho, Jan. 10, 2014, just to help them out a bit, if you come off as a person who knows what you are talking about in a respectful way, you will have them on their heels, it won't be comfortable for them but believe me, they want to know because the last thing a cop wants to be is wrong.
