# Walking around with a holstered, loaded gun. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walking-around-with-a-holstered-loaded-gun/188862 "2003-07-16T12:34:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walking-around-with-a-holstered-loaded-gun/188862/21 "2003-07-17T06:22:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pkbites \* > **There are a bunch of places you can’t have a gun in any circumstance (bars, schools, vehicles, polling places, any building/property owned by the government)** :smack: ok, there are exceptions to this, like if you’re a cop, or a security guard could carry a non-concealed (concealed if he’s also a cop) gun while on duty in one of these places. I assume you’re none of these. Just a side note. I spend 2-4 weeks every year by my in-laws in Florida. I have a Florida CCW (you don’t have to be a resident there to get one). The info they give you when you ge the permit is that carry a NON concealed gun is a BIG no-no. So, when in Florida, get a permit (good lord it’s easy) and conceal that sucker!😛 ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walking-around-with-a-holstered-loaded-gun/188862/22 "2003-07-17T10:25:10Z")
I asked this same question in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32309) thread. **pkbites** : I wish we had more cops like you. You can open carry in **Ohio** unless it’s forbidden by local laws. (I don’t believe we have a Gun Preemption law.) Concealed carry is illegal in Ohio, though I know at least a dozen people who do so anyway… ---
**Author:** ![JXJohns](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jxjohns/32/469_2.png) [@JXJohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JXJohns)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walking-around-with-a-holstered-loaded-gun/188862/23 "2003-07-17T14:19:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gossamer \* > \*\*In Indiana you could do this as long as you have a valid personal protection license to carry. The police, however, after a fair amount of hassle, will tell you to conceal it, because calls for someone legally openly carrying waste their time. \*\* Pretty much the same for Iowa. Our permit is called a CCW however. ---
**Author:** ![wawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f05b48/32.png) [@wawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wawa)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walking-around-with-a-holstered-loaded-gun/188862/24 "2003-07-17T15:24:46Z")
In Georgia, you can carry a loaded handgun on the passenger seat of your car, but not in the glove compartment or under the seat. While taking me from the shooting range to the gun shop (20 feet across a parking lot), the gun dealer held my gun raised above his head with one finger. When I got a conceal carry permit, the license clerk told me I wasn’t allowed to carry it in a hip holster without the permit, because that conceals it. Now that I live in Virginia, they will accept another state’s carry permit, as long as they can contact the issuing state’s office to confirm. I try to follow the laws for carrying as I find them on NRA website, but there are also county and local laws. I never knew about Preemption laws. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walking-around-with-a-holstered-loaded-gun/188862/25 "2003-07-17T16:58:04Z")
whuckfistle, I can’t add anything new here, but I’m curious: are you being hypothetical or do you have a genuine need or want to do this? ---
**Author:** ![nebco9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@nebco9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nebco9)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walking-around-with-a-holstered-loaded-gun/188862/26 "2003-07-17T17:28:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by drachillix \* > **In CA there are restictions against carrying a loaded exposed weapon unless you are doing so for work and have an exposed carry permit from a state agency.** Also in California, even with a “gun permit”, a security guard can only carry the gun at his “on duty location” > [@](#): > > \*\* IIRC as long as the gun is not loaded and you have no ammo on your person you can probably do this without being cited but you will make alot of people very skittish and you will have plenty of irritated cops looking for an excuse to cite you for something.\*\* The best way to do this, is to carry the gun so as to show it is obviously not loaded. Carry it upside down by the trigger guard; Automatic: magazine removed and slide locked open…Revolver:cylinder swung out with no ammo in it. Even with these precautions, expect that police might stop you and ask where your going and what your doing with the gun. AND, your still going to make “a lot of people skittish”. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walking-around-with-a-holstered-loaded-gun/188862/27 "2003-07-17T19:59:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hey you! \* > \*\*whuckfistle, > > I can’t add anything new here, but I’m curious: are you being hypothetical or do you have a genuine need or want to do this? \*\* Yes. I have a genuine need to be hypothetical. ---
**Author:** ![capnfutile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@capnfutile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capnfutile)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walking-around-with-a-holstered-loaded-gun/188862/28 "2003-07-18T23:29:56Z")
My question: From a legal perspective, if you can carry a handgun but not “in a vehicle”, how do you transport the gun? Is a locked gun case in a car a legal way to do this? It was interesting for me coming from Vermont where, as another poster pointed out, gun laws are quite liberal, to New Zealand, where you pretty much have to be a member of a shooting club to own one. Much less violent crime here, although a city bus was hijacked last night by a 17 year-old with a replica gun. In this instance, they had to call out the “armed offenders squad” as the normal beat cops don’t carry guns. capn ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walking-around-with-a-holstered-loaded-gun/188862/29 "2003-07-19T00:10:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by capnfutile \* > \*\*My question:From a legal perspective, if you can carry a handgun but not “in a vehicle”, how do you transport the gun? Is a locked gun case in a car a legal way to do this? > capn \*\* There are only 2 ways civillians can legally transport a weapon in a vehicle: #1) Unloaded, in a case, in the trunk or other non passenger area of the vehicle #2)Security guards can carry their weapon secured in a non-concealed holster while on duty in a vehicle. They must also possess a valid firearms permit. Wisconsin firearms permits (available only to armed security/private detectives/armored car guards etc.) does NOT allow concealed carry. Only peace officers can CCW in this state. Much to my surprise that actually might change in the next 2 years. It depends if the legislature will have enough votes to override a Governer veto. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walking-around-with-a-holstered-loaded-gun/188862.md?page=1)