California Open Carry

[blm510]

Today I called the local county Sheriff's office to inquire about a conceled wheapon permit I stated how I want to carry I was told , ATV's are not considered a motor vehicle and as long as you are not in or on a On Highway motor vehicle it is legal to open carry a firearm on your person . Also in a USFS and BLM land it is legal to open carry as long as it is in an area not posted prohibiting firearm discharge. There is a web site opencarry.org that has a lot of info. Any one else have diffrent or conflicting info?

B

[Mr. Green]

i dont want to steer ya wrong but opencarry.org info all seems correct to me but i didnt check it with actually law codes.

Grizzly Guy seems to have most of this stuff memorized it seems id shoot him a PM.

[hemingray]

id shoot him a PM.

Be careful when you say "shoot" around Grizzly Guy...!

[GrizzlyGuy]

An old saying: the worst sources for gun law information are cops and gun store employees. Looks like you talked to one of the former. Here is what the laws actually say:

An ATV is a motor vehicle for the purposes of gun laws. It doesn't matter that it isn't street legal. Having a motor and being a vehicle is all that matters.

Yes, you can legally open carry a loaded handgun anywhere out in unincorporated territory where firearm discharge is not prohibited. The new open carry law that went into effect on Jan 1st (AB144 that created PC 26350) only applies to areas where discharge is prohibited and it even outlaws the carry of an unloaded handgun in those areas. But if discharge is OK, openly carrying a loaded handgun is OK too. This is one of the few areas of the law that actually makes sense: if it is legal for you to fire the gun, it has to be legal to carry it around loaded, else how would you ever be able to fire it? I open carry a loaded handgun every day on my dog walk now that I live outside of Truckee's city limits where discharge is legal.

As to open carrying a loaded handgun while riding an ATV, there are two theories as to the legalities. I went through the analysis in excruciating detail once before, see here:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/show ... ost4423786

Bottom line: I'm highly confident that it is legal to openly carry a loaded handgun if you are riding on a Trail and not within 150 yards of anyone's campsite or a developed area. If riding on a Road... I *believe* it is legal, but law enforcement and even a judge might disagree with me. Openly carrying it unloaded while riding on a Road is certainly legal if discharge is also legal in the area.

FYI, there is a lot of great related info here: Firearms in Forests and Parks

[Ken]

Good stuff Eric.