1TallTXn wrote:
I'm going to avoid IL. The problem arises in that I want to go through Ohio and West Virginia. Neither of those states honor the TX CHL.
WV allows unlicensed open carry.
OH requires the gun to be out of reach and/or disassembled.
I'm sourcing my info from PDO.
On the bike open carry is going to be a bit interesting. I can stick in on my belt, but my jacket is mostly going to cover it. Not completely, but enough that it might be fuzzy on the "open" part.
My advice would be to avoid open carry no matter what the law appears to say. Many states have laws that APPEAR TO allow for open carry. But actual "tolerance" for open carry in real life can vary widely from place to place. In some states, open carry in rural areas is common and accepted. In others, it is not. And in urban areas in many states, open carry is rare and many people, including police, may not be aware that it is technically "legal".
So what happens in real life is that the PD gets a "man with a gun" call and you end up debating the law with them at the side of the road, with your gun confiscated (even if only temporarily) and your hands on the trunk of a police cruiser or cuffed.
They may well know the law better than you do. In some jurisdictions, there is case law establishing that if the sight of your openly carried gun causes some nearby "sheeple" to become upset, you can be booked on disorderly conduct.
It is very hard to have full knowledge of these things for all of the unfamiliar territiry you will encounter on a long trip. You could call the state and/or local PD or sheriff's dept. for the places along your expected route through WV. You may or may not get accurate information even then.
And I wouldn't depend on PDO to keep me out of jail.
My main point is, who needs all that unpleasantness? You're on a motorcycle vacation. ENJOY THE RIDE!!!
Bottom line: It says here to avoid the hassle and when in OH and WV, just unload the gun and lock it up in a hard sided case or saddlebag. With any luck, you will live through the experience and have a great trip.
1TallTXn wrote:Reading the OH code I'm more confused then I was before.
(C)(1) This section does not apply to any of the following:
(b) Any person who is employed in this state, who is authorized to carry concealed weapons.................
IANAL. But if I had a nickel for every gun owner who fancied himself a lawyer, even an expert in constitutional law, and attempted to determine what their "rights" were by reading a section of law, I could easily retire in comfort.
And most of those gun owners,
if they actually acted on their dubious legal theories, would be rotting away in various state or county lockups.
I have no idea what the passage you quote means, and I would submit that you don't either. But I would guess that it probably
doesn't mean what you would
like it to mean. ("Authorized to carry concealed weapons..." probably
doesn't mean,
".....by some other state", or,
"...by Texas.", or,
"....by my cousin Fred who owns the bar I work at." )
If so, we would have reciprocity with them. Since we don't, it probably means something else, like maybe, "authorized to carry concealed weapons by some Ohio state or local government entity that has the legal authority to grant such authorization."
But that's just a guess on my part.
And without knowledge of any established case law that may exist, the law could easily mean something vastly different than the way it seems to read to laymen such as us.
The best policy I can suggest for a long trip through multiple jurisdictions where one's knowledge of the law may be incomplete is to abide by the reciprocity info given on the TX DPS website.
If we have reciprocity with a given state, carry concealed with confidence. If we don't, pack your handgun for "transport" - i.e. unloaded and in some kind of locked case, and ride with confidence.
Enjoy your trip! I ride myself, and I wish I could go on a run like you are describing.
Maybe someday......
Great bunch of folks over there