Long guns in vehicle?

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FiremanBob
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Long guns in vehicle?

Post by FiremanBob »

Employee at LGS told me that it's illegal to keep a loaded long gun in a vehicle in VA, at least during hunting season and possibly year-round. Is this true?
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Re: Long guns in vehicle?

Post by OakRidgeStars »

The fact that it's loaded is the problem. Unload it and it's fine.

The exact laws on this vary by city and county.

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hunting/re ... nances.pdf
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Re: Long guns in vehicle?

Post by gunderwood »

OakRidgeStars wrote:The fact that it's loaded is the problem. Unload it and it's fine.

The exact laws on this vary by city and county.

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hunting/re ... nances.pdf
+1

It's a hunting ordinance as OakRidgeStars linked.
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Re: Long guns in vehicle?

Post by FiremanBob »

Thank you. Sure it makes sense from a hunting POV, but it limits the options available for SD on the road.
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Re: Long guns in vehicle?

Post by ProShooter »

I sometimes carry my shotgun, but I use 15.2-915.2
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Re: Long guns in vehicle?

Post by ShotgunBlast »

ProShooter wrote:I sometimes carry my shotgun, but I use 15.2-915.2
So as a self-employed person who travels to do their work I could keep a loaded rifle in my vehicle and just tell an officer that I reasonably believe I need it for my protection?

This code doesn't say anything about the rifle being visible, so if it's say a folded Kel-Tec Sub2000 I could keep it under my seat?
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Re: Long guns in vehicle?

Post by ProShooter »

ShotgunBlast wrote:
ProShooter wrote:I sometimes carry my shotgun, but I use 15.2-915.2
So as a self-employed person who travels to do their work I could keep a loaded rifle in my vehicle and just tell an officer that I reasonably believe I need it for my protection?
I can't tell you what you should do....I'm not an attorney. I can only tell you what I do.
ShotgunBlast wrote:This code doesn't say anything about the rifle being visible, so if it's say a folded Kel-Tec Sub2000 I could keep it under my seat?
I would imagine that under your seat would make it an illegally concealed firearm. 915.2 doesn't make 308 disappear.
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Re: Long guns in vehicle?

Post by gunderwood »

The gun is only loaded if it doesn't take an action to add ammo to it. You could get something like a redi-mag (it's for an AR, but really any way to attach a loaded mag) so that it is a very quick process to load the gun. Would prevent the mag from becoming lost as well.

http://www.redi-mag.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=50
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Re: Long guns in vehicle?

Post by Sensai »

I just don't get how localities get by the preemption law by using hunting regulations. If it directly relates to firearms, it seem that the state law should take precedence. The state doesn't restrict long gun transportation, so how can the localities? :confused:
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Re: Long guns in vehicle?

Post by ProShooter »

Sensai wrote:I just don't get how localities get by the preemption law by using hunting regulations. If it directly relates to firearms, it seem that the state law should take precedence. The state doesn't restrict long gun transportation, so how can the localities? :confused:
The state gives the localities permission to enact the local laws under 15.2-915.2
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Re: Long guns in vehicle?

Post by Sensai »

Thanks Proshooter. Does that mean that all the county regs had to be republished after the effective date of the 15.2-915 revision? 15.2-915 (B) states that all the locality regs prior to the effective date are invalid. Have the counties done so, as far as you know? I still think it's a way for the state to shirk it's responsiblities. Something as basic as this should be state wide. I'm not saying that carrying a loaded long gun in a vehicle should be legal, I'm just saying that it should be the same on either side of an imaginary line across the road.
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Re: Long guns in vehicle?

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Sensai wrote:Thanks Proshooter. Does that mean that all the county regs had to be republished after the effective date of the 15.2-915 revision? 15.2-915 (B) states that all the locality regs prior to the effective date are invalid. Have the counties done so, as far as you know?

That I do not know.
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