Traveling to the North East

[Lynyrd]

I have two reasons for going. Both involve members of my family who are in the military. And this won't happen till next year. Right now there is a 14 day quarantine if you are from Texas. I'm just in the planning stages.

Check.
From my family to yours Thank you for their service.

Thank you sir. They love our country.

[Lynyrd]

Yes, I do. I am looking at my CT Pistol Permit right now, and noting that it expires in January... . I have one from DC too, but it expired a couple weeks ago because I couldn't get back in-person to renew it due to COVID. I have this strange hobby of collecting these out of state permits. But anyway back to CT. Though my parents are originally from there, I actually haven't been their in almost 14 years since my grandmother passed. From what I recall of the original process that I did about 10 years ago... Go to the CT state police website to their permit division. There you can email to request an application. They did require prints for the initial application. They also required proof of training which I think an NRA Pistol Course would cover, they also accepted a DD-214 Honorable Discharge certificate as proof which is what I sent them. I actually did qualify to carry a pistol (.45 auto) in the Navy, but of course that's nowhere on the DD-214...anyhow... Mail in the app, prints, proof of training, passport photo and wait. They do have some mag restrictions in CT, but not sure if on pistols. I'd check over at HANDGUNLAW.US or USACARRY.

Thank you! I expect I will have CT permit before this trip. I've checked the Connecticut DPS regs, and the online info says I have to call them to get an application. They require an NRA approved safety course. I'll have to find a place local to get a certificate on that if they won't accept my LTC as proof of passing a course. But the fee is certainly not something that would make me back away from this and travel naked. This will be my first out of state non-resident license.

[2farnorth]

I would avoid NJ and Md if possible. You can get to Ct via I-81 to I-84. But it requires crossing NY. (It is a little longer but no tolls except for 1 bridge) Be aware that I-84 first exit east bound in NY, Port Jervis, (bottom of a mountain) will put you in NJ as soon as you go down the ramp. Md has about 12 miles on I-81 that there is no easy way to avoid. Make sure the gun/ammo is properly/legally stowed when you cross it. You'll be ok in Pa. as long as you are a resident of the state issuing your permit, They do not recognize non resident permits. (I was just there.) I try to gas up in Pa and have no stops (or spend money) in NY. I really try to avoid the MD and NJ Democrat dictatorships completely. NY can't be avoided but I try not to monetarily support them.

[von Clausewitz]

Don't overlook ammo type issues either. IIRC hollowpoints were illegal in at least one of those states resulting in at least one lock-up that was in the news a few years back...

+1. In NJ, each JHP round is a felony count...only ball ammo is legal.

[jrs_diesel]

FWIW I was stationed up in both CT and RI for 7 years. I only had my 12 gauge with me the entire time and hunted in both states. I had Arkansas plates at the time, and I went back in 2016 to pick up a sailboat and had Texas plates that trip. I never got hassled by LE at any time, even when pulling our camper. The only interaction I ever had was a game warden doing license checks once when I was duck hunting in RI.

My typical route going south was to take I-95 south, and then pick up I-287 to go around NYC (across the Tappan Zee bridge). When I transferred from RI to TX in 2014, my route was that plus taking I-78 to I-81 out of the North East.

When I picked up the sail boat, I unwittingly tempted fate by taking the Garden State Parkway and the Turnpike through NJ and MD en route to Virginia.

Taking I-81 will keep you out of NJ entirely.

[chasfm11]

FWIW I was stationed up in both CT and RI for 7 years. I only had my 12 gauge with me the entire time and hunted in both states. I had Arkansas plates at the time, and I went back in 2016 to pick up a sailboat and had Texas plates that trip. I never got hassled by LE at any time, even when pulling our camper. The only interaction I ever had was a game warden doing license checks once when I was duck hunting in RI.

My typical route going south was to take I-95 south, and then pick up I-287 to go around NYC (across the Tappan Zee bridge). When I transferred from RI to TX in 2014, my route was that plus taking I-78 to I-81 out of the North East.

When I picked up the sail boat, I unwittingly tempted fate by taking the Garden State Parkway and the Turnpike through NJ and MD en route to Virginia.

Taking I-81 will keep you out of MD and NJ entirely.

Not quite. Assuming you pick up I-81 in PA, you cross into MD for 12 miles, then West Virginia before getting into Virginia on I-81. I know it well having driven it to visit PA relatives for 30 years. I've never been bothered by anything in the MD sector but it always tightens up my backside driving through there with Texas plates. The MD police along I-95 do look for out of state plates. Western MD is no where near the Communist mecca that exists in MD around Baltimore, however.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_81_in_Maryland

[Lynyrd]

FWIW I was stationed up in both CT and RI for 7 years. I only had my 12 gauge with me the entire time and hunted in both states. I had Arkansas plates at the time, and I went back in 2016 to pick up a sailboat and had Texas plates that trip. I never got hassled by LE at any time, even when pulling our camper. The only interaction I ever had was a game warden doing license checks once when I was duck hunting in RI.

My typical route going south was to take I-95 south, and then pick up I-287 to go around NYC (across the Tappan Zee bridge). When I transferred from RI to TX in 2014, my route was that plus taking I-78 to I-81 out of the North East.

When I picked up the sail boat, I unwittingly tempted fate by taking the Garden State Parkway and the Turnpike through NJ and MD en route to Virginia.

Taking I-81 will keep you out of MD and NJ entirely.

Not quite. Assuming you pick up I-81 in PA, you cross into MD for 12 miles, then West Virginia before getting into Virginia on I-81. I know it well having driven it to visit PA relatives for 30 years. I've never been bothered by anything in the MD sector but it always tightens up my backside driving through there with Texas plates. The MD police along I-95 do look for out of state plates. Western MD is no where near the Communist mecca that exists in MD around Baltimore, however.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_81_in_Maryland

I am familiar with this route. I have driven it before and it is the route I will take going up. But coming back to Texas I need to go to Norfolk Virginia and plan to come down through Delaware and across Chesapeake Bay. On both routes, I will have to cross a small strip of Maryland. But I do not plan to drive I-95.

[ELB]

... but I see that there could be various interpretations of what "to and from" mean.

This is indeed what the problem is. NY/NJ interpret the FOPA traveling protections very narrowly against the traveler. In 2005 Greg Revell flew from Utah to Pennsylvania with a stop at La Guardia. The inbound flight was late, so he missed his connecting flight to Allentown. The airline decided to send the passengers by bus to Allentown, but he found out his checked baggage was not loaded onto the bus and he got off to find out what happened to it (it was erroneously tagged to go to Newark). While he was finding his bags the bus left without him. He ended up taking his bags and spending the night, then checked in for a flight the next morning for the remainder of his trip. Following federal law he notified the airline agents of the firearm in his baggage and they in turn notified the Port Authority police who immediately arrested him for having a gun without a license. He spent 10 days in jail, then another few months waiting for trial until police ultimately dropped the charges, and then it took him three years to get his gun back. He sued the police for not affording him the FOPA protection, but the federal trial court and the federal district court both ruled against him, and SCOTUS refused to hear his appeal. The Third Circuit (appeals ) court ruled that when he took his bags to the hotel his firearm was not longer "inaccessible" to him, so he was not protected by the FOPA.

http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/a ... igh_court/

There have been several such cases similar to this -- sometimes the traveler was able to win in the end, sometimes not -- and they all lost time, money, and guns fighting it. NY/NJ will clearly are hostile to gunowners and will trim, bend, and break the law to persecute them. Even in the federal courts the judges and prosecutors are largely drawn from the same pool as the state judges and prosecutors.

Now you are driving, not flying, but I would not chance an overnight stay in either NY or NJ with a firearm (and I sure would not leave my guns in mny car overnight in a motel parking lot), nor would I even set foot on their benighted story even just to drive across.

[ELB]

... but I see that there could be various interpretations of what "to and from" mean.

This is indeed what the problem is. NY/NJ interpret the FOPA traveling protections very narrowly against the traveler. In 2005 Greg Revell flew from Utah to Pennsylvania with a stop at La Guardia. The inbound flight was late, so he missed his connecting flight to Allentown. The airline decided to send the passengers by bus to Allentown, but he found out his checked baggage was not loaded onto the bus and he got off to find out what happened to it (it was erroneously tagged to go to Newark). While he was finding his bags the bus left without him. He ended up taking his bags and spending the night, then checked in for a flight the next morning for the remainder of his trip. Following federal law he notified the airline agents of the firearm in his baggage and they in turn notified the Port Authority police who immediately arrested him for having a gun without a license. He spent 10 days in jail, then another few months waiting for trial until police ultimately dropped the charges, and then it took him three years to get his gun back. He sued the police for not affording him the FOPA protection, but the federal trial court and the federal district court both ruled against him, and SCOTUS refused to hear his appeal. The Third Circuit (appeals ) court ruled that when he took his bags to the hotel his firearm was not longer "inaccessible" to him, so he was not protected by the FOPA.

http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/a ... igh_court/

There have been several such cases similar to this -- sometimes the traveler was able to win in the end, sometimes not -- and they all lost time, money, and guns fighting it. NY/NJ will clearly are hostile to gunowners and will trim, bend, and break the law to persecute them. Even in the federal courts the judges and prosecutors are largely drawn from the same pool as the state judges and prosecutors.

Now you are driving, not flying, but I would not chance an overnight stay in either NY or NJ with a firearm (and I sure would not leave my guns in mny car overnight in a motel parking lot), nor would I even set foot on their benighted story even just to drive across.

[jrs_diesel]

FWIW I was stationed up in both CT and RI for 7 years. I only had my 12 gauge with me the entire time and hunted in both states. I had Arkansas plates at the time, and I went back in 2016 to pick up a sailboat and had Texas plates that trip. I never got hassled by LE at any time, even when pulling our camper. The only interaction I ever had was a game warden doing license checks once when I was duck hunting in RI.

My typical route going south was to take I-95 south, and then pick up I-287 to go around NYC (across the Tappan Zee bridge). When I transferred from RI to TX in 2014, my route was that plus taking I-78 to I-81 out of the North East.

When I picked up the sail boat, I unwittingly tempted fate by taking the Garden State Parkway and the Turnpike through NJ and MD en route to Virginia.

Taking I-81 will keep you out of MD and NJ entirely.

Not quite. Assuming you pick up I-81 in PA, you cross into MD for 12 miles, then West Virginia before getting into Virginia on I-81. I know it well having driven it to visit PA relatives for 30 years. I've never been bothered by anything in the MD sector but it always tightens up my backside driving through there with Texas plates. The MD police along I-95 do look for out of state plates. Western MD is no where near the Communist mecca that exists in MD around Baltimore, however.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_81_in_Maryland

Ah, you're right

Been over 6 years since I drove it, so I forgot about that short stretch of road. :)

[2farnorth]

There is an alternative northbound route to go up on if you wish to consider it. I just traveled it in June and it avoids Md and NJ. Take 40 to Nashville, 65 north to Louisville, 71 to near Akron, 76 east to 80, 80 east to 81 north to 84 to Ct. It computes to 40 miles longer but it is a good route. Is quite mountainous through Pa. Only toll is the bridge near Newburgh NY. Take a look at it.

edit: Be aware that Ohio does set up speed traps (no tolerance zones) on 76 between Akron and I-80.
The above route can be detailed as one of the googled routes from Texarkana to Hartford