Traveling with a firearm?

[wahchintonka48]

Hi all. My name is Bryan and i know this topic has probably been beaten to death but i am still unclear of a few things.

I stay in VA at the moment but I go to NJ and PA often. My wife has family there and we go visit for a weekend at a time every now and again. I recently bought a handgun. I want to take it with me so that I can go shooting with my wife's Grandfather in PA. However. I am reading some info online that says NJ is going to give me a hard time.

Our trip goes like this every time. Leave VA, on 13 ( i think ), go through Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey. Stop in New Jersey and stay the night at my wife's parents house. Next day we drive to PA to my Grandfather's and go shooting etc have lunch. Head back to NJ that evening and stay the night. Drive back to VA the next day. I am not sure if we go though a bit of New York interstate or not.

I plan on getting my concealed carry permit but at the moment I have not got one.

To be safe, My handgun will be in my trunk unloaded and the Magazines in my glove compartment, also unloaded and the ammo um i guess under the seat? Trunk maybe? I have a pistol safe at my house but i will not bring it. If the pistol seriously needs to be locked up, i will put a lock on the Glock factory pistol box that the gun came with.

If by Murphy's law or some other unfortunate occurrence I ended up getting pulled over in New Jersey and my firearm was found. What would happen?

Do you think there is anything else I can do to further safeguard myself from getting in trouble? I really don't want to leave my gun at home

[shipley]

You shouldn't have any trouble under the Firearms Owners' Protection Act (FOPA) of 1986., but one never knows when traveling in a gun hating state like NJ.

http://www.constitution.org/2ll/2ndschol/46hard.pdf

That is not to say that some antigun gun bigot police and prosecutor will not hassle you some where along the line, because that is just the way these kind of people are. Such as the case in NJ where a man was moving and the police found the firearms lock in his trunk arrested him and the DA prosecuted him to the fullest extent of the laws and he got a seven years prison sentence.
http://dailycaller.com/2010/12/02/nj-governor-chris-christie-asked-to-pardon-man-with-seven-year-jail-sentence-for-gun-law-violations/print/

There is no way of knowing if you are going to be as lucky, or unlucky as the case may be, as this man was.

http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/NewsReleases.aspx?ID=14578

[jocheved]

No easy answer since all states differ,,,,,,some actually want them in plain sight.

http://www.nraila.org/GunLaws/

[burdett]

fun

[drystan]

The federal FOPA doesn't protect your trip since you're going to be stopping in NJ. You will be subject to NJ's laws on transportation and possession of a handgun in NJ unless you're merely travelling through. Spending the night, especially at a relative's house, raises serious questions about whether or not you're still "travelling".

See NRA link below. Scroll down as there's a specific section for NJ... and it's not 68 pages... :

A provision of the federal law known as the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act, or FOPA, protects those who are transporting firearms for lawful purposes from local restrictions which would otherwise prohibit passage.

Under FOPA, notwithstanding any state or local law, a person is entitled to transport a firearm from any place where he or she may lawfully possess such firearm *** to any other place where he or she may lawfully possess it, *** if the firearm is unloaded and locked out of reach.