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V3600 · 03-30-2018, 11:58 AM

Thanks for the info on FOPA, wasn't aware of it. FWIW I fall under the The Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA).

Cat320 · 03-30-2018, 12:05 PM

The OP is going full time, so he'll have to carry his weapons with him. But if not FT, and are going to keep weapons locked up in the basement, why not just leave them home?

WA Larry · 03-30-2018, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

I think the law has pretty much be identified and most know how they're firearms need to be stowed to be legal. The thing that is getting a little goofy here is "passenger" compartment. The purpose of the law stating not in the passenger compartment, is to prevent someone from throwing a gun onto the back seat and being out of reach. "Passenger compartment" was intended for cars, not RV's. Consequently, the "passenger compartment" in an RV would be the front end of the coach. As an example, in a Class C, the opening where the van portion was cutaway would end the passenger compartment. A Class A would be anything from the back of the front seats forward.

With that said, having a firearm in a living room or bedroom, would not be considered the passenger area. If it was secured (locked) in the above two areas, it would further reinforce that it was not in the passenger area.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you here, if we are specifically addressing the FOPA language. I believe you are using common sense, but you need to be thinking like a predatory prosecutor that is looking to put you in prison. Motorhomes have, or have the ability to have, seatbelts and passenger seating inside of the coach beyond the "cockpit" front end, and therefore the whole interior of the coach is accessible from, and is, the passenger area. They don't want it to be possible for anyone inside of the vehicle to be able to get to the firearm while the vehicle is moving, think a road-rage situation. If trying to use FOPA as a protection, again to keep you out of prison, then if basement storage is available, I would think that using it would be appropriate based on the wording and intent of the law, while traveling through those states where it would otherwise be illegal for you to possess them.

Think about how this would go in court...

Prosecutor puts DW on the stand: "Ma'am, have you ever retrieved anything from the bedroom, snuck back to use the bathroom, or made a sandwich in the kitchen area while your motorhome was driving down the road? Yes, so you would say then that those areas were accessible to you?!"

So again, every state has it's own laws regarding possession and storage and transportation of firearms. Those need to be followed when camping in, or vacationing in, or being in those states. FOPA is for when you are transporting firearms from a state where it is legal to possess and use them to another state where it is also legal to possess and use them WHILE traveling through a state where it is not otherwise legal to possess or use them, which is why it is meant to be very restrictive.