How To Carry A Firearm While Overlanding

Remaining safe and legal is your first priority for self defense

Do you carry a gun when you go camping? Most of the time I do. Whether that’s because I’m traveling to hunt, or just being being prepared, it’s a privilege that involves a lot of responsibility. Here’s how I set myself up for success when I’m carrying a firearm in a vehicle.

Firearms are a nuanced topic that involves a lot of preconceptions, identities, and politics. I try to approach writing about them from a purely practical standpoint. 190 million Americans live in gun-owning households, and there’s more guns than people in this country. Americans of all descriptions own guns, and post-pandemic, there’s millions of new gun owners. Hopefully this is a topic we can all discuss rationally.

Step One: Safe Storage

Before you put a gun in your vehicle, you need to figure out a way to store it in there securely. The reality of transporting a firearm is that you’re going to be storing it a lot more than you’re going to be carrying it, so the priority naturally needs to preventing theft, limiting access, and eliminating the potential for accidents.

The easiest and cheapest way to secure a firearm in a vehicle is going to be with a simple hard case, and a cable lock run through or around a strong component of your vehicle that’s not easily removable. For a handgun, simply putting such a case under a seat, with a cable lock run through a designed-for-that-purpose channel in it, then around a piece of that seat’s frame, is a totally practical solution. A long gun can also be stored in the same way, then locked to something in the back seat, trunk, or truck bed.

That approach is going to work better if it’s out of sight. While a determined thief can obviously cut a cable lock with a pair of bolt cutters or an angle grinder, good operational security (keeping stuff hidden) will hopefully reduce the odds of being targeted in such a manner.

For that same reason, it’s also a good idea to avoid advertising the fact that you’re a gun owner. Displaying stickers that proclaim membership in gun or gun-adjacent organizations, firearms brands, or cultural identifiers like that sick punisher skull are counterproductive to this. Walking into a bar wearing all your camo during rifle season can also be a bad idea. Obviously a lot of this is also contextual—if every truck parked at that rural bar is also full of hunting gear and everyone there is also wearing camo, you’re not going to stand out.

From there, you can achieve greater degrees of physical security using built-in vaults and drawer systems. I installed a Console Vault in my truck, for instance, which also gives me a secure place to store stuff like cash, passports, and my expensive binoculars. Drawer systems are a great place to lock up long guns. The rudimentary locks sold by Decked aren’t good for much beyond limiting access, but combined with a locked tailgate and your vehicle alarm, plus the fact that they keep everything out of sight, can add up to a lot of theft prevention.

Always store your guns unloaded, and double check to make sure this is the case every time you lock them away.

Step Two: Make Sure You’re Legal

Gun laws vary heavily as you cross state borders, and some cities and counties also have their own rules about how they want you to store and transport firearms. There’s also regulations around stuff like magazine capacities, suppressors, ammo types, and who can carry what in a given location, often parsed by open versus concealed.

There is no way to cover all of that here, nor am I qualified to present legal advice. But there are a variety of online resources that can take the guess work out of traveling through patchwork regulations:

• This map created by the United States Concealed Carry Association provides a run down of carry regulations, along with self-defense laws by state.

• Here’s regulations from the National Park Service.

• Here’s a guide to inter-state travel created by the National Rifle Association.

• Traveling to or through Canada to hunt carries its own set of hurdles, more here.

• No firearms or ammo are allowed in Mexico. Take care to purge your truck of even empty shell casings and anything remotely firearm-adjacent before traveling south.

Plan ahead to stay legal! It is your responsibility to know and comply with all relevant laws in places through which you’re traveling.

Step Three: Maintain Control

This is where it’s easy to become too casual, and risk an accident, theft, or worse. Returning to camp after hunting, for instance, you’re going to want to put your rifle down. Relaxing around a campfire, it’s tempting to leave your handgun on a tailgate.

I like to start by clearly communicating my actions with fellow gun owners I may be camping, hunting, or shooting with. This creates mutual accountability. For example, when returning to camp, I announced that I’m making my weapons safe, which communicates to them that they should do the same. I also make sure we do the same when chambering a round while hunting or departing camp with a handgun.

From there, I make sure that long guns are properly stored, and that handguns either remain in a holster, on my body, or locked away. As that murder at an undeveloped campsite south of Bozeman last year indicates, strangers can enter a camp, even in remote areas, and dangerous people do exist outdoors. You don’t want a gun just laying around if you should encounter such a situation.

If I’m drinking or taking any sort of drug, I’ll go ahead and lock my handgun away too. It’s not worth taking risks with poor judgement.

At night, I take my handgun into the camper, or tent or whatever with me, again making sure that a round is not chambered. I also make sure I have a flashlight.

I always clear my handgun before climbing into a vehicle.

I’m just going to drop the four rules of firearms safety, as defined by Jeff Cooper here. Please don’t take any of this advice as a substitute for proper training.

• Treat all guns as if they are loaded.

• Never point a gun at anything you aren’t willing to destroy.

• Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.

• Be sure of your target, and what’s beyond it.

A Non-Lethal Alternative

Does the responsibility inherent in carrying a firearm sound like too much for you? Do you feel that taking a life is wrong, even in cases of self defense? Do you just want the ability to deal with a threat, free of potentially life-destroying legal consequences? That’s all entirely reasonable!

In situations where a gun is not appropriate, I carry and recommend the Kimber Pepper Blaster. Versus pepper spray, the Blaster provides several key advantages:

• Its non-pressurized contents won’t leak or spill, even in a hot car.

• It fires a gel rather than a spray, so that creates no risk of blow back, or disabling yourself when you shoot. This is the opposite of the effect created by bear spray.

• It gives you a 13-foot range. Most self defense shooting take place between three and seven yards.

• You get two shots, both of which fire in a wide spread reminiscent of an open-choked shotgun blast, making it hard to miss.

• It sights, handles, and operates just like a compact pistol. If you have any experience with handguns, using the Pepper Blaster will feel immediately familiar.

• It includes a convenient, reliable trigger safety, making it safe for pocket carry. There’s also an extensive ecosystem of holsters. And the latest Pepper Blaster III finally incorporates a built-in pocket clip.

• It’s “shot” stains an attacker’s face and clothing bright red for later identification.

Versus a firearm, the Pepper Blaster can also prove superior:

• You’re free to use it without making a life-or-death decision.

• While you still want to keep it away from children, you’re otherwise able to store and carry it without all the security and accident-prevention concerns.

• No risk of accidental death.

I know several people who have deployed their Pepper Blasters in anger. They all report that the device’s effects were instantaneous and definitive. If you’re interested in the Pepper Blaster, I suggest you order several. You’ll want to practice with two or three of them (outdoors!) so you can get a feel for how they work, and they’re cheap enough that it makes sense to stash one away multiple places in your home, clothing or luggage, and vehicles. I recommend the red color, to reduce the odds of it ever being confused for a real firearm.

Lead photo: Stuart Palley

Wes Siler is your guide to leading a more exciting life outdoors. You can read more about what he’s doing on Substack through this link.