Well, we made it to Ft. Carson Friday evening and pulled up to the gate with all paperwork in hand and fully prepared. I had called ahead a couple of days earlier and spoke with a MP who told me that I could carry my handgun on base as long as I had a current CHL and had the ammo stored in a separate compartment from the gun.
The security at the gate was civilian. A young officer, who appeared to be 22 or so met us and I handed him the ID's, including my CHL. He asked if I was carrying a weapon and I replied "yes, but it is locked in a safe under the back seat and the ammo is in the glove compartment. Here's pretty much how it went:
Kid Cop: Is your gun registered?
Me: No, the MP told me I wouldn't have to register unless I would be here longer than 48 hours.
Kid Cop: No sir, that's incorrect. I can't allow you entry with the gun.
Me: The MP's told me I could carry it as long as the gun was kept separate from the ammo.
Kid Cop: No sir. You can't come on base with the gun. It's also illegal to transport a handgun across state lines.
Me: No it isn't. New Mexico and Colorado both have reciprocal agreements with Texas for concealed carry.
Kid Cop: Sir, I'm not going to argue with you. This conversation is over. I'll meet you at the turnaround with your ID's.
Me: What do I need to do to register it?
Kid Cop: Sir, you'll have to go to the MP office and that's on base and I'm not going to let you on base.
Me: What do you recommend I do?
Kid Cop: You can leave your gun off base with someone you know or you can get a hotel room and leave it there.
So, we left the base and got a hotel room and left the guns and luggage there. When we came back we were thoroughly searched. When the kid asked me what I did with the gun I simply told him "I secured it off base".
He seemed a little miffed at my answer but I'm pretty sure he could tell I was about ready to choke the $#it out of him at this point and they finally let us in.
Day 2 - Drove up to the gate.
Another young officer is working and I hand him the ID's, including my CHL. He looks at them, hands them back and says "Have a good day".
LOL........
We survived and it's good to be back in Texas.
Kid cops are stupid, kid rent-a cops are even worse.
Why did you think it was necessary to cary while on a secure base?
I think he is on a road trip and the gun was incidental and part of his standard luggage. It's always in mine now days.
Yeah Mike, I just like to have it whenever I travel. Our original plans were to stay with family on base. That's why I went to the trouble of contacting the MP's to make sure I could do that.
It seems to me the Guard was extremely polite, comparatively. I have seen some nasty throw downs for things like this.
The last thing I would want would be two 19 year old guards, one with an M16 and the second with a German shepherd, making sure I hugged the pavement.
I work at a lot of military bases (including Ft Carson), and have never felt the need to have a firearm. I can understand why they would not want any non military personnel visiting with a firearm.
When I was doing work at US border crossings in 2003 I was told that firearms were NOT permitted at the border crossings (northern border with Canada). We did a bunch in ME, NH, VT, and NY. Then we went to Alaska to do 4 crossings there. We got to one (Haines or Skagway-don't remember), and the woman asked if we had firearms. I told her no, we knew that they were prohibited. She was concerned for us and said that we SHOULD have guns because grizzlies were a problem. She said if we waited til her husband came home he could escort us. We wound up doing the work but making LOTS of noise to scare away the wildlife. Didn't see any.
That's just it....the Army DOESN'T mind licensees carrying on base. The guard just didn't understand. The MP told me it was ok. Hell, the guard on Saturday didn't even ask if I was carrying my gun. He just let me go right in.
I certainly didn't feel any need to have my gun on base, I just wanted to get between Lubbock, Texas and Ft. Carson with it.
And yes, Mike, the kid was as polite as he had to be. I figured arguing with him would probably only make everything worse, so I didn't. He could tell I was not happy, but I followed his rules. He was the boss that day.
The few Army guys I talked to didn't have a very high opinion of the civilian security folks. I would post what they called them, but Wendall has those things filtered. ;^)
Robby,
Why don't you call the MP again and relate your story so that others won't have to go through that and they will be able to become consistent in their protocol?
I suppose I should do that. I'm not sure how much good it will do, but I'll give it a try.
"comparatively"
:bad:
Mike
Fort Hood is a secure base as well.
Mike
There is always going to be some nut, this one sneaked the guns in and apparently then hid them until the time he had set arrived. Could he have been stopped sooner if someone was carrying in the area? Probably.
It is not those with permits that are the problem, never has.
jud
Mike
The Fort Hood massacre was done by a person employed at the Fort and WAS not a civilian. He was an Army major.
Mike
What Kris said....
Fort Hood was secure too.
Quite often when I travel, I carry my pistol in my suit case. I always remove the magazine, and both mazines are packed with the gun, along with the extra 20 rounds from the box that they were loaded from. There is not a round in the chamber. I am not too worried about problems on the road where I will not have time to get to the gun, because I am driving a 6,000 lb weapon, if necessary. I do have concerns about someone kicking in the motel room door. That is why I carry extra ammo. In some places like Chicago, ammo is expensive, if you are from out of town. Would that be considered carrying a concealed weapon? And I am not talking about the left wing cities like Chicago and New York State.
P.S. 11 38 Special +P Hollow Points make a big mess out of a motel room door that has been kicked in. The only problem is that they did not have DNA 35 years ago to identify the kicker that left a DNA sample on the sidewalk.
Mike
A troubled Muslim Major who was sent there because of those problems and no one wanted to find fault with a Muslim, so they moved him on and people died. It still holds that if someone in the area was legally armed, the shooting might have been stopped sooner.
jud
Military Base War Story
At our local Air Force Base, about 5 years ago, there was a big construction project going on. The Contractor had hired a new laboror, and sent one of his Foremen to picked him up at the main gate to bring him in to get a pass for his vehicle and to take his drug test. The guards were stopping every 10th vehicle and letting the drug dogs do a little training. They lucked out an were the 10th vehicle. The New Laboror had a roach in his lunch bucket. They both made a trip to the holding cell, and the truck was towed. The truck and the contents were shipped to confiscated and shipped out of state for holding. In about 6 weeks, the company got the truck back after paying for storage and shipping. All of the tools that were in the truck, both company and personal had already been sold and there was not getting them back. Even though the Foreman did not have anything to do with it, his pass to come on post was revolked. The same thing could happen to a survey crew, so know your people.
Same here Deral. Often I drive north and south on 95 and carry my .40. No need to take chances nowadays.
I would try to find some e-mail link to send them an e-mail. It's more likely to get forwarded around that way instead of someone taking a phone call and forgetting any details or just forgetting to pass it along.
I've sent suggestions and such to Fort Sill and have always gotten a response, but not always from where I had sent them.
Try to frame it clearly with facts.
