anyone know the gun laws for indian reservations?

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specificly the White Mountain Apache. I'm heading up there for the weekend on a fly fishing trip and was wondering if their firearm laws are different from Arizona state law. I tried googling their tribal code, and when i read it, it didn't say a darn thing about non-members possesing firearms on tribe land:(. anyone have some info/experiance with this matter? if not, i think i will leave the gun at home.
 
It's complicated. Indian reservations are exempt from state laws -- only federal law and tribal law apply to reservations. However, there's this little thing called the Assimilative Crimes Act that makes a violation of state law on a reservation a federal offense under certain circumstances. So you still could be prosecuted for violating state law if the offense is serious enough to get the attention of the feds. To further complicate matters, as a non-tribal member on a reservation, you may not have the same shielding from state laws as a tribal member.
 
anyone know the gun laws for indian reservations?
specificly the White Mountain Apache. I'm heading up there for the weekend on a fly fishing trip and was wondering if their firearm laws are different from Arizona state law. I tried googling their tribal code, and when i read it, it didn't say a darn thing about non-members possesing firearms on tribe land. anyone have some info/experiance with this matter? if not, i think i will leave the gun at home.

More then you ever want to know about the Tribe:

http://thorpe.ou.edu/archives/apache/gamefish.html

These guys must have one of our legal beagles as their attorney!
 
Call and ask if they have a contact # listed. Some tribes are ok with it. But many are very much not ok. And a P.O'd Tribal Police Man is not someone you want to meet.

If they are ok with it, see if they will fax you something to that effect. Or at least write down who you spoke with, when and their contact info.
 
the res. is basicly like a whole different state-within-a-state. they govern themselves, make their own laws, with state laws not applicable to indian land. and thats why i asked RNB.
 
Duke, i read that site previously (but thanks! :)) and it doesn't mention handguns anywhere as far as i could tell.

and greysand, i think your idea is most likely the best course.
 
Duke, i read that site previously (but thanks! ) and it doesn't mention handguns anywhere as far as i could tell.

and greysand, i think your idea is most likely the best course.

Cool.And I agree Greysand's approach is the best way to go.
I've been there, unarmed.Good luck and it is incredible terrain!
 
It all depends on the reservation . Most here in my state are governed by state law as part of the agreement they have with the state.

Not all , but most. So you have to go by each reservations legal status and find out what is applicable for them. A complex system where even if you are in the right regarding the law, your likely better off following the wishes of that particular reservation.
 
oops! well, open carry is legal in AZ, and in bear/wolf/mountain lion country, it really isn't abnormal (or a bad idea). but thats state law. im no lawyer, but i think the feds differ to the states on open carry. so it wouldnt be violating federal law. however, it might violate tribal law, therefore becoming a violation of federal law. confusing enough?


it is incredible terrain
it is indeed. great fishing too.
 
I don't recall the source, but I was looking it up not too long ago.

White mountain specifically does NOT permit carry with a permit, or open carry either.

You'd be OK, (theoretically) if you were just driving through on the state road, but going on rez roads or into a store... don't.

Watch out for gangs up there. Yup, I know for a fact there are gangs up at White Mountain.

Have fun!
 
I too am interested in firearms law on a tribal reservation, in this case the Crow Indian Reservation in south-central Montana.

Have an upland bird hunting trip planned for this fall and was wondering if my pistol carry permit which is valid in Montana will also be good on the reservation.
 
well, i went fishing and left the gun at home. while buying my reservation permit, i asked if guns were ok on the res. while fishing. flat out NO. only if passing thru with no stops or while hunting are non-tribe members allowed to posses a firearm.
 
I have NO idea how it works in AZ, but in my state, white man is exempt from tribal law. period. so if your on the reservation, and a tribal cop gives you a speeding ticket, it dont mean a thing. Our local cops advise us to just be polite, dont argue, take the ticket and smile. then when you get home, take the ticket and throw it in the garbage. then when you get a letter from the tribal court stating your in contempt for not appearing on your court date, you reply with a letter stating that you are not a tribal member, and do not consent to appearing in their court as their law is inapplicable to you.

Our local law officers will NOT cross deputize with the tribal police. so this may not apply in your area. dont try it without checking in to it first.
 
yea, you wanna open a can a worms, get into tribal law-state law issues. its hard to sort out at times.
 
I believe there are three classifications of people with regard to Indian law, at least in WA. Indians--meaning descended from native/original inhabitants of the Americas, who are either members--meaning enrolled in the tribe in question, or non-members--not enrolled in the tribe in question. Everyone else is a non-Indian.
 
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Too tricky to say here. The problem is a lot of tribal "law" is just local knowledge and not actually codified anywhere. They can change the rules or "laws" at any time to suit their mood, situation, who they're busting, etc. As said federal law does still apply. They can't literally get away with murder (remember the movie Thunderheart?) and the feds (FBI?) control all their gambling issues. When I lived in Prescott, AZ, there was a big standoff on one of the rezs because they brought in electronic gaming machines which weren't authorized. FBI hauled them away in the end.
 
Having grown up on an Indian reservation (Stand Rock) I do know a little about this. As others have pointed out to some extent it depends on what agreements the tribe has entered into with the state and the feds, So it can vary from reservation to reservation. In some cases state law applies to everyone in other cases tribal law applies to all members of the tribe but everyone else is subject to state law. In addition, there are some federal laws that are specific to reservations. For example, murder on a reservation is a federal crime if it involves a member of the tribe (actually it might be a federal crime if it involves anyone who is a member of any tribe). There are a whole list of crimes that are federal on reservations that are normally state level crimes and many tribes function more like a local entity and they let the feds handle the more serious crimes.
 
Sorry, I meant "non indian"

Its just the slang the Native Americans use to describe us, and thats what I am used to hearing.

My Bad.
 
Smarten up, Blues Brother. "White man'" has zilch/zip/nada to do with it. "Non-reservation resident" would be the most accurate. "Non-Indian" would work, also.

Argh. This is tough. Every race, group, ethnicity going gets to identify/call themselves any which way they like but a lot of folks seem to get touchy when people even lazily or inaccurately use the 'White' thing. Not arguing the accuracy of using "Non-Native-American" for the legal technicality here just seem to notice a lot of the other.

Yours Truly,
Non-white, non-Asian, non-Canadian, non-Albanian, non-African-American, non-full-blooded-Japhetic....just-plain-tired-of-trying-to-figure-out-what-I-am, GhostRider66 (AKA The Mutt)
 
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