Guns in hotels/motels

[Harvster]

Is the legality of guns in motels dictated by laws covering residences in that state? For example, if I'm in North Dakota at a motel, is the storage of gun in my room the same as if I had a house in North Dakota? Or, if I was at a hotel in D.C. would I have to leave a handgun locked in the car?

I didn't have much luck searching for this but if it's covered elsewhere a pointer to the thread would be appreciated.

 

[jlday70]

Interesting question...Since I am always on the road,and I usually have my Ruger P95, and my Beretta CX4 Storm with me(unless I am working in a ungunfriendly state).. I always carry with mean a means to secure my firearms. either locable cases, or in my personnal vehicle. Another god practice to me is out of site out of mind..I don't keep my guns out in the open when there is any chance of housekeeping coming into the room...

 

[brickeyee]

You have rented the space for the term and are entitled to quiet possession.

 

[mike101]

Don't ask, don't tell. Hide and lock up the gun. Hide it well. I used to work in a Hilton in NJ, and a guest from CT had his gun stolen from his room. He hadn't told anyone he had it, so apparently someone was going through his belongings while he was out. You are MUCH better off leaving it in your car.

 

[pax]

Is the legality of guns in motels dictated by laws covering residences in that state?

Depends on the state, but very generally, yes. See www.handgunlaw.us for links to various state databases about gun laws.

For example, if I'm in North Dakota at a motel, is the storage of gun in my room the same as if I had a house in North Dakota? Or, if I was at a hotel in D.C. would I have to leave a handgun locked in the car?

As far as I know, the handgun locked in your parked car in DC would be just as illegal as a handgun inside your home (or anywhere else) in DC.

You may be able to drive through such areas with handgun in your car, securely locked, unloaded and separate from the ammunition, inside a locking case in the trunk of the vehicle. That would be covered under federal law ("gun owners protection act of 1986" or "peaceable journey" laws -- McClure/Vulkmer Act? check spelling on that last). But as far as I can tell, you wouldn't be covered by those travelling laws if you stopped overnight.

You want to avoid driving through really strict anti-handgun areas (New York City, D.C., Chicago) even when travelling under the federal laws if you can. If you can't avoid driving through them, you're probably okay but ... ... it's still a risk because the way the laws interact in such places tends to be a bit murky and everything about the political machine there is radically stacked against gun owners.

If you want to stay on the right side of the law, avoid staying in DC when you have your handgun along.

pax

 

[geekWithA.45]

Hotels are highly problematic in highly restrictive states.

The way their laws are structured, a lot of key exemptions are based on posession in your home/lands/business.

Whether one's hotel room applies is a -very- grey area. In NJ, Nappen tells us that due to perversities of case law intersecting with legislative perversity, the safest play is to leave your guns locked in your trunk...and even that's dubious, being highly conditioned on meeting a bunch of other qualifiers.

It's my general position that if having a rifle or handgun in your trunk is some sort of felony risk, you have left the American Sector.

 

[Novus Collectus]

In DC they have stated they will not mess with interstate travellors because of the federal transporting law as long as they do not stop and get out of the car.
While the reasonable interpretation of the federal law as I see it is that when one travels through a state (like Texas maybe?) where it is impossible to go through without stopping for food, gas, sleep or bathroom breaks, they should be allowed to stop. DC does not see it that way and it would be hard to argue different that issue with a judge when it takes an hour at most to drive through DC in traffic (I guess one could argue they got lost and it took many hours to find the way out and that actually happened to a friend and I in DC when we were young).
If you were to stay in neighboring Virginia, I seriously doubt there is an issue with a gun in a hotel room. I am not familiar with VA law and there may be something about hotel room stays, but I doubt there is a problem because it is an open carry state.

If you were to stay in MD, well this is the biggest gray issue I have ever seem about MD law. While it would conceivably be reasonable to say one is not just travelling through the state, but one is visiting the state for some sporting event or hunting and has to stay somewhere local, it would be legal to stop at a hotel, at a gas station, for a bite to eat, etc.
However, since MD only allows the possession of handguns while in state (when the federal law does not apply as far as transporting) for specific circumstances, it says one may " (6) the wearing, carrying, or transporting of a handgun by a person on real estate that the person owns or leases or where the person resides or within the confines of a business establishment that the person owns or leases;".
Now is renting a hotel room leasing? Is it where one "resides"? It reads to me as a layman that it is allowed to have the handgun in the hotel room.
Now to make it even more confusing, if one were to leave where they are residing in MD to go to an informal or formal target shoot within the state, then they are allowed to transport under MD law and the federal law may no longer apply since it is intrastate. Since MD only allows the trasnport to or from a "bona fide residence" as one of the destinations in some of the exceptions, the question now is if "leasing" a hotel room makes it a "bona fide residence"?


All in all, unless you are extremely familiar with that state's law, leave it in the trunk because in some states it would take a test case to sort out the complexities and I don't think you would want to be that test case.

Edit: The MD transporting law applies to handguns. There is no state law I am aware of that retricts the tranport or possesion of unloaded long guns. Except for one county and one or two cities, I doubt there is a problem at all to transport an unloaded long gun in MD and I doubt there is anything retricting the possesion of rifles in a hotel room loaded or unloaded. Notice I said "doubt" because I am not a lawyer.

 

[Zen21Tao]

It has always been my understanding that a guest of a hotel/motel has the same rights as a tenant of an apartment, with some exceptions based on individual state law. For example, a tenant for less than 30 days in one state may be considered a "guest" and as such may allow hotel staff the right to enter the room at their own discretion. In another state, this may not be the case. These exceptions to having the same rights as a tenant are in order to allow the hotel/motel owners to retains their property rights and their staff the freedom to run its business.


There is also the question of where the hotel/motel is located. As Novus Collectus points out, if you are on a federal interstate highway, federal peaceable carry laws allow you to transport you weapon, even if the weapon is considered illegal in a state you are passing through. Often this extend to lodging and and other service areas directly off the highway in states where it would be considered reasonable for you to need to stop.

As for traveling through DC on a federal interstate highway, I think you could make a good argument for being allowed "gas up" and sleep for the night before resuming your trip. You can't control when and where fatigue hits you and if you are alone or without another licensed driver, you may find yourself needing to sleep. In such a case, I think you would be okay to pull off an exit ramp and find a hotel right off the interstate but you would not be legally allowed to drive through the DC looking for a cheaper more ideal hotel/motel.

 

[Harvster]

Seems like we need a test case for D.C.

Ideal candidate will have:

High tolerance for verbal/physical abuse
No job or family
Be independently wealthy
Clear calendar for the next year or two

Any volunteers?