Glacius_the_Invincible
Member
This past weekend I went shooting at a local public range south of Muncie, IN at the Wilbur Wright Fish and Wildlife Area. The range, and the entire wildlife preserve, is patrolled and maintained by the Indiana DNR.
While I'm there shooting a DNR officer pulls up in his truck and goes around asking people if they have their pink cards (a waiver that range users have to fill out and carry on them while on the range), and for those shooting handguns, their handgun permits. He was a friendly, chatty guy and we got to talkin and I didn't think anything of it at the time, so I just showed him my permit and my card and he moved on to the next lane.
Later on, though, I got to thinking... Why did he want to see my handgun permit if I was already on the range? I wasn't carrying it anywhere, and the gun wasn't holstered. It was just sitting on the range table at slidelock. I was always under the impression that you could take a handgun to the range without a handgun permit, so long as it was locked in your trunk on the way there and back.
The only thing I can figure is that I had to have it because I was technically carrying on public property rather than privately owned land like if I'd been shooting at a private club or range.
So basically, I'm asking what the law is here and if I'm way off in what I originally thought.
While I'm there shooting a DNR officer pulls up in his truck and goes around asking people if they have their pink cards (a waiver that range users have to fill out and carry on them while on the range), and for those shooting handguns, their handgun permits. He was a friendly, chatty guy and we got to talkin and I didn't think anything of it at the time, so I just showed him my permit and my card and he moved on to the next lane.
Later on, though, I got to thinking... Why did he want to see my handgun permit if I was already on the range? I wasn't carrying it anywhere, and the gun wasn't holstered. It was just sitting on the range table at slidelock. I was always under the impression that you could take a handgun to the range without a handgun permit, so long as it was locked in your trunk on the way there and back.
The only thing I can figure is that I had to have it because I was technically carrying on public property rather than privately owned land like if I'd been shooting at a private club or range.
So basically, I'm asking what the law is here and if I'm way off in what I originally thought.