Update on Reservation & Carrying Firearms

[Gary Slider]

Carry on Native American Reservations is full of dangers. Their ordinances cover their members and those who live on their reservation. Some also have ordinances against carry concealed firearms even if you have a permit/license issue by the state the Reservation is in. I have been told numerous times that if they find someone with a Concealed firearm the least they will do is confiscate it. The attached PDF file expands on my research on Tribal Codes. These are the ordinances I could find concerning carrying firearms on the listed Reservations. About 60 of the 800 or so Tribes the US Government recognizes have their ordinance on line that I could find. Every entry has a link to that tribes ordinances for you to check on yourself. The list is broken down by state. There are a couple double entries as a couple reservations are in two different states.

I hope you find this info useful. I would appreciate if you know of any Tribes not listed that have a website and have their ordinances on line or you have a copy of their ordinances if you would drop me an email at [email protected]

 

[wishin]

Thanks for the info. You and your site do a great service to the RKBA community.

 

[NavyLCDR]

Their ordinances cover their members and those who live on their reservation. Some also have ordinances against carry concealed firearms even if you have a permit/license issue by the state the Reservation is in. I have been told numerous times that if they find someone with a Concealed firearm the least they will do is confiscate it.

In Washington state, tribal police are sworn LEOs with statutory authority over non-tribal members (the general public), both on and off the reservation. However, that authority is only granted for the enforcement of the Revised Code of Washington (not tribal ordinances).

So basically, for non-tribal members, carrying a firearm on an Indian reservation in Washington state is no different than carrying a firearm on any other private property. The tribe can ban possession of firearms on the reservation but that does not make possession of the firearm illegal for non-tribal members and does not grant any authority to confiscate a firearm from a non-tribal members. It does, however, grant tribal police the authority to request that you leave the reservation, and to not only trespass you if you fail to comply, but to write you the citation right there on the spot for trespassing.

Citations issued by tribal police to non-tribal persons are forwarded to the Washington courts just like citations written by any other LEO in the state.

 

[Lucky Derby]

NavyLT is right about WA.
As I kid a spent a fair amount of time on the Yakima reservation.My dad was chief of one of the local, non-tribal PDs. They worked together with the Tribal Police quite a bit.

 

[Gary Slider]

That is the one thing I found is that the Tribes in Washington that had their ordinances listed specifically stated they honored a Washington Permit/License.

 

[BattleBorn]

Thanks for the post Gary! I'm grateful for the time you've put in to keep us all educated and informed.