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Summer is here, and for a lot of us, that means travel season. Family road trips, cross-country flights, or quick weekend getaways. But for concealed carriers, summer travel also brings a familiar knot in the stomach:
What do you do when your route takes you through a gun-free zone—or worse, into a state that treats your permit like a parking ticket from Mars?
I’m not asking anyone to answer out loud. This is one of those private, self-reflective questions. The kind you might ask yourself while checking the glovebox before leaving the driveway:
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Do I carry in a gun-free zone?
Because here’s the reality: you can be driving happily through free America one moment and, with a single turn, land in New Jersey, New York, or California—where your legally carried pistol suddenly turns you into a potential felon. No reciprocity. No quarter.
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And these aren’t just hypothetical “please don’t carry here” spots. They are the kind of jurisdictions that have made it clear: if you’re caught, the law will come down hard.
Meanwhile, criminals couldn’t care less.
Take what just happened in Manhattan, for example. A 27-year-old gunman, Shane Devon Tamura, drove all the way from Las Vegas and murdered four people in a Park Avenue skyscraper—NYC’s deadliest shooting in 25 years. This is a city layered with restrictions, permits, and gun-free zones, and none of it stopped him.
CNN reported that Tamura even left a suicide note citing grievances with the NFL and saying he suffered from CTE. Tragically, one of the victims was a 36-year-old NYPD officer, a husband and father of two with a third child on the way.
Gun-free zones didn’t disarm a man determined to kill. They just made sure law-abiding citizens were unarmed when it counted.
The Summer Travel Dilemma
If you’ve ever taken a family road trip across state lines, you’ve probably wrestled with this. You can follow the law to the letter: unload, lock, separate ammo, route your trip to avoid trouble spots. That’s the smart, legal, safest-in-the-eyes-of-the-state path.
But there’s that other thought that creeps in, especially if you’re traveling with your spouse or kids:
What happens if danger finds me in one of these “safe” zones?
That’s when the old saying comes whispering: “Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six.”
To be clear—this column isn’t telling anyone to break the law. I’m not your lawyer, and the penalties for carrying where it’s forbidden can wreck your life. The “safest” path legally is always to follow the law of the land, even when it’s absurdly stacked against your safety.
But this is also real life. If you’re driving I-95 and need gas at 11 p.m. in Newark, or walking a few blocks to your hotel in Manhattan, does the law make you safer—or just make you a softer target?
Every carrier eventually confronts this internal debate:
- Is my life worth trusting to a patchwork of laws that change at the state line?
- Do I detour, disarm, and hope nothing happens?
- Or do I quietly prioritize personal safety, knowing the legal risk?
Again, you don’t answer this on Twitter or in a forum. You answer it to yourself.
A Patchwork That Punishes the Lawful
America’s concealed carry system is a checkerboard of contradictions. Fifty states, fifty definitions of “legal,” and plenty of politicians who seem more interested in disarming the responsible than stopping the dangerous.
As summer travel season rolls on, each of us has to quietly decide where our personal line is. For some, the law is absolute. For others, personal safety outweighs legal safety.
There’s no universal answer. There’s just the reality that criminals don’t honor state lines—and neither does danger.
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is a seasoned outdoorsman, lifelong hunter, and the kind of guy who’d rather track whitetails than scroll social media. As an editor for GunsAmerica, he’s got a sharp eye for spotting both solid gear and bad gun laws. Whether he’s deep in the woods or deep in editorial deadlines, Larry brings a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach to firearms, hunting, and the great American tradition of self-reliance. If there’s a hot debate on gun rights or the latest in hunting tech, you can bet Larry’s got an opinion—and it’s probably backed up with both facts and field experience.
Experience:
– Licensed Bowhunter, Hunter, and Trapper – Experienced in ethical hunting and wildlife conservation.
– Concealed Carry Permit Holder (NYS & AZ) – Trained and licensed to carry in multiple states.
– 2A Journalist – Covering firearms legislation, Second Amendment issues, and gun rights for over a decade.
– Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) – Certified to provide emergency medical care in the field.
– Field-Tested Gear Reviewer – Hands-on experience with firearms, optics, and hunting tech.
In the u.s today you have to be insane not to carry a firearm for protection. Who’s going to know what you have underneath your shirt or inside your pockets, or strap anywhere by your body. I rather be tried by 12.
Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6.
100%. When seconds count police is only minutes away, coming from a retired LEO.
What’s taking Congress so long to pass and enact a national reciprocity law ?
Its pathetic how the 2nd Amendment doesn’t apply interstate. Foremost, when traveling with out of state license plates on your car in a state or city that won’t let you carry, you are a preferred target for violent criminals. They know with high certainty that you can’t protect yourself. They also know tourists and travelers carry money. It is time for Congress to step up for the potential victims of these oppressive states and pass national reciprocity.
I intend to carry my pistol any place anytime anywhere I don’t give a damn what the sign on the door says! I even have a problem, not being able to carry my gun on an airplane and one reason why I’m resistant to fly anywhere🤨
I love my guns but I sure as fuck don’t want to be on a plane with guns, nope…not in this crazy ass day and time. Are you serious or just plain stupid?
did U see NYC shooter Open carry rifle to shooting site & No 1 stopped him enroute
I. DON’T. GO. THERE.
I once did a u-turn on the Mississippi River bridge at St. Louis to avoid accidentally winding up in Illinois, my philosophy being I’d rather have a Missouri traffic ticket than an Illinois gun violation.
4 people dead is “NYC’s deadliest shooting in 25 years“
It’s interesting how gang violence & drive by shootings have disappeared from the headlines & news stories. This generations gangs must be allot nicer than when I was growing up. I remember “mass shootings” all the time except the focus was on gangs not the guns as much. Gangs are cool now apparently but guns are the bad guys so if we could just get rid of the guns, there will be no more bad guys.
Don’t read the next story about the “mass stabbing” at Walmart that was stopped by a gun carrying good guy. That’s fake news lol
I’m not saying it’s fake news but can’t we all agree it’s time for some common sense cutlery laws? I mean a twelve inch serrated blade? Nobody needs that!
What a “Gun Free” zone??
That’s were only the pro criminals are allowed to carry.
One of my all-time favorite restaurants put up one of those ridiculous “no guns or CCW allowed” signs on their door and their business fell off by more than half. It was ridiculous because here in the South, EVERYONE is armed. And I even helped them spread the work by posting it on social media!😂
Needless to say, the sign came down quickly and another sign went up stating they support the 2nd amendment.🙊🙉🙈
If a l LAW OF THE LAND
The general misconception is that any statute passed by legislators bearing the appearance of law constitutes the law of the land. The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and any statute, to be valid, must be in agreement. It is impossible for a law which violates the constrution to be valid. This is succinctly stated as follows:
All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void.” Marbury vs.
Madison, 5 US (2 cranch) 137, 174,
> Better to be judged by six than carried by twelve
It should be “judged by 12 than carried by six”
There are typically 12 jurors on a jury, and six pallbearers for a coffin.
> Better to be judged by six than carried by twelve
It should be “judged by 12 than carried by six”
There are typically 12 jurors on a jury, and six pallbearers for a coffin.
Have you seen the size of people lately? Maybe it should be carried by 12.
My personal thought is that any state that won’t let me carry isn’t thinking about tourist dollars at all, and therefore doesn’t need my money. I never travel to antigun states nor, if possible, buy anything from them. Too bad, I would like to visit my relatives in NY or Colorado, but no. No gun, no tourist. Not for me.
Our SD extended permit is legal in CO, except Denver!
I’ve a friend who has but one arm and leg. He couldn’t fight a 3 year old. But he carries a pistol
everywhere he goes, since anyone could rob or steal from him. His opinion on this is that he simply won’t tell anyone he is carrying. It’s concealed, after all.
The old saying quoted should be judged by 12 than carried by 6, just say’in
Don’t go places that don’t respect your rights. Why give them any of your hard earned dollars to use against you? Screw them; go somewhere else. 29 (soon 30 if NC does the right thing) constitutional carry states in which to vacation. FOPA protects you interstate but know the law and the laws where you’re going..And..make sure you have read “In Gravest Extreme” by Massad Ayoob at least twice!
Carried by 6, judged by 12
Um, Isn’t it “judged by twelve than carried by six”? Don’t think I could afford a retirement box that required twelve people to lift it…..
It never occurs to me to put my money or person into communist territories like NY, MassUsuckchewsets, CommieNeteecut, Commiefornica, and especially ILLannoy.