Starting Monday, you will be able to take your caving guns inside almost all federally owned caves. The exceptions are the tour caves.
You will need to have a concealed permit and make sure that the state you are caving in accepts your state's permit, or you will have to apply for a permit in that state. So what size gun do you pack? A 60 caliber hand-gun would be too big for most caving packs. A 50 caliber ought to do the trick: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9nu4csc5kbA/0.jpg I hope you can sense that I am mocking this new regulation. So let's say you in a caving group hiking to Madonna Cave and you are all packing heat. You get to the cave, suit up, and then what? Do you all leave your guns in the entrance? What if you come out of the cave to find some shady characters holding your guns at you? So I guess you take the guns in far enough so that that does not happen. Can anybody think of a reason other than snakes to carry a gun on a hike to a federally owned cave? A bear ? A mountain lion ? A wolf or coyote? A fugitive hiding in a cave? I think the ammunition should be carried in a separate compartment of the back-pack, and the gun should be in a Pelican case. I think the chances are more likely that more people are going to be accidentally shot ( and probably kids ), than the guns being used to defend in a situation. I don't think cavers should carry guns on their hike to a "federally-owned" cave. But if some caver chose to do so, would he or she be, disrespected? I would encourage any caver with me that wanted to carry a gun on the hike, to leave it at the car and locked up. ( This is all theoretical, as I would have to be going caving! ) If he said no, then I would tell him I am not going caving. If that failed, then I would want to make sure the gun was hidden beyond the twilight zone, under a rock, and covered with dirt. I see no reason to take a gun on a short hike, like Cottonwood Cave, or Hidden Cave? Those are BLM caves though, and all National Forest lands have had an "open carry," policy for some time. Right? Has that policy ever produced a gun related issue with a cave trip? David Locklear --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
