Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Second Amendment truckers and guns

I heard that truckers are not allowed to carry a concealed carry weapon because it is against federal regulations. Is this true?

Yes.

i'm not really sure that I agree with that law. What do you think?

I have heard that as well. Is it just short guns, or any firearms?

I have mixed emotions concerning the law. There are times a firearm could be VERY helpful in a Semi. The OTR drivers are forced to park thier rigs and try to sleep in different places every night. Not all of them are safe. The down side is the new hours of service laws force truck drivers to work upwards of 75 hours a week these days. This schedule is forced on drivers by thier employers and it's not optional. Fatigue and roadrage are real and not always a good mix with firearms.



All firearms.

If you can carry legally in the state then you can carry in a commercial vehicle. Problems come in when crossing state line and it is against many company policies.

I carry in a commercial vehicle every day, but i am a co owner of the company and travel in state only.

I drive pipeline truck which means I drive both on road and off road.
In my case there is a added problem -
If we are building a pipeline that crossed state lines then we will fall under the federal transportion dept. and there for all firearms are prohibited in a commerical vech. wheather it is a pick up or a 18 wheeler..
That being said I'm sure there are drivers that carry for the own good.
As TC1 said we do park it some bad place's like truck stops and rest areas.

There is not a federal regulation saying that a person cannot have a firearm in a cmv. It goes by state laws.

TC1 is absolutely wrong. NO federal rule prohibiting any kind of firearm in a commercial vehicle.
Now alcohol, that's prohibited.

You are exactly correct fishdog52. No alcohol allowed, but firearms are allowed, but one must follow state rules as far as firearms. I am real familar with the regulations, trust me.

Maybe TC1 needs to show us in the federal regulations. TC1, I am not wanting to argue, but please show me the Federal Regulations saying that firearms are prohibited?

New hours of service laws are not forcing people to work 75+ hours. Quite the opposite actually. 60 hours max and mandatory 8 hours in the sleeper berth. CSA and hours of service rules are killing our ability to make a living. Unless you are doing oilfield work..they have their own rules and hours of service.

This.

I carried in state all the time. It was one of the arguments used in trying to get national reciprocity because drivers could NOT defend themselves.

I think that if I were to trust someone with an 80000 pound missile I would trust them with a gun.

Concealed laws vary so much state to state you're never completely sure your 100% legal . I wouldn't want to spend my life on the highways or sleeping in a truck in unknown places without a way to protect myself. Just as dangerous as a 3rd shift convenience store clerk job.

no. there is no federal law precluding an individual operating a CMv from possessing a firearm in said CMV

No it is not against Federal law

that's not the HOS rules. 14 hours combined on duty/ driving status 70 hours in 8 days total, you need 10 hours off duty/sleeper, but it can be broken up in 2 blocks as long as one block is not shorter than 2 hours.


the OIL field has one exemption to the HOS and it takes a very, very specific truck configuration to meet that exemption. aside from that. their rules are exactly the same.

I drove for something over 30 yrs and if there's a federal law against firearms in a truck I never saw it. But the thought was always that firearms were not allowed in a truck. I think where the problem came from back then was the lack of concelled weapon permints and so much different in the states. And then if you go into Canada and get caught I haven't a clue what would happen. I have carried in every state except Haiwai, can.t spell it. Spent much to much time in different fruit markets and meat markets around the country. One time down in Flordia I was sleeping across from the sports center and a couple county sherrifs woke me up to let me know it was a bad place to sleep. Said gays were really hard on people around there. Told them I didn't care if it was alright to shoot them. They asked me if I wanted some ammo!

About the hr's of service, I have no idea how it would be possible to make a living today with the new hrs. As I understand it if your not in the sleeper your on duty working. Driver's then didn't get paid by the hour for on duty working. To make a living years ago was all but impossible due to hrs of service. Only way a living was made was by lying on the logs! Today your either in the sleeper or on duty! I don't recall ever making out a legal log after the first week of so driving. Also in the logs you could not log what you actually did without risking a ticket. We were only allowed to log an average of 50mph no matter what we did! That means we were restricted to 500 miles in a 10 hr period and back then at .10 per mile it didn't come out to much. Forget that in mountain state's you couldn't ave 50mph following the speed limit! Trip through a major city on an interstate during rush hour blew the 50mph average out the window!

you understand the HOS rules incorrectly. and frankly if you were only speed averaging your logs at 50 mph, its no wonder you couldn't make any money.


you may still use off duty while not being in the sleeper provided you have been relieved of all responsibility of the truck. that's the same as it has always been. in fact you can claim 3 hours of off duty status riding in the passenger seat provided it is immediately before or after a 7 hour stretch in the sleeper.

I suspect you were not driving back in the 1960 till the rules changed!