Do hotels have a gun policy?

[CountGlockula]

I'm starting to travel a lot for business and want to bring my handgun along for protection and visit the local ranges.

I've gone to Marriott, Hilton and Holiday Inn website and haven't found anything regarding their weapon's policy.

Has anyone experience this? Are guns allowed?

Thanks.

 

[The Amigo]

Most Ive visited have none. Just don't trust the hotel safes too much. I did had a work fellow room mate that had $$ stolen from one of these.

 

[benEzra]

No hotel that I've ever stayed in has had any sort of posted policy about firearms. In most states, a hotel room is legally considered your domicile for the time you are there, so one would think that banning gun possession in your room would be legally questionable anyway.

 

[bensdad]

My former Pheasants Forever chapter has its banquet at the Double Tree Hotel in St. Louis Park, MN. I was the treasurer in 2002-2003, IIRC.

After we had paid a big deposit, sent out flyers, etc. etc. they informed us that they had a no firearms policy. If you've ever been to a PF banquet, you know there are a LOT of guns raffled off.

We worked things out and made it happen, but there was discussion brought up about supporting a place with that kind of policy.

In hindsight, I wish I would have advocated more vigorously in favor of relocating the event.

 

[AZLibertarian]

benEzra...

No hotel that I've ever stayed in has had any sort of posted policy about firearms.

I'm an airline pilot and I stay in a lot of hotels. A few years ago, I stayed at a hotel in Minneapolis that had a big sign on the door about "No Firearms".

As I recall, this was right after MN had opened up their concealed carry (or something). I asked to speak to the manager as I checked out. He said that a local group of hotel owners/managers had received advice from the local law enforcement that posting a sign was the only way that they could keep someone with a gun from ending up in their bar. [I knew it was a BS answer, but that's what he said.] I told him that what I might have in my luggage in a room I rented was none of his business, and further, that I would never bring my family to stay in a hotel that posted such a sign.

He seemed to be a non-thinking hoplophobe who just couldn't imagine that someone would want to carry a gun.

I haven't been back for work since, and I certainly wouldn't stay there on personal time.

Funny thing was, as I was talking to him, there were two or three guys checking out who were dragging along what I took to be cases for duck guns. The manager never connected his sign to these other guests in his hotel.

 

[F4GIB]

Don't ask, don't tell.

 

[Valkman]

I wouldn't stay in one without a gun so the post above is right on.

 

[mike101]

F4GIB- " Don't ask, don't tell. " He's right.

I worked in a Hilton for 6 years. You'd be amazed at how many people have master keys. Tell someone you have a gun, and the chances of it being stolen go way up. And there's no way to determine who stole it.

 

[simpleguy]

I am with F4GIB on this one. Just like the military "don't ask, don't tell", if I was a renter I wouldn't let a landlord tell me I couldn't keep firearms in the house I was renting, though short stay, it's nothing more than a glorified residence, even if it's just overnight.

 

[gunsmith]

don't ask don't tell

if it is just a handgun I wouldn't tell them.
Circus Circus in Reno NV made me check in my long guns once, then gave me a hard time getting them back

 

[Firethorn]

Great minds think alike...

Just my thought at the beginning of the thread. Don't ask, Don't tell.

If you don't ask, they don't have to come up with an answer, and don't tell, because of the aforementioned dozen or so master keys floating around.

Depending on the location, the trunk of your car might be a better storage space, might not.

 

[geekWithA.45]

I've never seen postings in hotel rooms in all my travels, and I've never felt the urge to ask.

Works pretty good, that way.

Laws to the contrary notwithstanding, with which I've made it a point to know and understand, my general starting assumption is that having arms on my person, in my trunk, or in my bags is a perfectly normal and ordinary thing to do.

As a perfectly normal and ordinary thing, I don't feel compelled to ask or disclose it everywhere I go.

Would you ask if you could have your bag of golf clubs in your room?

 

[Patriot-Brewer]

I have a ?

I like the "don't ask, don't tell" theory, but what are the legal grounds
if you end up having to dispatch a criminal in self defense?

 

[Fulcrum of Evil]

If the hotel room is considered a short term residence, why would it differ from dispatching a home-invader?

 

[Noble]

In TX, I would think the only way they could stop a CHL holder would be with a 30.06 sign in plain view.

 

[AZLibertarian]

PatriotBrewer...

...what are the legal grounds
if you end up having to dispatch a criminal in self defense?

Exactly.

I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the internet, and we all understand that laws can and do vary from state to state, but with that caveat...

Assuming that a hotel posted a 30.06 sign or whatever the equivalent is in your state, and further assuming that you have found yourself with a legal reason to use that gun while inside your room (where, since you set the rules [within reason] inside the room, I don't think the 30.06 sign will have any bearing), the question will become how did that gun get into the room in the first place?

I don't think it matters whether you asked about gun policy, or if you kept your gun fully concealed until inside your room. The point being: You violated the law by carrying your gun into a place who's owners had legally posted that they wanted a weapons-free hotel.

I will assume that most prosecutors would look at a legal shooting in an illegal location as something that they could use their discretion to overlook, but occassionally, you're going to run into a prosecutor named "Nifong".

In my view, the smart thing to do is not to just sneak your gun into your room regardless of the hotel's policy, but rather to turn around and find another hotel. Let the manager know why you're leaving.

 

[Car Knocker]

Assuming that a hotel posted a 30.06 sign or whatever the equivalent is in your state,

In some states such signage has no legal weight and no laws would be violated by bringing a gun into the hotel.

 

[Geister]

I've gone to Marriott, Hilton and Holiday Inn website and haven't found anything regarding their weapon's policy.

Has anyone experience this? Are guns allowed?

Why do you even care? Don't ask, don't tell.

 

[davhina]

I travel a great deal as well. I don't ask. I don't leave my pistol in the room when i leave.

 

[mike101]

"I like the "don't ask, don't tell" theory, but what are the legal grounds
if you end up having to dispatch a criminal in self defense?"

"It's better to be judged by twelve, than carried by eight."
Joseph Wambaugh

 

[foob]

I like the "don't ask, don't tell" theory, but what are the legal grounds
if you end up having to dispatch a criminal in self defense?

Other than Texas and their 30.06 signs, I haven't heard of any other state where signs mean anything legally.

So legally speaking it would seem you are fine.

On a side note, if you are in Texas, obey a 30.06 sign and get stabbed or otherwise injured by an assailant, can you sue the establishment?

 

[Kacerdias]

I do a lot of traveling myself and I've hever had a problem with "no guns" policies. Most hotels don't post a weapons policy even if they have one. Assuming you are in a state where you can legally carry, keep your pistol on your hip and not left alone in your room. If I find myself in a state where I can't carry (Maryland ) I keep my pistol in it's locked hardside case inside my also locked luggage, then have the hotel manager hold my luggage behind the counter. For all they know, it's full of dirty clothes and hygeine products.

Also, be sure to get insurance for the firearm you carry when traveling in case it does go missing. If you're an NRA member you get $1000 of ArmsCare insurance. Unless you're toting a high-end HK or a tricked out 1911 racegun then this should cover most CCW type pistols.

 

[F4GIB]

I'm not a Texas lawyer.

Generally, however, your hotel room is viewed as your temporary "abode" (home). It is your private space. If you can keep a gun in your bedroom in your house (i.e., you aren't a prohibited person), you can keep it in your bedroom at the hotel notwithstanding any 30.06 signs affecting the public areas of the facility. And, the law not being a complete idiot, you can transport it (under the normal rules) from your transportation device (car, etc.) to your room. Furthermore, if the local rules for self-defense are met, you can shoot it in your room. If you do, you'll be happy to move to a new room/hotel.

 

[Geister]

To further elaborate on what F4GIB said, a travel trailer or a RV is also considered in Texas to be a place of residence. I occasionally stay in a RV and I keep a gun there with me all the time. I don't even bother to ask what the owners of the RV park think about it because I don't feel that it's really any of their business. That I don't need anyone to know I have a gun anyway in case someone wants to try and break in and steal it.

That's another thing, I either take the gun with me or hide it very, very well when I leave.

 

[bl4ckd0g]

I usually travel armed and I have not encountered any resistance or even curiosity whenever I've brought my piece.

Even if the hotel has a no firearms policy, it is only upheld by the civil court, and you will probably only get a warning, or be asked to leave.

Also, +1 on the homeowners or NRA case insurance if you're carrying a spendy carrying piece. It is possible to accidentally leave something behind in a hotel room besides your toothbrush or one of your socks. It can happen, and you can imagine the consequences.