Violence towards RV'ers

After seeing the post relating to carrying a handgun while camping i was wondering if anyone has been assaulted with a gun while RV'ing either in a private campground or a state park? My wife and i will be snow-birding next year and we've only camped at Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio so our experience is practically nil however we have many friends who go south and no one has been hassled to our knowlege.

Red Green:
You ever see one of these? It's called a GPS,
which stands for - well, who cares? Point is,
this thing uses satellites to tell you where you
are, which means that every man can have a
five-hundred-dollar reason not to ask for
directions.

I will never travel with a gun. This will make the problem bigger.  I own hand guns and rifles semi auto and auto. This is something I do with my son and son in law.
I was a victim of a violent crime and if I had a gun they would have used it on me. Use your vision watch and beware of your environment. My wife and I have been all over the USA and we have had my CB radio ripped off. And someone swapped my two gas bottles on my trailer but in all that is it.
We live in the best country in the world and we do not need to strap weapons on our side. Times are getting tougher and crime will increase that is life.
I have two Golden Retrievers and a Flat Coat that are with us all the time. Anyone tries to brake in my trailer they will lick them until the Police respond.

We've been full time with around 900 nights on the road through 34 states.  Not only have we never been assaulted, we've never even been in a situation where we were the least bit concerned for our well being.  We spend 99% of our time in private parks.

Good luck...

Rick

Never had a threatening situation. We've spent well over 2000 nights in RV parks across North America in the last 10+ years.

The only incident I've heard of is one that Nick Russell reported last year on his blog. As I recall, apparently they were parked at a repair shop, returned to their coach in the evening to find a man coming out of the door with their stuff, armed with Nick's handgun. Nick (a Vietnam combat veteran) mashed the guy's hand in the door, causing him to drop the weapon and flee. Whew! (Don't try this at home!)

I suspect that most of us do not hear of hardly any incidents where someone who is armed prevents a crime. I am a retired LEO ( Deputy Sheriff, Chief of Police and Senior Detective, 41 years on duty) and I know of a large number of cases where armed persons could have, or in fact have prevented a crime.
Personally, I have investigated both types of situations where a person with a firearm could have, or did in fact, prevent further harm.
For example, a few years ago, near Cotopaxi, Colorado, a sleeping camper was killed and carried out of his RV trailer by a bear. In Rocky Mountain National Park, a short time back, a woman was killed and two of her family were injured by a bear while camping over night. Just above Idaho Springs, a jogger was killed by a Mountain Lion, as was also a child in Larimer County Colorado. I investigated a breakin to a PU Camper by a bear near Marble, Colorado while two tourist ladies were in the camper. I could list quite a few others.
The reason most in the public do not hear of these situations is because the news media rarely reports the prevention of crimes. They only report the successful activity of crimes and criminals after the crime.
Here in Colorado, I personally know of three RV crime victims, while parked in campgrounds, plus another RV burglary while the owners were not present, just in the past year.
I also have investigated numerous instances where an armed person was able to prevent a serious crime, more often than not without firing a shot. During my years on active duty in one of the rural areas of Colorado, I was called to investigate more than one criminal action involving victim campers in the National Forest Campground every year, involving people, not involving animals, including homicides, roberies, etc.
As a retired LEO I would not even think of going unarmed. Check the Crime reports published each month by the NRA publications, and/or the Uniform Crime Reports, published annually by the U.S. Justice Department and you will note that annually there are over 100,000 crimes prevented anually by armed citizens.

That's some great information Will.  Thanks for sharing.

Rick

I too have never been in a situation where I have needed a firearm but I have been in a couple of parks where having one made me feel better.

I do have firearm training and have a carry permit but the weapon never leaves the MH.

I can even think of a time where a hand gum would have been needed.  I have been in some back woods and never felt I need a hand gun. I worked for a local government for 20 years and one day the Police Chief shot himself with a tazer. This did not make me want to go out and buy one after that. Every time I saw him I started laughing. It took a long time to forget that. One officer shot his foot when cleaning his pistol. He had quite  a reputation after that. Everything I saw made me not even want to take a weapon on vacation. After what I went through one would think I would always Carrie a handgun. It took a long time to forgive the people that did this.  I did and the thing that made it possible was my wife asking my to take a pop up to Canada. To see everything I had no Idea and meet some of the nicest people you could ever meet. We got ourselves in some not so good places and now we laugh about it. You do not need a gun you need to get out and see the USA.

Stop for fuel in the south side of Chicago,,,, then tell me all about it.>>>Dan

Seams like I remember reading on here about a couple in a RV that was murdered and burnt in their RV, and about a bear eating a camper, and a man that had to shoot a man in the Wal-Mart parking lot. That's enough for me

:-\

#1 Always be aware of your surroundings. When I stop for fuel or anywhere unfamiliar, always wait for 2/3 minutes before exiting the vehicle. Oh, and if the area looks seedy, don't stop, never let the fuel go lower than 1/4 tank, that way you will have enough to go elsewhere, unless you are in between Dallas and ElPaso Tx.,

#2 always have an idea of your trip routing, so you don't find yourself some place you don't want to be, 30+ miles down a country road that leads to a dead-end.

#3 Smart Rvers don't let others know if they are carrying, that's an invitation to get robbed and killed. When you return to your rv, likewise your home check the area to see if it looks like the way you left it.

I have traveled this country and clocked better than  a million miles in the past 40+ years of driving. Been workamping since 1995. Irover PS. Not saying it won't happen but I won't crawl under a rock and be a recluse!!!

Edit: Fixed list.

All of these unfortunate incidents are tragic, but even in hindsight can we really determine whether having a gun available would have made a difference? :-\ The weapon could have been inaccessible, even if a shot got off it could have missed or not slowed down the intruder. Any result is conjecture. And then we have all those cases where people, especially children, were killed accidentally or in a family/neighbor feud. I doubt if there are any valid statistics of the two scenarios but based on the numbers of accidental shootings, IMO, accidental deaths probably outweigh "killed because no weapon was available."

Lots of stories above (most of them probably true ), but to get back to the OP's actual question...

MPI_Mallard said:

i was wondering if anyone has been assaulted with a gun while RV'ing either in a private campground or a state park?

Click to expand...

The answer to this will be overwhelming "No".  There will be isolated incidents of violence here and there if you look at nationwide stats over decades of reported news, but I'll venture to say that campgrounds are some of the safest places around some of the safest, nicest people where you could possibly spend your time.

It's not the campgrounds that bother me... once I get there... it's the roads and towns before I get to the CG.  I was driving the truck route through Farmington NM and someone shot at us... put a bullet hole in the front windshield about chest high, right in front of me.  I did not stop to ask questions or to call 911... decided to get out of there ASAP. 

It must have been a pellet type rifle since the round didn't get through the inside layer of glass,  only the outside layer.

Whoever pulled the trigger will probably go on to bigger and stronger firearms.  If I do get "stopped" or disabled by gunfire, it would be helpful to have something to "return fire", rather than just sit there.  I don't know.

My family and I have never had a problem in any campgrounds or dry camping in the dunes or forrest that made me feel like I needed a gun. With that, I always have a gun on me, RVing or at the mall, or at home, sometimes 2 and I always will. And you usually can't see them. If you don't understand why then I can't explain it to you. Just like a person who would never carry one couldn't explain to me why they wouldn't.

As a Canadian we're not a "gun totin'" people to begin with and i must admit that so far the responses haven't convinced me that there is a "clear and present danger" that justifies carrying a weapon while RV'ing. Having Detroit just over the river and i'm sorry to say this but it does not represent the US very well we see gun violence in the media wich is so appaulling to us,i don't presume to tell anyone how to govern their lives but being in the vacinity of an armed person who is not a proffesional A.K.A police,military personell,someone who has experienced being shot at and how to respond accordingly adds to the worry of becoming a victim of gun violence just by being there.

I had a rear side window shot out of my car a couple of years ago.  Was coming off the freeway in an upscale part of town while visiting my parents in San Rafael, CA.  Another car was stopped across the street with the same damage.

I stopped and called 911.  As I was talking to the dispatcher I saw a kid stick his head over one of the backyard fences bordering the offramp, then disappear.

CHP and county sheriff were on scene, in force, within minutes.  Based on my sighting, they apprehended a pair of 13 year olds who had a BB gun target range set up in their back yard.  They got bored shooting fixed targets and decided to try their luck on the moving targets over the back fence.

Final result: two kids scared half to death by over a half dozen police officers descending on their house.  Each placed on a year's probation and ordered to pay for damages.  I received a check and apology letter from each kid about a month later.

one time in va.we were woke up by a man and women wanting gas money they  banged on every  door in the rest area other  time woke up by person wanted to sell gold chain.we left and drove until daylight. i dont care for the rest areas along 95 s anymore

Discussing Guns is like discussion politics. The first thing to concider is are you capable of using the weapon in self defence and without hesitation pulling the trigger. If not them the answer is not for you to carry. This week in Sc Ga area a tow truck driver and the owner of a car being towed got into a word exchange the car owner opened his coat exposing a hand gun, next thing he is dead and the police are investigating what happened. The point is don't carry if you thyink its a bluff, it only escalates a already bad situation,

I have owned many weapons and have a concealed weapon licence from Massachusetts which I have renewed since 1975. I have never removed it from its holster in a defensive situation, I also have never felt the need in a campground, national park of in the South side of Chicago. But in the words of somebody "Better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it"

Make your decision carefully and look at alternatives. Our security team recommends a can of hornet spray which you can keep by your bed, in the drivers seat and it sprays 20 feet, in the eyes of a attacker it is blinding and painfull. Then exit and call for help.
Jim