What I find strange is that Kidcalavera says that he is studying law, so I assume he has access to legal books showing the requirements for, and repercussions of carrying a firearm in other countries.

To add to the debate, first of all a smile is the best thing to carry around.
It's cheap, no, it's free and doesn't require permits.

I live in Nicaragua and I do carry guns. I wouldn't carry guns if if wasn't for the fact that I do transport some valuable goods and sometimes at night.
You need good connections or a permanent residence to get your local permit. They might have temporary permits, since I know they do in Africa when you go hunting.

Don't know for other countries than Nic and Honduras.
In Nicaragua it's pretty ilegal to carry guns. In the countryside no-one bothers and if you would get caught they'll probably just confiscate your gun and take it home as theirs. In the city you will get into trouble and probably face some jailtime.

In Honduras on the other hand, you do go straight to jail, according to the laws. They've got pretty tough laws to stop gangs (maras) and I heard on the radio once in Hon that you get between 18-25 years for unregistered guns..........I almost went to the bathroom in my pants, the one time my wife had stashed her Beretta in the glove department, the border officials searched the vehicle and by the time I got to Tegucigalpa she remembered it was there.......lucky us they didn't find it! Thought of throwing it away for a while......

Anyways, I've been to prisons in these countries, with friends who had oficial businesses with some jails. They are NOT nice, and the guys locked up are not the trustworthy kind of people I like to surround myself with.

Anyways, I've got friends who have lived here for a long time, and they don't carry guns. I do, because of my business and the fact that I want to be able to move rather freely at any time.
A smile is great and will get you out of many situations, but sometimes robbers can be pretty determined and if this determination is combined with you beeing cornered the only thing that will get you out is a gun.
At home, almost 100% of Nicaraguans have guns or at least some kind of arm.

If I were you, I wouldn't ever dream of carrying an unregistered gun.
Jails down here are pretty rough and sentences can be very harsh.
Daytime you might run into a petty thieves in Nicaragua.
The "tough" guys are the gangs, which there aren't many of in Nic and they're very local. So if you don't visit them, they wont bother you.
White people also has a reputation to be peacefull, they know cops WILL investigate a killing of a foreigner and this combined makes for them not needing or wanting to kill bike-traveleres.

All in all. Guns without permits can be a 25-year pain in the ass so don't carry them.

Hallo,
in 75 a friend and I travelled for some months up the Putomayo river starting in puerto asis, columbia. We were informed that 5 foreignors had been killed a couple of weeks earlier and we quite naturally got a bit worried . My friend wanted to go back but I was equally scared of the frightening bustrip over the mountains getting there so decided to carry on up river. We went to the village police and asked if we could carry a gun for protection:confused1: . Answer was that we would go to jail and for a long time. The putomayo is a border between several south american countries who, at least in those days, did·nt like eachother a lot !
So my friend and I bought a couple of big machettes to change, keeping a guard in the riverbed where we slept. When it came to my turn I was so tired, that even though I heard and saw creatures moving between the trees, I fell asleep! Nothing happened. Later, seeing how the people there managed their machettes cutting their nales(I would have cut my arm of trying) We understood how ridicilous our expectations of beeing able to defend ourselves and the chances of having too, had been.
Love and peace,

Dan

Everyone's talking about bandits/scumbags, but has anyone got advice on surviving salivating ferocious wildlife. I've heard of a lad devoured by Lions near the Zambezi and a biker in Sudan who's life adventure was cut short by hyena's. As for the weaponry debate, don't. Was told a cautionary tale of a lad with a weapon; Aussie in Phnom Penh. His fate, dead within a couple months.

In fairness, Bill, that's not half as strange as Simmo assuming I was talking about the rugby World Cup!

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Fair point Mike....

When I travel alone, I always carry a "fake" wallet with 10 or 20 euro worth of local currency and an old bankcard that's no longer valid. I have never been robbed but if they try, I'll give them my fake wallet and hope that's enough.

I'm afraid a bandit in a thirth world country knows more about knifes, guns and killing then I do so it's no use to try to beat them in their own expertise on their own ground.

just my 2 cents

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Jan Krijtenburg

My bikes are a Honda GoldWing GL1200 and a Harley-Davidson FXD Dyna Super Glide

My personal homepage with trip reports: https://www.krijtenburg.nl/
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FWIW - do not carry any weapon that you are not allowed to by the laws of the countries in which you plan to travel. Most governments seem to not allow their citizenry to carry firearms.
I, personally, do not fully trust any government that does not trust me.
But that's just me.
It seems, by the flavor of most replies to this thread, that the average user doesn't realize that the use of a firearm is a last resort, and carries with it a terrible responsibility.


------------------
Michael Jordan

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Michael Jordan
Sterling, Virginia
USofA

I agree with Jkrijt. Good trick with the fake wallet. I dont have a 'fake' as such, just a wallet with the days money in. No more than I can afford to lose.
Although I think perhaps we should go easy on the 'kid'. He asked for advice after all. Maybe the current feeling of paranoia engendered by the governments of, lets face it, more than just the USA, is making many of us feel like we need more protection than we really do.
matt

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*Disclaimer* - I am not saying my bike is better than your bike. I am not saying my way is better than your way. I am not mocking your religion/politics/other belief system. When reading my post imagine me sitting behind a frothing pint of ale, smiling and offering you a bag of peanuts. This is the sentiment in which my post is made. Please accept it as such!

Where does everyone get their info, by watching american films? If you have no knowledge of guns and can quote no statistics perhaps your opinion could be questioned. And remember be nice, travelling and posting.

Hi
It is a fair Q.

There was A thread posted 22 may 2001 by "Blurgh"

I'd like to quote part of my comment there:


"Anyhow, I don't believe in such protection, if you come to a situation of self defence, the last thing is to draw a gun or a knife. It will be your end for sure,they will always outnumber you. locals will be against you in kind of revenge,and you will not have the time and language to explain your side, and the authorities will be insulted that you took the law and hunt you as well.
My suggestion is to ride thinking of passive defence, do not enter alone to suspected areas. do not ride at night and ask other travelers on what is ahead."

Ride safely

Yoni

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Yoni

You couldn't have put it any better.

It's a shame people feel it necessary to use this forum to slag off Yanks rather than to get them to think twice about the whole gun debate.

Firstly, I would love to understand why there would be a gun for guest use? I take it for entertainment shooting cans, which I would have loved to be able to do as a kid growing up as a European.

Secondly, the whole second amendment thing stems from the independence struggle as insurance for a militia to fight future invaders. It seems that since this has been faded from the minds and replaced with the notion that it's for safety walking down the street as some sort of vigilantly. People taking the law in their own hands. That's why we pay too much for a police force. That's years and cross generational indoctrination for ya. Can’t believe that people still think that guns are not the cause of violent crime. Without weapons (including fists!) there is no violent crime. Like that bar story. If there were no guns there would be a black eye, not a lung missing. But this is all irrelevant to his first question.

So lastly, the quote says it all. I have had a few occasions where I thought I could have done with a weapon. Mostly right after the event with the adrenaline still flowing around. The more I travelled the smaller that weapon became in my mind. Currently I’m toying with that spanner idea. But even then, if you hit some dude on the head with that, you can be f*cked as much as stabbing the guy, depending on how hard you hit him off course. You could use it as a deterrent, but you are upping the stakes. I reckon good things happen when having a positive mindset. The opposite of that is fear of things going wrong.

But if your question is related to wildlife, I think you have a different trip in mind than generally discussed here. You’ll probably find that you’d be lucky to see any large wildlife that would warrant a weapon. And in that case they’d probably be hunted enough to know to stay away from you.
Regarding bears though (bit of a pet fear for trekking in their terretory for me), haven’t there been cases of guys with guns still being killed or attacked? Just wondering though….

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I didn't have time to read through all the decent advice mixed with the self-congratulating drivel, and anti-Bush soapboxing. Bush is an idiot. Clinton was an idiot. Bush before him, too, was an idiot. Get over it. As a US citizen, without a criminal record, I will happily carry my weapons with pride. No, I will not show them to you, nor will I bully my way around with them. But, if I feel that you are threatening my or my family's life, during a purposeful crime against me (i.e.robbery/rape/attempted murder) then you better hope that you can overpower me because I will first warn you, and then if you continue the threat, shoot you. Simple as that.

The US second amendment has been left intact in order that we have the means to re-take our government if it gains a little too much power over the sheep that are also known as US citizens (come to think of it, could we currently be successful in such an endeavor...?)

That being said, living right on the US/Mexico border, I often see a sign placed next to the road on the way down to the crossing that states "Guns and ammo are illegal in Mexico" or something to that effect. Mexico would not hesitate to put a US citizen in jail for having even just a live bullet, in spite of the fact that it is acceptable for drug/human smugglers to be armed to the proverbial teeth. So with that, I have never, ever taken my guns across the border with me, nor will I ever do so. I would not even imagine trying to go further south with one, either.

I have read and spoken in person about many a successful extended journey by bike south of the US border. However, carrying guns is a personal choice, and one that you have to make yourself, and weigh the risks against the benefits. If it were legal, like in many of the US states, then I would say "go for it." But I can only imagine the mother of all bribes someone would extort out of you if you were caught in any of the countries.

BTW, Grant, I would never NOT go to Canada just because I couldn't take my pistol with me. Just as ridiculous someone might find me and my carrying of weapons, I, too find those people ridiculous whining that they couldn't take their guns into Canada, and thus did not go.

Please note: the difference between some of the obnoxious rantings I read on this thread and my opinion(s) is that I am not saying that I am right; it is just what I do and practice, and believe.

Interesting thread.

The United States fascination with guns is incredible.

School shootings, shooting at NASA you name it.

In just about all other countries the carrying of hand guns is illegal. In NZ the cops don't even carry hand guns, and the reason is related to perceived threat.

If you take a gun into a foreign country and get shot or land up in jail I'll be the first to tell you "it serves you bloody right"

I realize that this may upset some of you but: You yanks need to take a chill pill and get it out of your head that violent solutions to complex problems don't work.

In the mean time why don't you consider spending some more money on road safety training and defensive riding techniques. It ain't a gun wielding Mexican that's gonna kill you... It'll be a cage driver failing to give way at an intersection.

I'm bored in Bogota on a wet day at the end of my trip, so I'll chuck my 20 peso obsolete coin into the ring.

Funny debate this one and a little one sided. I don't think the original poster deserves so much grief but I do like these types of question. Not had so much enjoyment since the guy asked about the pepper grinder.

I don't think I personally have ever come across a situation when I have travelled where I have ever thought it would be useful to have a weapon. A dark night in Nairobi walking back to the Upper Hills Campsite probably comes closest when a car started following me slowly up a hill. I turned round to confront the driver only to find it was a big local lady worried for my safety. She even gave me a lift up the hill. I would have looked a complete muppet if I had whipped out a gun and pointed it at her.

On the other hand I am not as naive to believe that very occasionally something very serious may occur. Unfortuantely it's not all peace and love out on the road. The girlfriend of a good friend was raped and he was beaten in an attack in the CAR. He quite fairly insists that if he had been carrying a gun then the incident would never have happened.

Maybe more relevant to teh original post, I read a book about an English guy who rode a Triumph RTW a few years ago (not Ted Simon). He allegedly took a gun from the US and hid it under the seat for the duration of his trip. He also allegedly got shot in the head in Colombia but was saved by his helmet. Seems the gun never did him much good there but he did not get caught at any border.

Anyway, my personal feeling is you have to respect the laws of the country you visit unless you want to be seen as an arrogant tosser. However you feel about guns they are not legal through central and South America.

If anyone really wants to travel with guns then you can join the army. Babylon is quite nice at this time of year I hear. The Euphrates has some fantastic swimming spots too.

As all the ride outs are booked up at the UK HU meeting, anyone on for the rifle range?

It's even stopped raining in Bogota so I better end this long winded reply.

Matt


[This message has been edited by mattpope (edited 15 June 2005).]