So I've been a lurker for a while now, and have been watching and reading various posts on this page for some time now. For the past several months I've learned a lot about carrying in general by reading people's posts about their first times and their mistakes; taking note so that I would not make them too. I started by carrying around town and such, and became more and more comfortable with carrying in general... I now carry my Canik TP9SF Elite with one in the chamber (15+1) in an AlienGear CloakTuck 3.0 at the 4:30 to 5 o'clock position wherever I legally can. This is the first time I'm posting my experience on this forum and not about my first day carrying, but about the first time I put it to the test.I recently met up with my family for a 10 day+ vacation. I met them outside of Yellowstone National Park, spent several days there, and we continued up to Glacier National Park and spent the rest of our vacation there before we parted ways. I brought my small tent for myself, and my family had rented an RV. In total there were 7 of us in Yellowstone; my wife (who does not carry herself but is very supportive of the idea) met us in Glacier. Apart from my wife and a few close friends, no one in my family knows that I carry. My dad would not be opposed to the idea, but I haven't told him because I know it wouldn't have made any difference and so that I could avoid him giving me looks or whispering to me things like, "Do you have your gun here? I think you're printing" etc. My mother, sisters, aunt, and grandmother would all probably have been mortified that I had a gun with me, and would've been extremely uncomfortable with the idea. They all live in major cities, and are quite bought into the concept, "Guns are evil... How can more guns possibly make people SAFER?!?" etc. I remember in high school when my dad was trying to convince my mom why they should get a shotgun for home defense my mother was appalled, and when my father asked, "Well alright, then what are we going to do if someone with a knife or something breaks into our house?" She responded by putting her hands on her hips and saying, "Well then I'm just going to ask them to LEAVE!" (I wish I was kidding, but I think you all get the point...)My conceal carry permit is valid in both the states we visited (Wyoming and Montana) and I checked both state's laws before the trip. I also learned that carrying in the National Parks is legal provided you are legally allowed to in the state in which the National Park is found. However, I also learned that apparently it's NOT legal to discharge your weapon (according to the NPS website) for ANY reason. The NPS website states that people visiting the park should NOT rely on firearms to defend themselves from wildlife, and should use bear spray or other methods instead (I'd like to note that I did buy and carry bear spray with me). I'd like to take this moment to ask this question, as I am unable to find a solid answer... can I legally discharge my weapon in defense against PEOPLE? As this was peak season for the parks I wasn't too concerned about wildlife... but a person with a weapon in another story...Anyways... I carried everywhere throughout the parks, but not in any buildings posted with "No Firearms" signs, as these are federally run buildings and have some serious consequences if you're caught. And it went great!! No one in my family or anyone else we saw at the parks made any sort of comment about printing, that they saw my gun, that I was acting weird, etc. However there were some awkward moments... I've listed them below...1) My family went into the visitor center outside Old Faithful and were perplexed as to why I didn't want to go in with them. I made an excuse about how, "I came here to be outside, not go into buildings..." and that I'd meet them out front in 10 minutes. They shrugged their shoulders and went inside.2) We ate dinner in one of the restaurants one night in Yellowstone. Up to this point I was paying careful attention to any buildings we were walking up to. If they displayed a "No Firearms" sign then I knew they were federally run and I could not enter. As we were walking towards the restaurant I noticed that the door we were walking through did NOT have a sign, but I could see that another door to the building DID. Maybe this building was a duplex of sorts and I could carry in one part but not another? When I entered I could clearly see that we were in a large cafeteria, and concluded that I should not be in there with my firearm. I turned to my one sister and told her that I'd be right back, that I had forgotten my chapstick in my car. When I got back to my car and into the driver's seat, I quickly scanned around me to make sure no one was watching, CAREFULLY removed my Canik TP9SF Elite (with one in the chamber) and locked it in the glove box. I realized while we were eating that there'd be no way for me to re-holster my handgun unless I got to my car well before the others, so I excused myself and went to the bathroom. When I returned I told them that I had a missed call from my wife and that I'd try to call her back from my car where I could get better service outside (my phone was dead at the time but they didn't know that). I quickly left, scanned the area while I was approaching my car, carefully re-holstered my firearm, and listened to the radio while waiting for them.3) During our stay near Glacier, my family rented a minivan so that we could drive the entire Going-to-the-Sun road (there's length restrictions on vehicles near the peak). When it was time to leave our campground and return the rental my dad asked who wanted to help him return the van. As no one was offering, I said that I'd help. The plan was for the van to follow the RV to the airport to return the car. THE AIRPORT. It hit me as we were headed there. DAMNIT, why did I have to offer to help to return the car? I'll admit that I am unsure about laws regarding firearms and airports... but I am fairly certain I CANNOT enter an airport with a concealed firearm and a round in the chamber... On our way there we stopped for people to use the restroom. My dad went inside and my wife exited the RV, among others, yet she looked back at me. I waved her over and she jogged over to me. I quickly explained to her that I had my handgun with me and that we were headed to the AIRPORT. She went back inside the RV and came back out with her backpack. I quickly removed my entire holster and stashed it in her backpack (I may be okay at best with un-holstering my firearm and leaving it alone in a glovebox, but not in a fabric backpack that my wife will be handling). 20 minutes later we had returned the minivan, and we all got in the RV, and I took my wife's backpack to the bathroom in the RV with me and put it back on.4) Many, many times we took group photos. I had picked up a trick from other posts that when going for hugs, to try to aim your arms beneath the other person's so that their arms and hands will invariably be far away from your firearms at the 5 o'clock position, but does anyone have a trick for group photos where people are putting their arms around each other? I tried to position myself so that the person my arm was around was on my right, so that their left arm and hand would be on my left side and away from the firearm, but there was one group photo where I am 99.9% certain that my grandmother placed her hand DIRECTLY on the grip of my handgun. She didn't say anything about it though, and I couldn't see any sort of reaction from her afterwards... maybe she didn't notice somehow? She never said anything to me or anyone else (as far as I know).5) This one isn't awkward, but I found it hilarious that I have to share. After we had departed Glacier and were returning to the town where I had left my car, I was in the passenger seat of the RV while my dad was driving. He started talking about how if and when my wife and I plan to come back to Glacier, that I should really look into conceal carrying in the park if it's legal. We got into a conversation about conceal carrying in general, and he said that he'd never be able to conceal carry. After I asked why, he said that there'd be no way, that the rest of them would freak out if he had a gun, etc. "Why do they even need to know?" He gave me a look and said, "Well of course they would know, they would see it..." I told him that I think he'd be surprised at how many people conceal carry and how he had probably just never noticed because he was never looking for it...So there you have it. Sorry for the novel, I didn't expect this post to run this long. I learned so much from this trip, and it was awesome that it was a great success! I've read on this subreddit that only people who carry seem to be looking out for those that are, and no one else seems to notice or care. After this trip I believe it! If anyone has any suggestions on how I could've handled a situation better, please comment below and let me know.tl;dr I finally put my conceal carry experience to the test and successfully concealed during a family road trip. None of my family members noticed and I feel much more confident about concealing in public.Edit 1: Some Formatting via /r/CCW https://ift.tt/2mCYCVN
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