RQ experience/recommendatons for DC trip

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psyfly

New member
I have to attend a conference at Walter Reed in the DC area in June. Would appreciate comments from experienced travelers to the area.

Firearm-related, I am soliciting advice concerning storage, transportation, and
general handling of my EDC while enroute and staying at the hotel.

I will not be planning to attend the conference armed :D.

I plan to travel from Texas to Alexandria Va via Amtrak.

I assume I will desire to stay in lodging in Va if I plan to have a firearm in my room.

Any other suggestions much appreciated including travel in, around, or through DC, Md, and Va.

Thanks,

Will
 
My daughter lived in DC for a while, and liked everything about it except the firearm laws. DC considers almost anything firearm related to be contraband without their license, and their license is very difficult to acquire.

I was thinking that I heard that Amtrack regulations were no worse than airlines, but that is a vague recollection from reading, not personal experience.

Virginia will be your only option for having a firearm in your room. Maryland is every bit as bad as DC. Metro service from Alexandria into DC is easy, fast, and reliable, though. We used the Metro a lot when visiting our daughter and it was easy to navigate. There is a app called iTrans DC that makes it very simple.

If you are going to do any sight-seeing, they also have bicycle rentals. You pay one fee for the day as long as you don't keep a bike for longer than, IIRC, 30 minutes. Rental stations are all over town, so you bike to what you want to see, check your bike in, then use your code to get another bike and zip on to your next destination.
 
I spent some time in Md. this past fall / winter flying in to BWI. My $.02 for what it is worth.

Fly into Dulles (Virginia) (IAD) take a carrier like Southwest that posts the rules for transport on their web site (under special luggage). From Dulles, you can stay in either Reston or Arlington and it is a short hop over to the forbidden land from Eden. If in Arligton, you can use Public transport to get where you need to go.

Edit to add: Check rules on pocket knifes. At the "monuments" you will get searched for weapons. They: USDoI (Interior) considers a Leatherman a weapon. BTDT....and beat them at their game.
 
Gadsby Tavern in Alexandria. Washington ate & slept there. Make reservations.
Carlisle House near Gadsby Tavern is where General Edward Braddock planned his expedition to capture Fort Duquense (Pittsburg). Braddock and many men of his command were wiped out.
If you have a chance to see Mt. Vernon, do so. You'll need a car.
Also see the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax. It's about 30 minutes drive.

Depending on the hotel you stay at, some have room safes and others have safety deposit boxes. Last time I went to Alexandria I went to Travel Lodge (it was cheap), but I had no pew-pew-pew with me.
 
I live in Northern VA.

I'm not sure of the rules for public travel and transport of guns.

But...

The NRA range is in Fairfax and Blue Ridge Arsenal is in Chantilly. Just a hint ;)

If you are traveling anywhere around the perimeter (I-495) or I-95 or I-66 via car, just be wary of traffic between 6am-10am and 330pm-7pm. Traffic here can be brutal.

I don't carry too often, but open carry in VA is allowed as is concealed. Not sure of the rules if you're from Texas. Just understand that Northern VA is "left" leaning (Alexandria is no exception) and you will be one of the very very very few who will be open carrying.

If you like southwestern food and amazing margaritas, you need to go to Taqueria Poblano in Alexandria.

That's all I've got for now
 
Been 2 or 3 years since my last amtrac ride and we weren't going anywhere near DC,. As I recall we had to contact then 1 or 2 days before boarding about transporting guns. The guns had to be locked in hard cases in checked baggage and were not allowed in carry ons. Ammunition had to be in factory boxes and I think in a locked box as well. Pistols and ammunition in there locked boxes could be in the suitcases but long arms had to be transported in there own cases. We were required to be there early to fill out a form for transport, think it was 2 or 3 pages long but I can't recall questions asked on it right now.
Your best bet would be to contact them well ahead of time and find out what their current regulations are, if you get it wrong you could lose your gun and end up in jail. Dot your I's and cross your T's, if this gets mess up you may end up a convicted felon and lose your gun rights.
 
Check and see if Virginia and Maryland have a recipriocity agreement with Texas. They do not with Alabama. Might just be easier to leave it at home. I had to on a recent drive to North Carolina and Virginia. I was OK in Georgia and Tennessee then it was the end of the line.

Here I am with years of U.S. Army training and actual combat experience and can not conceal carry in over 3/4's of this Nations States. :(
 
One of my daughters served as an intern in D.C. about five years ago. At that time, it was a misdemeanor to possess pepper/CS spray and a felony to give some to anyone under 21. So, my thought of mailing her some pepper spray was out the door (didn't want to take it on the plane). You should double check this if you plan on carrying some sort of spray in lieu of a firearms in D.C.
 
For all intents and purposes, self-defense is illegal in DC. I grew up there, and I remember how joggers and walkers would carry sticks, because that was pretty much the only defensive tool that was legal to carry.

I had a friend who was a bartender in Georgetown on the weekends, and after work he would walk to an underground parking lot at 4 AM with at least 500 dollars cash in his pocket. So he carried one of those extendable batons with him in case he was mugged. He figured it was less likely to get him in trouble than a taser or pepper spray.

One night he was headed to his car and he heard two guys walking towards him rapidly. So he slipped out his baton just in case, but he didn't extend it yet, it was just in his hand. It turned out the two guys were cops, and they saw the baton as he was slipping it back into his pocket. They asked him why he was carrying the baton and he told them it was in case someone tried to jump him on his way to his car after work. The cops told him they could have arrested him right there, but instead they just confiscated the baton "for his own good". They basically told him that having a weapon made him less safe and they were doing him a favor by taking it away.

Psyfly, I highly recommend you leave everything but a small, harmless-looking folding knife in your VA hotel before you go into DC. Just because the firearm laws have loosened a little bit in the last few decades, I highly doubt the anti-gun and anti-self-defense sentiments of local law enforcement have changed at all.
 
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