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Jumping Frog wrote:

chasfm11 wrote:Some parts of MD are more gun friendly than others. Apparently the Western part of MD is as unhappy with the State government and its policies as the rest of us are and there is at least a movement for it to secede from the rest of the State. The Eastern Shore is redneck heaven and most of us would fit right in with the people there.

That may help if you are stopped by the right county deputy sheriff, but it will be no help at all with MD State Police.

But I'm not sure that all of the State troopers buy into the Baltimore mentality. When I drove the Eastern Shore a fair amount (worked out of Wilmington), I never remember seeing a State LEO.

I don't take chances in MD - period. I also drove the I-95 corridor a lot and felt like there was a lot of out of State discrimination going on, though I never had any experiences myself. At the time, I was a PA resident. I had my pick of airports to fly into and that area and I specifically avoided Baltimore.

magillapd wrote:I will be making the TX to PA trip this summer. I was so happy to learn about Ohio. The last time I drove up there, I went thru West Virginia and cut into PA from I-68 and drove thru Sommerset, PA heading up to NE PA area.

This time I'll be going up thru Ohio to I-80 and will carry the entire time! This is a great great thing.

(for hams out there, I'm wondering how much activity I'll find on 146.52 simplex this trip)

Now, if only Maryland would become gun friendly.

Some parts of MD are more gun friendly than others. Apparently the Western part of MD is as unhappy with the State government and its policies as the rest of us are and there is at least a movement for it to secede from the rest of the State. The Eastern Shore is redneck heaven and most of us would fit right in with the people there.

I found no Ham activity at all going up I-81 through MD and into PA. I had programmed local repeaters at various points in addition to the simplex. There is a lot of dead air. We haven't gone through OH because that route to Ephrata is not RV friendly and the PA Turnpike fees for 250+ miles would be $80. Be careful if you use the Turnpike. They just jacked up the rates and they are much worse for anyone without their equivalent of an EZPass.

Jumping Frog wrote:I lived in that part of Maryland for a few years, many years ago. My disgust for the political climate found me gaining employment elsewhere. Absolutely, I would be super careful to follow every traffic law, including the speed limit, since it is only a 15 mile stretch. After all, traveling 85 mph instead of 65 mph saves 13 seconds per mile, or just over 3 minutes for 15 miles. It simply it not worth giving those {inappropriate language} any excuse for a traffic stop.

And if one is stopped anyway, I'd have my spouse video the encounter while the voice recorder in my pocket was running. When asked, I would state that I do not consent to a search but will comply with lawful orders.

That is the best that I can do. Other than that, we are at the mercy of roadside tyranny.

It is my understanding that any sort of recording of LE and politicians could be considered illegal in MD. The case with bike rider who used a helmut cam to record a traffic stop and then posted it on the internet was thrown out by a judge but it may be another case of not avoiding the ride if the recording is detected. There are a couple of links like this one
http://reason.com/blog/2010/05/29/maryl ... ts-illegal

There is no way that I would fly along I-81 in MD at much more than 70 (zoned 65mph) in trying to stay with the traffic. I generally pick a truck and stay a safe following distance behind it. I've hoped that would be sufficient to make the short drive without incident because of my Texas plates.

It is truly a shame when one can drive nearly 1,500 miles with a firearm close by and then possibly be subjected to problems in just 15 miles because of it. I really had less concern going through Western MD because they just don't think like the Baltimore bureaucrats. Unfortunately, the State Police who serve it are not necessarily native to that area.

We often travel from TX to PA and there is no good way to get there without going through MD. During last year's trip, we went through KY and ended up in Western MD for more than 3 hours but typically we take I-81 and there is only about a 15 mile stretch that falls within the MD borders. I take the time to separate and lock everything according to FOPA, usually at the Flying J truck stop right at the VA border on the way up. I have to make a special effort in PA to pull off on the way down to secure our guns and ammo.

I recognize that this article is based on experiences on I-95 and that in most cases, the firearm issue was not the given reason for the stop. Considering that TCIC should not be available to a MD officer, there should be no way for them to know about my CHL. Still, the idea of being targeted because of our TX plates seems real. I'm super cautious about not violating any traffic regulations while in MD but like most other interstates, the actual speeds are no where near the posted limits and I'm not anxious to have a speed differential either. There always seems to be a high number of MD officers working that small stretch of road. WVA and PA, by comparison, have very limited enforcement activity that we've seen.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... -for-traf/
By Kelly Riddell - The Washington Times - Tuesday, December 30, 2014

It would be very tempting to simply breeze on through since the total time in MD is less than 20 minutes. It could be a very costly mistake to make, based on the article. I see zero chance that I wouldn't be asked about guns if I was stopped. My hope would be that the MD officer understood FOPA as well as I do.