[Tactician]

This caught my eye today. Its a rather sad commentary of what has happened. Perhaps its for the best.

http://www.Rangemaster.com/
Go to page 5 of the June 2006 Newsletter.

or read the cut and paste article here:

New Information Resource

In the past, we have referred clients to “Packing.org” for information on state laws pertaining to handgun carry permits, state laws, reciprocity, and so forth for all fifty states. This site is no longer being updated regularly. We now recommend www.Handgunlaw.us as the primary source for this type of information. The state law for every state can be found there, along with history of carry permits in the U.S. and other useful information. If you plan to visit another state, for instance, a quick visit to this website should be on your to-do list.

 

[Colin]

Is Packing.org run privately or by a group? I can imagine that it is quite a bit of work to stay up on the various laws of all the states, cities and levels of government.

 

[LenS]

Ever since I found packing.org, I have found errors of substance there. I also see errors on handgunlaw.us as well.

All these attempts at consolidating this information are admirable, but ONLY trust your safety and freedom on the actual laws of each state/locality. Best to use these sites as "preliminary" info and then go to the referenced state-run sites to get actual text.

 

[Tactician]

To answer the question

Is Packing.org run privately or by a group? I can imagine that it is quite a bit of work to stay up on the various laws of all the states, cities and levels of government.

The site is wholly owned and operated by Mark Soloman. He employed volunteer administrators/moderators to update changes in the various state pages.

A lot of problems that could be better addressed by Gary Slider.

Have anything to share, Gary?

 

[QKShooter]

packing.org

packing.org is now OFF of my forum member help list. :yup:

Not too much worse than possibly outdated carry Law info. :ahhhhh:

 

[MSGTTBAR]

How about the NRA/ILA site?

 

[Gary Slider]

Please Point Out Out Dated Info!

Please help and point out any inaccuracies or errors of substance at Handgunlaw.us.
We want to make it as accurate as possible and I can’t know everything about every law in every state. I also agree that you should check out the info yourself. Another reason we put “You are responsible for validating your own information” right on our front page. Trust no one on the net. You have no idea who they are. That is why we give you links to the different states laws and web sites that explain their CCW laws. Again if you know of errors on Handgunlaw.us
You can contact me by clicking on “Contact Us” at the bottom of the main page at Handgunlaw.us.

The only thing I will say about Packing.org pages at this time is what I know as fact. 90%+ of the pages at Packing.org are not being updated at this time and have not been updated for the last 8 months. I know this as I was the person who did the vast majority of work keeping Packing.org up to date.

I left Packing.org because of the foul language, Racist posts, Attacks on Posters and all the LEO Bashing. I didn’t want to be associated as an Admin with a board that allowed that in the chat area. Steve Aikens saw what was happening to the Data Base at Packing.org after I left and ask me in February to join him in developing a new Website that would supply CCW info to the Public. Handgunlaw.us was born and is paid for by the owners and receives no monetary assistance for ads etc. We do have recommended reading on the site and give links to those on Amazon and other places but do that as a service to the readers.

People ask why we do this. Steve and I are both NRA Instructors and see a huge need for up to date info of this nature. Mike Gawley of Hawaii started with a one page web site that grew and grew till Mark took it over and made a Data Base. We want to be help others find the up to date information they need to keep from breaking a law they have no idea about.

Just the other day I posted on a board about what states honor a certain states permit. The permit holders had no idea their permit was valid in 13 other states. That is why we do it.

 

[KC135]

Looks good to me Gary.

Thanks, GLV

 

[P95Carry]

Gary - your input is invaluable - I hope more people will see what you are doing and it can become the definitive site.

I thank you very much for your great contribution. If over time you guys need some cash input I daresay the pot could be handed round to quite a wide audience.

 

[CopperKnight]

There are many of us that are grateful for the free (to the user) sites such as your hangunlaw and this combatcarry site. Thanks. It is much appreciated.

 

[Tom357]

I'm sorry to read this about packing.org. It has been a valuable source for quite awhile. The Virginia info, at least, has remained fairly current, at least vs the VSP CC site, even though the state administrator doesn't update it very often (our laws haven't been changing, much, either in content or reciprocity). Thanks for being so generous to put such effort into pulling all that information together. I'm sure many of us are grateful for your time and energy.

 

[kansas_shooter]

I 2nd what P95 & CopperKnight said.

 

[Bumper]

Putting up a website such as packing.org or handgunlaw.us is an enormous task. Keeping them up to date is even bigger. I appreciate that packing.org was there when it was and I mourn it's recent demise. There is usually someone that will step up to the plate because they care about their fellow permitholders and others in our fight to defend, expand and support concealed carry in the U.S. It sounds like Handgunlaw.us has stepped up to that plate to fill the void and we hope all of our members support their efforts.

Tim Schmidt at Concealed Carry Magazine and the US Concealed Carry Association is another that plays an important part in supporting permitholders and concealed carry, in general. They, too, deserve your support.

CombatCarry.com, is also a part of these efforts and, hopefully, we will remain so for a long time to come. I believe Steve, Gary and Tim feel the same way as I do about providing the best information we possibly can regarding different aspects of concealed carry. We're all in this together even though we focus on our own efforts.

I wish them all well in their efforts. :congrats:

 

[Baby Hulk]

I've tried unsuccessfully for months to register with the site and even have sent e-mails to mr. Solomon without success. I've seen lately where members themselves are starting to question the 'quality' of the site and that's not good. :frown:

I don't mean to 'flame' the website or personally 'blast' Mr. solomon, it's still a good sight - I just thought that I'd share my personal experience with it. I just don't visit as often and get frustrated since I can't respond or post to a thread.

I realize that it takes many hours of work and research to keep an excellent sight like THIS going. :congrats:

 

[enigmaone]

I myself am quite happy here thank you!

 

[Jetboy]

I agree with the above posters, and now I am here! Thank you for the site. And to any lurkers that want to whine or bicker about repeat posts or rating systems, please go over to packing.org... Thank you

 

[Colin]

I admire anyone that takes on a project such as this, good luck.

 

[Gary Slider]

Over Time It Became Easier

I have a file folder for each state and other places on my computer. Many of those folders contain 50 or more items from Outine maps to word docs and cut and paste emails from people just like everyone here. I have been doing this for 9+ years. First by myself and then finding Mike Gawley and his CCW page, to packing.org and now Handgunlaw.us.

In the beginning when there was not a lot of presence for CCW info from the different states on the web it was really tough. The states are doing a much better job and 9-11 played a big part in that. They want to use the web now and not written letters and especially not people dropping in to see them. They want to seperate as much as they can for security reasons.

So info is much easier to obtain and that made it much easier. The biggest problem I have if you want to call it a problem is that the more info you supply the more people want. It is natural to want to know more and many times the answers are really tough to get.

Some AG's will not answer emails or even written letters and if they do they just say tlhey can not answer those types of questions for the general public. I have to say that more and more Government officials are becoming more responsive to questions and giving answers. I have seen a great improvement over the years in that catagory. There are still a few that want to stay in the background.

I am glad you like Handgunlaw.us and do give all the input you can. No person can know it all and the main purpose of Handgunlaw.us is to supply the most up to date correct information on CCW for every state. The more that help the better the information will be.

 

[amlevin]

I too am a recent (like today) escapee from PDO. Unfortunately it has some operational problems with its server being offline for several days at a time. Couple this with the deteriorating language and off topic discussions, I look forward to participating with this group.

When it comes to carrying a concealed weapon, and attempting to comply with the law(s), there is nothing more dangerous than bad information, including out of date info. Today, it appears that PDO has to much of both. Another failing is the "User Moderation". Too much bandwidth is wasted with the voting, griping about your scores, and then the runaway rants about things that have nothing to do with carrying a weapon.

Here is to the future with this site.

 

[Frogman]

Gary thanks for all your efforts on these sites.