Plausible reason needed for a character to break the law

When the story starts, this character is heading up into the wilderness for a few days with his rifles and camping gear. He is appropriately licensed to own the firearms and has acquired a hunting permit for the region to enable him to carry and use a rifle.

The "hunting" trip is more an excuse to get out and have a play with his rifles than a serious attempt at getting game (hey, if a goat or deer is stupid enough to blunder nearby, then it's fair game) but he's mainly just having fun lugging his rifles out into the bush for a few days and banging off a few rounds.

However, for reasons of plot convenience, I want him to have a 9mm semiauto pistol with him.

In the setting where he lives, you can only use a pistol on approved ranges and must be a member of an appropriate club. He has the appropriate membership and access to said ranges - which is why he has access to a pistol.

If he got caught with the pistol (it's field-stripped and the pieces are well-and-truly hidden inside his pack while travelling) outside of the club, he would lose his licence and face criminal prosecution - though the likelihood of this happening is pretty slim as he's not likely to have his gear searched.

However, I'm at a loss as to why he would take his pistol when he has access to a proper shooting club where he can shoot it to his heart's content without any legal repercussions.

"For shits 'n' giggles" is not likely to be a solid enough reason and he really only has it because it's going to be handy later in the plot (of which he has no foreknowledge), so I'm looking for a reason why someone would plausibly take the risks involved and thus "conveniently happen to have it" when shit goes down.

And without it looking like too much of a "plot convenience" (which it totally is, but that's no reason for it to look like it).

No, there are no dangerous wild animals against which he might choose to arm himself.

Any ideas?

Perhaps the pistol was a gift from a friend or loved one who is now dead, so he just keeps it with him always, screw the rules?

Get rid of "There are no dangerous animals..." Put him in bear country. The pistol becomes a valid back-up weapon. Not the best, but valid.

edited 7th Dec '14 9:58:20 AM by Madrugada

He doesn't keep it with him always, he's just decided, for whatever reason, to carry it up into the bush on this occasion (and possibly some previous occasions).

Oh, he's going to wind up in "Bear Country" - and worse - very early in the story, but he doesn't know that beforehand and he doesn't start off there, so when he sets out he doesn't have that excuse.

I'm wondering if "getting away from the restrictions of the club" would work as a "reason".

He can take his rifles or pistol down to a conveniently located, well-appointed club range any time he likes but for the purposes of this story he's lugging two rifles and smuggling a pistol two days' hike up into the mountains with the view to having "a bit of fun".

Perhaps he finds the club "too competition-focussed" and has too many restrictions on equipment (as in IPSC-compliant holstering) and just wants to have a relaxing "play", do a bit of plinking, away from all that?

Would people buy that reason?

It could be he's done this before (after experience has shown him that on the rare occasions he's encountered park wardens they never poked into the contents of his pack) without any negative consequences.

I'm not sure how strict the gun laws are in America (I was under the impression they're ridiculously lax), but the law "no pistols outside licensed ranges" seems like the kind of a thing a sufficiently confident gun enthusiast might just quietly ignore. Like, they know how to handle firearms safely, so they figure it won't hurt to bring their pistol along. After all, what's the worst that could happen?

Why bring a weapon somewhere it doesn't belong, when you have access to areas you can use it without repercussions?

• More Dakka. Having it and not needing it, is better than needing it and not having it.
• His 9mm holds specialized ammunition that he acquired, or made himself, that is not allowed at the firing range.
• The 9mm can't be used outside it's intended area, because it can't be traced back to him. He holds a special, or extremely typical, weapon that, when used during a crime, can be nearly impossible to trace or find the owner to.
• The gun is haunted, and follows him everywhere.
• He discovers he has a split personality, who brings the gun with him without his knowledge.

• He accidentally brought it with him, grabbing his shooting range bag instead of his camping bag. The mistake that saved his life later in the story.

edited 7th Dec '14 2:45:56 PM by Aespai

The character isn't in America and in his location, the laws are pretty restrictive.

As you say, though, it's not like he's going to be charging around the place acting irresponsibly with it and he's not trucking around with a loaded pistol in a concealed holster - in transit it's field-stripped and the 5 pieces (including two magazines) are dispersed through his gear in his packs where they're not likely to be found - so he's probably likely to quietly ignore that law "in private".

Those suggestions gave me a few grins. I think the one that works best in the story is having some hand-loads that he wants to try that aren't permitted at the range.

I'm thinking that if I somehow make it clear that this is not the first time he's smuggled one of his pistols up on a weekend's excursion, it should come across as less of a plot convenience than "I just happened to have it today".

Honestly, I think "because he felt like it" would actually probably be a good enough reason. He's likely not particularly concerned about getting caught with it - the odds would probably be pretty low of it happening - and he might want to do some shooting with it while he's out in the woods.

I've come to the conclusion that he regularly smuggles at least one of his pistols up on his "hunting" trips (more like "go camping, set up some targets and have fun" trips, but he has to put down "hunting" on the application for a permit to carry his rifles into the bush) having learned that he seldom encounters Park Wardens and on the rare occasions he has, they've been concerned about nothing more than whether or not he has a permit for his rifles - especially when he's carrying a .22LR rifle, for which you need a special permit.

So he gets his hunting permit and the special permit to carry a twenty-two for the period and place he will be "hunting" in, field strips his pistol(s) and scatters the bits, magazines and ammo boxes throughout his pack, day bag and such, packs some targets and heads off out to his favourite secluded camping spot for some R&R and casual target practice.

He sees nothing wrong with it as he's following all the safety rules when handling/firing, not threatening anyone with any of his firearms and not harming anybody; he's deemed fit and safe to use a rifle "anywhere" and fit and safe to own a pistol, so he sees no real harm in it.

Then a couple of days later he heads back home with the pistol(s) hidden once more (secure in the knowledge that he's got his rifles and permits to distract any Park Warden and explain any sounds of shooting that may have been overheard), gets back home, reassembles the pistol(s) and sticks it/them in the safe and no-one's any the wiser.

That is, until this particular "hunting" trip...

Lots of people break laws that they feel are victimless and face criminal prosecution "because they felt like it". So that sounds like a perfectly valid explanation.

Cheers. It seems that "for shits 'n' giggles" is more plausible than I first thought. "What's the harm?" and "Because I felt like it." would fit his personality, too.