What is an un loaded Speargun?

[Quetzal]

Check out the response I got to my question. Response in Blue, Question in RED.

This is also posted at Dry Tortugas National Park Warning under Miami and the Keys http://www.spearboard.com/forum/showthread.php?p=219129#post219129 original poster Sheri.
But I thought everyone who has or will dive in Florida would be interested.

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Subject: FW:SPEARING GEAR POSSESSION
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 13:51:40 -0400
From: "Marine" <marine@MyFWC.com> Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
To: cahendrick@yahoo.com
CC: "Marine" <marine@MyFWC.com>


Good Afternoon Mr. Hendrick,

Thank you for your e-mail to the Division of Marine Fisheries
Management. Because the Dry Tortugas National Park is managed by the
National Park Service, their recreational fishing regulations are those
of the state of Florida except where modified by specific park
regulations. To view park regulations, please visit
http://www.nps.gov/drto/parkregs/drtopr.pdf. To inquire about their
spear possession regulations, please contact them at
http://www.nps.gov/drto/pphtml/contact.html.

Florida's state regulations on spearing is within the Florida
Administrative Code (FAC) Chapter 68B-20 stated as such:
(1) Spearing is lawful in all salt waters and salt tributaries located
in the State of Florida except:
...
(e) In or on any body of water under the jurisdiction of the Division
of
Recreation and Parks of the Department of
Environmental Protection. Possession of spearing equipment in or on any
body of water under the jurisdiction of the Division of
Recreation and Parks is prohibited except when such equipment is not
loaded and is properly stored upon watercraft passing
nonstop through such marine waters.

In this language, the gear mentioned must be properly stored in such a
manner that it would not be readily available to use for the harvest of
marine species. Should a FWC Law Enforcement Officer have any reason to
believe that the gear has been used within a prohibited area,
complications may arise. A violation may be determined at the
officer's
discretion if the officer can not quickly and easily determine that the
gear has not been used unlawfully. As this is a Law Enforcement issue,
I
would advise that you contact the nearest FWC DLE office for further
clarification. The contact information for the FWC DLE is available at
http://myfwc.com/law/FWC-DLE_map2.JPG.

I hope that this information assists to clarify the matter for you.
Should you need further clarification, please feel free to contact us.

Thank you,
S. Gail Gainey
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Division of Marine Fisheries Management
(850) 488-6058Visit us at MyFWC.com


-----Original Message-----
From: email.fwc
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 11:36 AM
To: Marine
Subject: FW: E-Mail From FWC Web Site



-----Original Message-----
From: cahendrick@yahoo.com [mailto:cahendrick@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 6:46 PM
To: email.fwc
Subject: E-Mail From FWC Web Site

MessageType: Problem
Subject: Saltwater Fisheries
SubjectOther: question
url: http://askit.myfwc.com/cgi-bin/myfwc.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php
Comments: What are the rules regarding possesion of spearguns in the
Dry
Tortugas Park. What is the definition of an unloaded speargun.
Username: allen hendrick
UserEmail: cahendrick@yahoo.com
UserEmail2: cahendrick@yahoo.com
Address1: white horse rd ste 122
Address2:
Address3:
City: greenville
State: sc
Zip: 29611
county: greenville
UserTel: 86424611
UserFAX: 86424648

[Quetzal]

HERE IS MY FOLLOW UP QUESTION. IN RED

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 16:42:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: "allen hendrick" <cahendrick@yahoo.com> View Contact Details Add Mobile Alert
Subject: Re: FW:SPEARING GEAR POSSESSION
To: "Marine" <marine@MyFWC.com>


Thank you for your response but am still not clear please explain what this means.
"In this language, the gear mentioned must be properly stored in such a
manner that it would not be readily available to use for the harvest of
marine species."

Thank You
Allen Hendrick

Check out the response I got to my question. Response in Blue, Question in RED.



Subject: FW:SPEARING GEAR POSSESSION
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 13:51:40 -0400
From: "Marine" <marine@MyFWC.com> Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
To: cahendrick@yahoo.com
CC: "Marine" <marine@MyFWC.com>


Good Afternoon Mr. Hendrick,

Thank you for your e-mail to the Division of Marine Fisheries
Management. Because the Dry Tortugas National Park is managed by the
National Park Service, their recreational fishing regulations are those
of the state of Florida except where modified by specific park
regulations. To view park regulations, please visit
http://www.nps.gov/drto/parkregs/drtopr.pdf. To inquire about their
spear possession regulations, please contact them at
http://www.nps.gov/drto/pphtml/contact.html.

Florida's state regulations on spearing is within the Florida
Administrative Code (FAC) Chapter 68B-20 stated as such:
(1) Spearing is lawful in all salt waters and salt tributaries located
in the State of Florida except:
...
(e) In or on any body of water under the jurisdiction of the Division
of
Recreation and Parks of the Department of
Environmental Protection. Possession of spearing equipment in or on any
body of water under the jurisdiction of the Division of
Recreation and Parks is prohibited except when such equipment is not
loaded and is properly stored upon watercraft passing
nonstop through such marine waters.

In this language, the gear mentioned must be properly stored in such a
manner that it would not be readily available to use for the harvest of
marine species. Should a FWC Law Enforcement Officer have any reason to
believe that the gear has been used within a prohibited area,
complications may arise. A violation may be determined at the
officer's
discretion if the officer can not quickly and easily determine that the
gear has not been used unlawfully. As this is a Law Enforcement issue,
I
would advise that you contact the nearest FWC DLE office for further
clarification. The contact information for the FWC DLE is available at
http://myfwc.com/law/FWC-DLE_map2.JPG.

I hope that this information assists to clarify the matter for you.
Should you need further clarification, please feel free to contact us.

Thank you,
S. Gail Gainey
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Division of Marine Fisheries Management
(850) 488-6058Visit us at MyFWC.com


-----Original Message-----
From: email.fwc
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 11:36 AM
To: Marine
Subject: FW: E-Mail From FWC Web Site



-----Original Message-----
From: cahendrick@yahoo.com [mailto:cahendrick@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 6:46 PM
To: email.fwc
Subject: E-Mail From FWC Web Site

MessageType: Problem
Subject: Saltwater Fisheries
SubjectOther: question
url: http://askit.myfwc.com/cgi-bin/myfwc.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php
Comments: What are the rules regarding possesion of spearguns in the
Dry
Tortugas Park. What is the definition of an unloaded speargun.
Username: allen hendrick
UserEmail: cahendrick@yahoo.com
UserEmail2: cahendrick@yahoo.com
Address1: white horse rd ste 122
Address2:
Address3:
City: greenville
State: sc
Zip: 29611
county: greenville
UserTel: 864246
UserFAX: 86424648

[Quetzal]

AND HIS RESPONSE IN BLUE.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: FW:SPEARING GEAR POSSESSION
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2005 10:57:53 -0400
From: "Marine" <marine@MyFWC.com> Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
To: "allen hendrick" <cahendrick@yahoo.com>
CC: "Marine" <marine@MyFWC.com>


Good Morning Mr. Hendrick,

I have forwarded your response to our Division of Law Enforcement for
their input and clarification. The following is provided by Lt. Robert
Beaton:

There is quite a bit of Officer discretion on this matter. If the
spear
shaft is in the gun and the gun has bands attached and is above deck or
on the deck then it is generally considered not to be properly stowed.
Wholly assembled below deck (and dry) would commonly be considered to
be
properly stowed. If the subject has a small open vessel then I would
suggest that he place the spear shafts in one location, bands in
another, and gun in a third. From this Officer's point of view, any
Officer would have a hard time saying this is readily accessible.

I hope that this information further clarifies this matter for you. If
further questions arise you may contact Captain Laurie Luher in
Marathon
at (305) 289-2320 as she oversees the National Marine Sanctuary Patrol
and handles situations such as this frequently.

Thank you,
S. Gail Gainey
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Division of Marine Fisheries Management
(850) 488-6058
Visit us at MyFWC.com

[PatMyGreen]

Sounds fair enough to me. What hppens when they find a wet gun below deck with the bands off and shaft removed? Clearly the gun has been used but is properly stored. Just don't piss off the officer doing the stop and hopefully his/her "discretion" will be reasonable.

[Stealthdiver]

You know us guys that didn't go to college should be in charge of rules, how hard is it. Just pick something for all waterways & spearguns, such as, shaft in is loaded, shaft out is not, bands on is loaded , bands off is not. People make to much of piss ant things....f

[f94gator]

Call me crazy, but my definition of an unloaded gun is one that, when I pull the trigger, doesn't do anything.
Seems like a pretty simple definition to me...

[richhermes]

Call me crazy, but my definition of an unloaded gun is one that, when I pull the trigger, doesn't do anything.
Seems like a pretty simple definition to me...

OK, you're crazy. If you had the safety engaged and pulled the trigger, nothing would happen, yet you still could have the gun loaded. (That is if you still have the safety on your gun!)

[bgbill]

Just don't piss off the officer doing the stop and hopefully his/her "discretion" will be reasonable.

Well that does not always work, Sheri was doing what she thought was the correct thing to do, and her guns were impounded, and they were given a ticket.

Probably the best thing to do would be, to take the shaft out, and put the gun in a gun bag.

[f94gator]

OK, you're crazy. If you had the safety engaged and pulled the trigger, nothing would happen, yet you still could have the gun loaded. (That is if you still have the safety on your gun!)

Ah, but then you'd be attempting to pull the trigger, but couldn't because the safety kept it from moving. I win on a technicality.