Lightning55 wrote:

We've been doing this for a long time and I think you just have to use common sense and not expose yourself to potential dangerous situations. I do not stay at rest stops, Walmarts or places that might not be safe. I also always have the ability to protect myself if I need to.

toedtoes wrote:

Gangs are not driving into Yellowstone commiting drive by shootings against each other, so the risk of a stray bullet hitting a camper is negligable.

Someone stopping overnight in a Walmart parking lot in a bad neighborhood is putting themselves at risk - just like 40 years ago - is the risk greater? Possibly. But the risk was big enough then to stop people from doing it.

Like everything else in life, common sense goes a long way.

JIMNLIN wrote:

For us its safer today in campgrounds with park rangers....cell phones...active campgrounds hosts or mgrs or owners and active CSO deputys...gated COE campgrounds vs years past (60s/70s/80s) where there was little to no help from the above.

We stay away from campgrounds close to big cities....close to a college town or campgrounds known for partying.

In the early '70s we were camped (fishing) in one of our favorite COE campgrounds in NE Oklahoma.
Sat afternoon 12-14 pickup loads of the local KKK chapter thugs started drifting in with water tanks in the back of several trucks that were full of ice and beer. By 10 oclock most were drunk ...then their guns came out. Pistols...shotguns...two AKs...calibers and gauges of all sizes. They had the road blocked so no one could leave or get in.

A farmer about a mile away heard all the gun fire...called the sheriff office. Deputies from two counties....several cars full of state troopers swooped in and bagged all of them. One trooper told us who these jerks were and confiscated 26 weapons of all sizes.
My kids were under 10 years as were several other campers. The whole campground was scared of these idiots. I sure was and I carried back then.

I feel much safer today than 50+ years ago while camping.