Why would you talk to a cop to begin with? They are more often than not, the source of incorrect information.
You aren't getting it Mike.
The purpose of talking to a cop is not to find out what the law is, but to find out what cops think.
Arrests are made by cops, and what they think matters. What they think doesn't change the law, but it changes the risk. My point was that on a practical level, if you are a law abiding citizen, you put your guns in the trunk, you print out a match flyer, and you drive to HSC for a USPSA match, your risk is very very low.
Are you breaking the law? Probably simply because its unlikely that your state meets the requirements of the competition exclusion.
Mass Residents apply this logic in the inverse. I am constantly explaining to people that they dont' have to lock their guns for transport.
Remember, the only guns that need to be locked during transport inside your car are large capacity long guns. So per MGL, you can carry an unloaded run of the mill shotgun in the passenger seat of your car.
People don't do that. Because most cops INCORRECTLY think that guns need to be in a locked case.
Many MA folks put trigger locks on their guns for transport. This is a pointless excercise from a legal perspective because the law does not say aything about using locks for transport. But most cops believe they do. So people do it as extra insurance.
Don