Unless I missed something I have a couple of questions.
Are you ready to use it and shoot someone? Brandishing a weapon without intending to shoot could very well get the gun taken away and used on you.
Do you already own a handgun ? If not, they are very difficult to hit what you are aiming at without practice.
As was mentioned, research every state, county, town you intend to pass through for their laws.
I second this advice. OP - you really need to do some research on this and the DIS is probably not a good resource for information on unique gun laws between different states. It's complicated.
I also agree w/the question above re: "are you ready to use it and shoot someone?" The decision on whether or not to own a firearm is a very serious matter. You need to research and understand all of the gun laws for each state and, in some cases, county and/or municipality that you will be travelling in with that firearm. Ignorance of the law will not get you out of a legal bind. For example, you can't say "Sorry officer, I didn't know."
For example, in the state of Arizona, where I live, there an entire book which you can purchase that just covers all of the federal & state gun laws that apply to Arizona.
Different states have different laws around stuff like:
- who can get a concealed carry permit
- whether or not they will honor a concealed carry permit from another state
- what the definition of concealed carry is
- whether or not "open carry" is permitted and what their definition of "open carry" is
- how you are required to store the gun in your vehicle
- what types of gun are permitted for average citizens to own
- whether or not you are required to register the gun in that state
- what types of bullets are permitted
- how many bullets the gun is allowed to hold at 1 time
- where you are allowed to store bullets in your vehicle
- how much ammunition you can transport in your vehicle
- how many guns you can transport in your vehicle
- in what situations you are allowed to use the gun
- not every state recognizes the concept of "castle doctrine." This is important to research.
- what the definition of "self defense" is
etc., etc.
At the very beginning, you should do some reading. And you should seriously consider taking an NRA class. They have different ones based on the type of gun (shot guns, rifles, hand guns). Often, 6 out of the 8 hours of an average NRA class is in a classroom in a lecture format and it is all about safety, safety, safety, and laws, laws, laws.