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OK got a question to Police Officers on this site

17K views 63 replies 33 participants last post by  Ken S Latrans 
#1 ·
When you pull someone over for Traffic related things like speeding does it come up if someone has a concealed permit.
And no I don't get myself pulled over a lot I drive for a living so I try to be good.
But it has happend in a smal town 5 miles over but he asked me about my permit and if I had a gun in the car.
Which at that time I didn't.
Nobody ever asked that before.
Is that something that pops up sorry if the question seems stupid wasjust curious:smile5:
 
#36 ·
Every state that you travel in may be different than your home state. Know the laws for carrying in the state you are traveling in. Don't take legal advice from "strangers" on the internet! In North Carolina you are required to tell the officer when he comes up to your car. My procedure would be. Open window slightly before he approaches your vehicle, place both hands on the steering wheel and don't move them until instructed to do so, first words from you: "Officer I have a permit for a concealed handgun and am armed. The handgun is on my right side in an iwb holster; my license and registration is in my wallet in my left back pocket; how would you like me to proceed?" Don't move your hands unless the officer tells you to! Follow the officer's instructions but don't give up any of your rights; the officer would not give up any of their rights to make your life easier...
 
#37 ·
In the Rocky Mtn. West open and concealed carry are Traditions. In my state we have Constitutional Carry. Our law prohibits an LEO from asking you if you are armed during routine traffic stops. We are not required to inform the LEO during routine traffic stops. These are Western customs dating to the Frontier era. For us to accept a Nationally approved gun etiquette would be very unpopular. :38:
 
#39 ·
There it is. While I know why I moved back east....I still wonder wtf I am doing still living here and not back there. Being a civilian is hard on your blood pressure here in the slave states.
 
#38 · (Edited)
If you tell me you are armed, I am going to proceed with whatever my business with you is based on that knowledge. Your permit is not a guarantee that you are a law-abiding citizen, all it tells me is that you complied with the governing body's requirements to grant you that permit, AT THE TIME IT WAS GIVEN.

Granted, I am going to treat you with the dignity and respect a law-abiding citizen deserves unless your actions give me reason to suspect otherwise. If your actions are suspect...then the fact that you are carrying is going to factor into how I proceed...and not in a good way...your suspicious actions combined with the fact that you are armed have turned you into a potential threat...not my drinking buddy. Keep that in mind when you are pulled over...that permit is not a license to be an a-hole or a get-out-of-jail free card.

FYI I hold people who flash their CCW permits to me like they are some kind of badge in the same regard as I do those who flash courtesy cards, relative badges or name-dropping. I really don't care who you know, who you think you know or what credentials you have or what credentials you used to have...I am dealing with you and only you here and now...thus your actions here and now are all that are relevant. If you're a good guy, that will be plenty obvious and we won't have any problems...if you aren't, we both might have a bad day. So relax, be yourself, don't be overly nervous and most importantly, don't act like an entitled dipstick. I have no problem with armed people...in fact I encourage it...I do have a problem with armed dipsticks.

Now here's the shocker ya'll are not going to like. I don't have a CCW permit, though I can easily get one if I wanted one. Don't want one, will never submit to any requirement to have one. Free men don't need to register with the government to get their permission to carry a firearm...and these permit laws for ownership or carry of any kind are offensive to me and I will not compromise my freedom to submit to them. When I was on the job I didn't need a permit to carry...wtf should I need one now? WTF should anyone? So when I am pulled over I don't tell anyone anything...I stick to the business at hand and hope to God that the officer is one of the good guys...and not one of the occasional dipsticks who need their arrogant little bully butts kicked that are becoming more common that I would like to admit.

Sorry for the bluntness...I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way. :aureola:
 
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#41 ·
In some forums being nice and sweet and noncontroversial is desired over straight talk. Glad this isn't one of them. Thank you for the kind words.
 
#43 ·
I live in a Constitutional Carry State. Any citizens over 21 years of age with no criminal history may carry concealed or open no "May I Sir", and pay for privileges of the 2nd Amendment. You are not required to notify police during a routine traffic stop nor-can they asked if you are armed?
In states where the LEO controls your rights, they will more often unload your weapon hold it run a theft check and perform other forms intimidation. In Constitutional States there is no difference in violations. Thoughts from another view. :wink:
 
#44 ·
Well-said! Only once have I been asked about my concealed carry. A police officer pulled me over and when he approached my truck, the first thing out of my mouth was "Officer, I want to first inform you that I'm a concealed carry permit holder, and armed. I wouldn't want you to be startled if you noticed." He proceeded to ask me if my weapon was loaded and to present my concealed carry permit, which I did. He was a bit gruff with me, which really didn't irritate me until later, after I had time to process it. I didn't take it personally as he was trying to be careful but I mean, if I had any ill intentions, would I have informed him at all?

That's an anomalous event and every other interaction with LEOs has been good. I think it depends on the officer more than the law. As with any other profession, there are going to be good people, and there are going to be asses.
 
#46 ·
The People's Republik of California is a liberal bastion that formerly ran their people through their bedraggled and exhausting 'good cause' system for obtaining a concealed carry in the hopes of wearing them down before they could obtain a permit. Then, if they managed to jump through enough hoops and win the concealed carry lottery, the police then would tightly control what they chose to carry. Of course, criminals never bother with formalities such as permits, and Cali is hassling the wrong subset of their population.

The assumption of such a system is that the average citizen is just a criminal waiting to happen. I live within a stone's throw of Washington DC, which has the most restrictive gun control measures in the entire United States. The courts ruled last year that DC had to issue concealed carry permits to citizens who chose to do so after completing reasonable measures for obtaining a CC permit. Of course, DC is getting around this ruling by starting a system of impossible wickets that effectively make it very difficult to get a CC permit in the city. A local reporter tried to obtain such a permit and found that she had to obtain city-controlled firearms training, for which she has been waiting for several months! After one year, the city has only issued a handful of CC permits, and are only doing so that they can wave the permits in the air and scream "You see? We're in compliance!" The end result of such a system is that the criminal are still armed and the average citizen still is not, even if they want to be, and have that right.

Oh, and I might add that DC has the highest crime rate in the land if compared against any of the states.
 
#47 ·
Oh I agree, CA makes it quite difficult to obtain CC permits. With that being said, there are a few counties who do issue permits to law-abiding citizens but more of those are in NorCal. A colleague of mine is a Sheriff of a County in Northern CA and he issues them as long as they live within his county. We in CA, are awaiting the latest court battle in the 9th Circuits decision that favored issuing CC permits. This were well on its way until CA AG Kamal Harris-D put a hold to that ruling by filing a brief; thus holding up progress.

Another great example of failed democratic policies are the gun laws in Chicago. I will avoid that soapbox all together. Forum, everyone be safe tonight. Stay sharp, stay alive in 2016.

Sigtard
 
#50 ·
Windows down, interior lights ON as appropriate to lighting conditions. Permit, Operator's License, Insurance and Registration IN YOUR HAND on the top of the steering wheel.

"Officer/Deputy/Trooper....I just want to let you know, I have my permit and I am carrying. It is (give location here). What would you like me to do now?"

What you do NOT say is, no matter how reasonably...."I have a gun".

What you have done is politely inform the officer without ever saying "gun" or "concealed weapon" which to a rookie can sound like "I GOT A GUN!", that you are legally armed and are merely sharing information in a way that is non threatening, even to a wet nose boot on his first solo patrol shift.

Yes, you may live in a state where there is no duty to inform. I don't care. Inform the officer. It does not hurt you, harm you, cause manginal issues, and early manstruation, or a violation of your rights. What it does do is give the officer the first piece of the puzzle of information that you are a "card carrying good guy" and puts the entire contact on a much more friendly footing.

When I was in patrol, on those rare occasions that I would actually pull someone over for a traffic violation, if the driver informed me in close to the above manner, my answer was "Great, thanks for letting me know. I appreciate it. If you don't play with yours, I won't have to play with mine".

If there were no Wants or Warrants, and their DL, INS, and REG were good I would end the contact with "I pulled you over tonight because you have a tail light out (or whatever minor infraction). Why don't you hit the 24 hour AutoZone up the road and get it fixed before someone writes you a ticket".

"You mean you're not gonna write me a ticket?" was the usual response.

Mine was "No, why make your day longer? A busted tail light is not a major crime wave, just get it handled".

See, I figured a working man/woman who in all likelihood honestly didn't know that they had a minor equipment violation also didn't need a piece of paper to tell them that they had an adult chore to accomplish. So, if they were cool with me, and informed me that they were carrying instead of making it a surprise, then I would then reciprocate their attitude and be cool like Fonzie and cut breaks when I could. I had other crime and **** to deal with.

No, I didn't cut breaks on outright sheer stupidity that disregarded public safety, such as DUI, or reckless driving...but little ****...why be a dick?

So...inform the officer...don't be a dick...and more often than not, your lack of being a dick will be reciprocated.
 
#52 ·
I was at a qualification course for retired police officers in NY about a week and half a ago, and one of the retired officers claimed that officers in NY who pull you over will know if you have a NY pistol license. Not sure if this something that varies from county to county, but I don't believe this is true across the board, if it's true at all. I know who can shine some light on this but they are busy pulling people over right now, but I'll get back to you on this after I talk to them.
 
#55 ·
If there is no legal requirement to notify that you are carrying, I would not. I've seen other officers that I worked with go into a serious ******* mode because someone was nice enough to tell them that they were legally carrying. Where I come from there is no requirement and no penalty for not advising that you're carrying legally, but I have seen it turn into a can of worms when people do advise that they are carrying. Might be different where you're from, but I'll tell you that it's a bad idea around here.
 
#56 ·
Interesting thread. I got pulled over for making a rolling stop last month, In Wisconsin it is not required to state you have a CC permit, unless asked. I gave him my DL and CC and mentioned I though it would be best If I disclosed. I did everything by the book, super polite, hands on the wheel, yes sir to every question asked.. He never asked about the firearm, but I have a feeling I got a ticket rather than a warning because I presented my CC. Just a hunch but perhaps I ran into the one guy who is not a fan of armed citizens, as it was such a minor infraction, only miles from my home. I was sure I was going to just get a polite warning.
Another poster mentioned, unloading the firearm. There is no way I am going to touch my firearm in the presence of an officer. If he inquired I would be more apt to inform him where it is, what condition it is in and let him check it if he wishes.
 
#57 · (Edited)
Another poster mentioned, unloading the firearm. There is no way I am going to touch my firearm in the presence of an officer. If he inquired I would be more apt to inform him where it is, what condition it is in and let him check it if he wishes.
That was me. I didn't flesh out the details, likely because I was getting pretty windy on that post. But what I did, was keep my hands on the wheel and I said, "My pistol is on my right hip. I'm going to hold it here between my knees and unload it before I hand it to you. Would that be okay?" He approved and only then did I touch my pistol, unload it, and hand it to him. He was cool with it. I expect that he was a little embarrassed when dispatch had to tell him it wasn't necessary to check the background on a gun for people with a CCW.

In point of fact, though, you're right. Don't touch your firearm in the presence of a police office.

--Wag--
 
#60 ·
When I pulled someone over for something that was/is considered penny ante...I was looking for dope. When I was still local before I went to the dark side and went fed, I worked the single shittiest, most active dope neighborhood in the city. So, for me, pulling someone over for a minor infraction or an equipment violation was generally a part of seeing them come out of a dope house, or an alley where the slingers were working and I wasn't even worried about the dime bag or the dub piece they bought. I wanted to confirm the identity or location of the new dope crib in the neighborhood. If the person I happened to pull over was Joe Smith, working man, and wasn't a dick....he got a warning to go and sin no more and a short lecture on being in a dope neighborhood. I generally didn't hang paper on them unless they were a complete *******.
 
#61 ·
Damn! It sure is nice knowing many Sac PD officers and Sac County sheriffs. I've been stopped six times in 22 years (I was wrong all 6 times). One ticket and that was issued by a CHIP.
 
#63 ·
^^Thanks, perhaps I need to rethink my choice. My dad (RIP) was a Korean war era MP and lifelong LEO... He taught me that being honest, respectful and transparent usually will produce better results than the playing stupid act or being short with an officer. I will continue to heed his advice.
Cops have a lot of discretion and in this case I paid up. Dam'ed thing is I like the sound of my well tuned exhaust and get on the gas sometimes, so I would have been less upset about a proper speeding ticket. A 98% stop is a waste of 3 points :)
 
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