Guns got me out of a speedin ticket!

You are very lucky,around here,you would have been detained,and ticketed. Our LEO's hate speeders with guns.

thats been known to happen from decent officers.

they know from your legal ownership of guns that you are more or less a "good" guy (IE. no felonies, history of violence, history of drug use, ect.)

and they are more inclined to give you a break.


now from the not so decent officers.......theyll make you get out of the car, pat you down, treat you more or less like a criminal, and hope they find something not 100% kosher.

It's happened to me

AFS

There is a saying that I use to tell new deputies,

"Remember that there is the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. Know when to use the right one". (OWS)

"me go because I was a jeep guy and a gun guy"

Did he actually say that to you?

I have a bad case of lead foot, it's cooled off after a few cars and years, but I use to never get any leniency from traffic stops. Now I mention Army civilian and CCW and have a chat about guns for half an hour, got out of two, they were low, 45/35 and such, innocent mistakes on roads that have changed since I moved back home. Though last time I had to be cuffed because the officer was solo, and had to check if they were stolen, took an hour, then he appologized, kinda odd.

[flame suit on]

"decent police officer" my foot.

Any LEO who lets people off the hook for entirely subjective reasons like what brand of car you drive, or what hobby you engage in, is a bad cop IMO.

Giving a WARNING to a first time offender is one thing; if that is what he thought best, then that should have been the end of it... but to allow his opinions to be swayed by such bologna shows VERY poor stewardship of public safety.

Good God, Trooper, ease up. In way over thirty I doggone sure let more than my share go with a small warning,.............not a thing in the world wrong with that.....after all, you are NOT an automation, subjectivity is doggone sure a part of that game and if you don't know that then you are truly in the wrong job.

Rtd........LEO/CLEO!

Amen; Dogrunner ^^^^^

A few weeks ago I was pulled over for speeding as well. The cop asked me if I had any guns in the car when he saw my piles of brass in the passenger side. I was honest and he smiled at me. I was wondering when he was going to ask me to step out so that he didn't have to worry about me getting one out and blasting him, but he just ran my info and gave me a warning. I think more cops are looking for big busts like drugs and DUIs then trying to write out tickets. If they pull over someone that seems a little like themselves they are probably more likely to let them go.

Nothing wrong with letting one of the "good guys" off the hook every now and then.

mr.trooper said:

Any LEO who lets people off the hook for entirely subjective reasons like what brand of car you drive, or what hobby you engage in, is a bad cop IMO.
.

Click to expand...

How about owning a couple of X chromosomes and having a pretty face and a flirty smile?

Now I don't really know, but it would seem, that in general, if you are professional and polite, not only are will they also be professional and polite, but also are going to be more lenient. More times then not, when you hear about police being rude during a traffic stop from someone, they fail to mention that they were the one who was rude first...

The reason they give tickets is the same reason you're parents punished you as a kid. So you learn a lesson and don't do it again (and also to make money for the town, department, etc, I know). So if you are polite, and understanding, they might be too...

When I lived in Central Fl., I thought it was the law to ticket for going over the limit by 4mph, til I worked up in the Deland area and got a warning for doing 10 over, I was shocked. I honestly believed they had quatas and boy did they get pissed when I asked them if they had met their quota, when I got the ticket. I was a very prolific writer to the local paper about the traps and even called the radio stations when I spotted them. Before the LEO's go postal on me; I have 3 cops in my family. I drove 40,000+ mi. per year accident free for my job.

Nice, I got out of a speeding ticket once too because of guns. I had just left a local gunsmith shop in Delaware and had my recently re-blued Ithaca model 37 featherlight on the back seat of my truck. I got to talking to officer about it and the shop and he let me off with a warning. It all depends on the cop, your attitude and his mood at the time.

Professional is giving a warning, or ticket, but not both. Professional is deciding which before you walk up to the car, and then sticking to it. Compassionate is putting oneself in the driver's shoes before deciding. Wise is having enough experience to use discretion, and knowing when a ticket is better than a warning, and vice versa.
Unprofessional is the officer letting his emotions override all the good qualities above.

I have been pulled over twice for speeding. My CHL and guns have not got me out of anything. Both cops were the opposite of friendly though. Maybe I should watch my speed.

I haven't been pulled over since I got my permits. Never been pulled over at all with a gun in the car. I do have a friend here in Idaho who got out of a ticket because of his USMC sticker and his guns. The trooper saw the sticker while walking up to the car and struck up a conversation about the GP100 under the seat.

I give warnings all the time, far more than often than I write tickets. IMO voluntary compliance is the goal. If the OP slows down and pays more attention to his speed as the result of a positive interaction with the law then I call that a win for the good guys. Of course, if the same cop stops him again for the same offense you can bet the same courtesy won't be afforded.

thats been known to happen from decent officers.

they know from your legal ownership of guns that you are more or less a "good" guy (IE. no felonies, history of violence, history of drug use, ect.)

and they are more inclined to give you a break.


now from the not so decent officers.......theyll make you get out of the car, pat you down, treat you more or less like a criminal, and hope they find something not 100% kosher.

Click to expand...

Quoted for truth.

Now I got into a conversation with another gun nut in my class a few months ago, he said something that made me curious, something that I'd be more skeptical about if he weren't a former Marine and a man I believe. He said he always carries at least his AR and a few handguns in his truck at all times because he loved to speed and said when he gets pulled over by Phoenix PD for speeding and they find out the amount of guns he's carrying they let him off because of the "paperwork involved" as he put it. He said every time a cop stops someone for any reason and they find guns in the car they have to fill out a couple pages for every handgun and up to five pages for every "assault" rifle. Haven't given it much thought till now because it did seem kind of outlandish. Am I the only one that's been told such a thing?

As far as I know, as long as a more serious crime is not detected, most any officer gives you the summons for the speed violation, and the driver leaves along with the guns and copy of the summons for speeding. A cop might run all the guns found for stolen in the computer, but no additional paperwork results unless the crime grows beyond speeding. Then you do what you have to do, and if detention/inventory/search/arrest/paperwork, etc, is it, that's what follows.

I passed a radar cop doing about 43 or so in a 35 the other day and cringed. It was stupid, not only that I was speeding, but that it was in an area that I know there's a cop usually sitting. I was so lucky that day that there just happened to be somebody passing me at the time. Normally I don't speed more than 5 over or so at any speed and generally keep it under limit in residentials. Every once in a while though, a sleeping cop reminds me to check my speed and that's a good thing. Haven't been pulled over in years and hopefully that continues.