Your interactions with law enforcement while carrying...

I've been pulled over a lot over the years (I have a lead foot) and it's been a total crapshoot how the officer will react since I'm in a duty to inform state as well. A few times the officer couldn't have cared less. A couple times they just told me to keep my hands on the wheel and not move my hands towards my holster for any reason. One time I was told to remove my gun and place it on the dash. A second time I was on my motorcycle and the cop demanded my gun to run the serial number. A third time as soon as I mentioned that I have a conceal carry license and was carrying the State Trooper cocked his body to me, unsnapped his sidearm and with his hands on his grip told me to remove my handgun and place it on the passengers seat. That scared the crap outta me!

My brother was pulled over a couple years ago and didn't happen to be carrying at the time, and the Trooper threatened to arrest him for failing to inform that he wasn't carrying!

I haven't been pulled over since I started carrying concealed.
Maybe I'm getting old... .

Licence plate lamp out. Cop was really cool-- gave verbal warning. Turned out to be a loose connection. Asked if I had a gun on me and I said yes. I did not run down the litany of all the guns in the car. Produced a CWP even though it's not required in Arizona. Normally the "not a felon" card causes intelligent officers to relax a bit.

Mike

Most of my encounters with LEO's have been fine. Ohio is duty to inform, (as stupid and illogical as that is) but I've never had a cop show more than a passing interest when I told them I was carrying. I had one time when my gun was in my backpack when he asked me to leave it in the vehicle and get out and stand by the back of my vehicle while he checked my license. All the other times the most they did was ask where I was carrying it.

You a get stopped in Wyoming and show a CWP, it's liable to be coffee and show and tell at the next truck stop.

I’ve never had a problem in Alabama. I give them my drivers license and CC permit and they usually ask where it is. I’ll say and they don’t say another word about it.

No duty to inform here, and have never been asked while carrying as a non-LEO (only been stopped once while armed, and it didn't come up), so I'll describe a related interaction from a long time ago.

Was involved in a traffic collision while delivering pizzas for a living. Had a Taurus M66 .357 revolver in the glove box. Though Florida law didn't (and still doesn't) require it, the gun was also in a snapped holster. The investigating officer, upon looking inside the cab of my wrecked pickup, asked me "where's your gun?" I don't know why she thought there was one; perhaps she just assumed pizza guys packed. I told her where it was. She retrieved it, asked if I minded if she unloaded it (I didn't), then returned it to the glove box, leaving the rounds in the ashtray at my suggestion. Not another word was said about it.

This was in 1987, the same year Florida passed its comprehensive statewide firearms-law package, including "shall-issue" statewide carry licensing.

I had many interactions with her after that, as she worked for the PD in the town bordering the one whose PD I was sworn onto myself later that year, but I never did ask about that first one.

bassjam said:

My brother was pulled over a couple years ago and didn't happen to be carrying at the time, and the Trooper threatened to arrest him for failing to inform that he wasn't carrying!

Click to expand...

I've always wondered what would happen in that situation. Do you say something to the cop or not. You really don't have a duty to inform if you're not carrying.




I haven't been pulled over since I've gotten my license to carry (9-10 years or so) but I have had the police run my plates and decide not to pull me over. I can only assume him knowing I have my carry permit was reason enough not to pull me over for whatever dumb reason (he tailgated me for 2-3 miles for some reason. Guess I did something to make him suspicious.)

1. Going too fast - One officer asked if I would shoot him. Said no and he let me go without a ticket. Another told me to keep hands to the wheel and no ticket.

2. Three major accidents (all from idiots who hit me).
a. Officer asked me if he could disarm me. I said OK (what else). No panic - gun back after reports taken.
b. Officer said: This is not California where they panic.
c. Office said: That's ok, no big deal.

So no real problems in TX.

Arizona_Mike said:

Normally the "not a felon" card causes intelligent officers to relax a bit.

Click to expand...

This has been my experience, and demonstrating that you're not running an ambush (by informing) even more so.

I've been stopped twice and never had a problem. One officer asked if I had weapon. I told him that it was on my hip and that I usually had several in the vehicle because I have a FFL. I gave him a business card and he sent me on my way.

I witnessed a bad motorcycle accident. The motorcyclist gunned it as he passed in the opposite lane and I saw the bike start to wobble badly while looking in my rear view mirror. The cyclist lost control and the bike flipped multiple times and landed in a yard. I turned around and directed traffic in one lane while a neighbor directed it in the opposite lane. We did this until the State Patrol arrived and in fact continued directing traffic while they were there. One of the patrol officers asked if I was a witness and I said yes. He asked me to fill out a witness report and while we were talking I told him I had a CCP and was carrying. He said "I don't give a damn but next time let us know early on". I don't know how I could have let the LEO's know earlier than I did while directing traffic for them but it was an interesting situation and I was amused by his comment. Since then I bought a safety vest to wear if that, or something similar, ever happens again. Regarding the cyclist, I tried to find out what happened to him but never saw anything in the paper. He was unconscious the whole time even when the medics picked him up.

Jeff H said:

I've always wondered what would happen in that situation. Do you say something to the cop or not. You really don't have a duty to inform if you're not carrying.

Click to expand...

Yeah, my brother tried telling him he had no duty to inform unless he was carrying, but the Trooper started raising his voice and insisting he was right, so my brother just decided it was safer to let it go.

I've actually forgotten to inform once when I had a gun in my pocket, and the cop never asked if I was carrying or not. Of course he was too busy on that morning making my 7 year old in the back seat cry

I've been pulled over a number of times and all have been pleasant except for once.

I wasn't carrying as I was going to a state park where I couldn't have a firearm. Well the officer went off for not informing him of my CHL. By law I am not required to inform if not carrying on or about my person and had no weapons in my vehicle. He felt otherwise and was a class "A" jerk about it.

Beat the failure to stop ticket he gave me. So that made it better.. Lol

Working as a security guard for the local utility, my job was to do security checks on various electrical substations.

One night I pulled into a substation on the east edge of town and back up to the gate to do my checks (walk around the fence and check gates and look for holes). I had time to call in my location and annotate my log and another car pulls in to the Substation.

I call that in and step out of my car to investigate. The driver shines a spot light in my face and gets out.

Now before I go further let me explain that buying used cop cars is a thing in Colorado Springs, as is assaulting security guards and taking their guns. Let me also explain that security vehicles are required to be CLEARLY marked and guards are required to wear a distinct uniform. They way I was parked the spot had my car fully illuminated and who ever was in the car KNEW I was security and who I worked for.

So I'm blind and I pull out my Fenix UC35 (960 lumens) and put it right in the guy's face and he goes off. He starts yelling that my light is a threat to him and I need to get it out of his face. I tell him that his light is a threat to me and I can neither see nor identify him. He decides to go badge heavy and tells me that he's a Sheriff's Deputy and that he pulled in to "investigate" my vehicle. I reply " You mean my CLEARLY MARKED SECURITY vehicle?" He starts to get badge heavy again and I remind him that he's on private property and ask if he's responding to a call for service or has a warrant. Then I remind him that it's the middle of the night and we're in the middle of no where, he made no attempt to identify himself or even turn on his overheads and that of the 2 of us I'M the one authorized to be there and acting as an agent of the property owner and that I had every right to take precautions for my safety.

About that time his supervisor pulls in, listens for about 2 minutes and turns to the other guy and tells him to leave NOW. I then explained to the supervisor who I was and why I was there and that he could expect to see guards at that substation every night. Then he left.

I'm not normally an ******* like that but there's no way that cop didn't know who I was. He just wanted to play roust the security guard and got it handed back to him

bassjam said:

Trooper started raising his voice and insisting he was right, so my brother just decided it was safer to let it go

Click to expand...

I did the same.

I've only been pulled over once while carrying. I informed the officer, who asked where it was located. I told him, and he said "Just leave it there." Very professional.

bassjam said:

Yeah, my brother tried telling him he had no duty to inform unless he was carrying, but the Trooper started raising his voice and insisting he was right, so my brother just decided it was safer to let it go.

Click to expand...

It seems to be a thing with state troopers. Part of their training must include jerk training. I can't think of a single unpleasant experience with any other police agency, and I have received many tickets over the years. On the contrary, I cna't think of any run in with a state trooper that didn't have him being a jerk for one reason or another.

And so it begins ... innocuously, at first ... a member finding it remarkable that a cop didn't worry about him being a licensed person with a gun and that the cop acted like a human being ... gradually, the thread devolves into negatively categorizing an entire class of law enforcement officers, in this case, state troopers.

My experience on both sides of the vehicle door since 1991 suggests that the attitude of the person with the badge usually reflects the attitude that he or she is encountering.

Concealed carry by citizens (in most states) is neither a new thing nor an uncommon thing, and the fact that the automobile driver may be legally carrying seldom has anything to do with how one is treated by the officer making the traffic stop.

I was pulled over by a State Trooper in Ute Pass Colorado in 2007. He walked up to my car, asked for my license, registration and insurance then asked if there were any weapons in the vehicle. I didn't say anything I just handed him my permit.

Next thing I know he's got his hand on his gun and is screaming that he's going to arrest me (let me know how that works out for you, Colorado has no duty to inform) becauseI didn't inform him I was armed.

A few months later I read in the paper that he murdered his wife and killed himself in a domestic violence incident.

There's a reason people think ******* cops are......wait for it.....********

Jeff H said:

It seems to be a thing with state troopers. Part of their training must include jerk training.

Click to expand...

-Like the one that ticketed me on I-80 for doing 55 in the fast lane. He said some guy in his Maserati doing 140 would hit me before he knew that I was there. So I got a ticket for doing under 140 in the fast lane.

Good thing that he didn't ask about guns.
I had all of my guns with me (along with everything else that I owned.)

I was stopped by a State Trooper a couple years ago for going a little to fast. I handed him my license, insurance, and ccp. He asked where the gun was, I told him and he said just leave it there..... he said this is the first carry permit I've come across in Wi.....he also said, good for you, gave me a warning ticket and said have a great day. I said Thank-you I will!

Old Dog said:

My experience on both sides of the vehicle door since 1991 suggests that the attitude of the person with the badge usually reflects the attitude that he or she is encountering.

Click to expand...

Having a grandfather, father, brother, best friend, and many other friends that were and are LEO’s I know a lot of officers. City, County, Troopers, Federal DTF, FBI, Tribal police, US Marshall’s, and Wardens. 99.8% are professional and chill.

I’ve probably been pulled over 9 times in my life. 7 were great experiences. A couple of them were friends of mine. 2 were not so great. But that doesn’t mean they were bad cops (I do know a couple though). One had a really bad night and the other I have no idea. But the next time I saw him, we talked and everything was fine after that.

People really ought to do ride-alongs with Officers to see what they have to put up with. It would give them a greater appreciation for the job they do. I’ve seen the druggies, the thieves, the domestics, the MVA’s, murders, suicides, grieving families, the poor people that think the officer stopping to check on them is harassing them, and the rich people in the Porsche’s that think they’re above the law and get bent out of shape when they get written the minimum ticket for doing 103 in a 65 (ride-along with my dad on that one).

How many people you all know that call the cops because everything is wonderful in their life and they just want to tell a cop about it and share the joy? How many people know the previous call that officer was just on before they pulled you over for speeding? How many have ever encountered one of those officers clearly having an off day and asked if everything was ok or if there was anything you could do for them. It’s a thankless job. Door greeters at Walmart get treated better by the public.

I’ve been pulled over several times with firearms in the car. Not one Officer has ever cared past “Do you have a gun in the car? Ok, What is it? Ok, Where is it? Ok no problem, let me run your license and I’ll be right back with you.”