Deanimator
Member
Most of us are well aware of the sage advice to consent to no searches, volunteer no information, and to ask "Am I free to leave?" when dealing with unwanted police contacts.
This presumes that you are stopped while going from point a to point b. What if on the other hand, you're at a location carrying on a legal activity and you're subjected to undesired police attention? Say for instance (as is almost always the case) I'm sitting in a restaurant or coffeeshop reading "Smallarms Review" or some $75 book on the Maxim gun. What do you do if for whatever reason, a cop comes up and starts asking you intrusive and or hostile questions based on your completely legal firearms related reading material? I don't want to ask, "Am I free to leave?" since I don't WANT to leave. I'm eating a meal or drinking a cup of coffee. I don't want to ditch my coffee or meal because somebody's giving me an unjustified hard time.
No doubt this has happened to SOMEBODY somewhere. I've got my ducks in line for when "Am I free to leave?" is appropriate. Any suggestions on when you neither want to nor should leave?
This presumes that you are stopped while going from point a to point b. What if on the other hand, you're at a location carrying on a legal activity and you're subjected to undesired police attention? Say for instance (as is almost always the case) I'm sitting in a restaurant or coffeeshop reading "Smallarms Review" or some $75 book on the Maxim gun. What do you do if for whatever reason, a cop comes up and starts asking you intrusive and or hostile questions based on your completely legal firearms related reading material? I don't want to ask, "Am I free to leave?" since I don't WANT to leave. I'm eating a meal or drinking a cup of coffee. I don't want to ditch my coffee or meal because somebody's giving me an unjustified hard time.
No doubt this has happened to SOMEBODY somewhere. I've got my ducks in line for when "Am I free to leave?" is appropriate. Any suggestions on when you neither want to nor should leave?