CCW almost a get out of jail free card

[sturmruger]

I was driving from River Falls down to Rochester, MN last night. I had a stupid training thing for work that was going to be a whole hour long, but would require almost 3 hours of driving. Since I was going to be in MN I dutifully grabbed my carry gun a Steyr S40. Since my work is extremely anti I cannot carry while at work, but I can leave it in the car.

I Cut down through Red Wing and then over to Zumbrota and then down Hwy 52. About 10 miles out of Red Wing I met a MN State Trooper who was going the opposite way. I was listening to my favorite radio personality Joe Soucheray and really wasn't paying attention to my speed which was about 65. Seeing that the cop was slowing down I pulled over before he even had his lights on. I pulled to a stop, unbuckled my seatbelt got my wallet out and rolled the window down. I then pulled out my DL, my MN carry permit and held them in my left hand and out the window.

When the officer first arrived he sounded a little tense and or pissed. He explained that I was going 65 and that was too fast. After he took my DL and CP his whole demeanor changed. He seemed much more relaxed and easy going. He asked if I was armed and I explained my gun was behind the passenger seat. He said "that’s fine let me go write you a warning." After his initial attitude I was not expecting a warning. It seemed to me that he was almost glad that I was a permit holder. I have never had a cop come right out and tell me I was getting a warning. Usually they let you stew in the car worrying about the big fat ticket you are about to get. I got my warning and a suggestion to slow down.

This isn’t the first time that my permit got me out of a speeding ticket and I am sure it won’t be the last. Thank you to the State of MN for the wonderful Carry Permit program. I think many of the cops here in MN look at it as a GGP, or Good Guy Permit which is perfect for me because I am a good guy.



P.S. Speeding is bad, and I don’t recommend anyone do it.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Happend to me twice since I got my TX CHL, both times had the same experience, attitude went to totally friendly, asked what I was carrying and where, never asked me to disarm, told me I was getting a warning, and one state trooper and I talked for a good 20 minutes on the side of the road, turns out he has a fiber optic laying business on the side. I got his card and sent some business his way a few weeks later. I'm sure he doesn't know where this customer came from, but I would never have had that conversation with him if not for the CHL.

 

[thatguy]

May have been you attitude during the stop, too. No arguments or lame excuses, offering documents without being asked, etc. Cops like cooperation and are more likely to pass on the citation if you just take your lumps without comment or debate.

 

[sturmruger]

I am sure my full cooperation helped things too.

 

[pax]

Sturmruger ~

I had a similar experience a couple months back. Late at night, on a school night, car full of kids who should've been in bed at least an hour before. I was hurrying to get home. Got off on Hwy 12, a rural two-lane, and -- well, I was more than 10 over the 55 speed limit. Not unusual for that stretch of road, but unusual for me.

Got pulled over. When the lights came on, I pulled to the side, flicked on my overhead, got out my DL & CPL, rolled down the window, turned off the car, and instructed the kids to stay quiet (wonder of wonders, they did! How weird is that?). Kept my hands on the wheel as officer came up to the car.

Officer came up, glanced into the car, took my DL & CPL. As I handed them to him, I said, "I'm sorry, I was just in a hurry to get home and wasn't watching my speed. I do know better, especially with the kids in the car." He asked about my registration & insurance. I replied, "Those are in the glove box, officer."

Officer said, "Go ahead and get them now." (That's kind of weird, I thought they preferred to walk away while folks were digging for that stuff.)

Kid in the front seat opened the glove box and my usual tangle of stuff fell out in his lap -- last week's mail, a hairbrush & comb, the ice scraper, I dunno what all. Took us a few minutes to find the right paper, finally did and handed it over.

Officer took it, looked to make sure the names matched, then handed everything back and said, "Please slow it down and drive safely."

And that was it.

When I handed it to him, he barely glanced at my CPL and did not ask if I was carrying. Only thing I can figure about that is that it's possible he was sensitive to the presence of the kids and didn't want to tell them I had a gun on me if they didn't already know. He did kind of grin a little when he took it, but that's all.

Although I'm 80% sure that the CPL was what made up his mind to go easy on me, it could have been doing the other things right: pulling over immediately, putting the overhead light on, keeping my hands on the wheel as he came up to the car, having the DL already in hand and the window down, etc.

In any case, it was the most mellow encounter with a traffic cop I've ever had.

pax

 

[dolanp]

I have heard lots of similar stories of police being more lenient with permit holders. I think it puts their mind more at rest knowing you are one of the good guys. Unless you happen to be in one of those places that is a cluster of antis and the police are the same way, then you might not get such a friendly encounter.

 

[KAR120C]

It is best not to unbuckle your seatbelt before the cop comes up to your car. State law in MN that you have to wear it. If the cop was a jerk he could have ticketed you for (appearing) to not wear the seatbelt.

 

[sturmruger]

LOL I forgot to mention the fact that he asked me about my Seatbelt

I told him that I had to undue it to get my wallet out. He said that he thought he saw me take it off, but had to ask. Especially when I have a gun in the car I would rather have the wallet out and my DL and CP in my hand then worry about the seatbelt ticket.

 

[c_yeager]

I suspect that having your information handy and your hands visible on the wheel when he walked up did a lot to get you out of the ticket too. I had a family friend who was an old-school cop years ago and he told me that he decided in the first 5 seconds of a stop wether the guy was gonna be getting a ticket or not based on what he saw when he got to the window and the first words out of the person's mouth. For me I have my DL, Insurance, and registration in my hand, the keys out of the ignition and on the dash, and my hand at 10 and 2. The first thing I say is "good morning/evening officer". I have never recieved a moving violation in my entire life despite being pulled maybe 5-6 times for various reasons.

 

[HungSquirrel]

sturmruger, always wait until the police officer arrives at your window and asks for your license before taking off your seatbelt. I took off my seatbelt to get my wallet out for my first and only traffic infraction when I was 17. The police officer wrote my speeding ticket and said she would let the seatbelt slide, but I had taken off the seatbelt to give her my license!

 

[Andrew Rothman]

I'm confused -- the speed limit on Hwy 52 is 65 mph. I don't think you were speeding at all!

I've gotten stopped twice with my permit, in Minneapolis and Eden Prairie. Bth times the officers were very cool about the permit, and very politely gave me speeding tickets.

(I also was involved in a fender-bender, and the state trooper was great about the permit.)

 

[GlocksRock]

I think my carry permit got me out of a ticket from an NC trooper once. He said that it's the people that don't tell him they have a gun that he worries about. I informed him before he even got to my car that I had a gun with me. He was very appreciative for that.

 

[sturmruger]

Matt I was about halfway between Red Wing and Zumbrota on Hwy 58. Hwy 58 is a two lane state road that it is only 55 mph.


I find it ironic that all the cops that are out on the street don't seem to mind carry permits at all. It is the Chiefs that seem to lobby so vehemently against carry permits.

 

[RussianRifle]

My experience matches what c yeager said. I spent just over three months in training as a dispatcher at our local PD a few years ago (before I found a MUCH better paying job - those folks are grossly underpaid!). I got to talk to quite a few officers while I was there. Overwhelmingly, they stated that their decision to cite or not to cite in a traffic stop depended upon the level of cooperation the motorist displayed.

Of course, we had (as most towns will have) a few officers that seemed mad at the world whom and no amount of cooperation and pleasantness would affect. But by and large the general population of LEOs (at least in my town) are not out to get the drivers, they're just doing their jobs. And if you make it harder on them, don't expect them to be generous in return.

That isn't to say that having a Texas CHL doesn't help. But being courteous to someone; someone who has to deal with more of the darker sides of people than the average person does, often pays off.

 

[Tinker]

I agree with c-yeager.

Your actions just racheted him down from "Is this one gonna kill me and eat my entrails." to "Looks like an OK guy. ".

 

[Ukraine Train]

Hmm I've always heard that you shouldn't go reaching for your wallet or anything else until asked so the officer doesn't get worried when he sees you reaching into the glovebox or around your waist as he pulls up behind you.

I've been pulled over once since I got my CCW, wasn't carrying at the time. Still got a ticket.

 

[CAPTAIN MIKE]

My Own Experience

I was once pulled over by a San Diego County sheriff's deputy motorcycle officer. I kept my hands on the steering wheel, kept a good attitude, passed over my documentation and when he asked me if I knew how fast I was going I said "No.".

He then told me. I had no excuse, but I was honest. I said "Officer, honestly I had no clue on my speed. I was in one of those traffic windows that occur on occasion where there was nobody in front or behind me for some distance, and really I was just cruising along on such a breautiful sunny day listening to Little Richard play "Tutti Frutti" on an Oldies Station".

He cracked up and said, "Well....I've never heard THAT one before. You can go. Have a nice day sir."

 

[ree]

WI Resident gets MN Carry Permit?

So what does an out of stater need to do to get a MN carry permit?

 

[p35]

When I've been pulled over, I haven't gotten out the CWP- I keep the gun out of sight and I'm not going to pull it out in front of an officer, so why make a drama about it? From what you guys say, though, maybe I should!

 

[SMLE]

I carry my DL and CHL in a holder in my left shirt pocked and keep my registration ind insurance papers clipped to the visor. That way I don't need to unbuckle or make any other "furtive" movments.

Attitude DOES make a BIG differance in how the Cops treat you. You don't have to kiss @$$, just be POLITE.

 

[joeislove]

About a year ago, I was driving a friend's truck back Florida for him. I was on some deserted road in the middle of nowhere in Georgia, somewhere south of I-20. There was no one else on the road, and I was just driving along. When I saw the sheriff's car coming over the hill in front of me, I glanced at the speedometer. It read 55MPH, so I was pretty surprised when he whipped it around and put his lights on.

I pulled over, killed the engine, rolled the window down, and made sure to keep my hands on the steering wheel in plain sight while waiting for him to come up to the window. He asked for my license and proof of insurance, which I retrieved for him. I carry my DL in my front pocket (I don't carry a wallet), so I never had to go anywhere near my gun to get it. I told him that it wasn't my truck, so I wasn't sure exactly where the insurance card was, but that I would dig for it. Luckily, it was pretty much the only thing in the glove box.

"Good afternoon, sir. Do you know why I'm pulling you over today?"

"Actually, no, I don't. When I saw you, I looked at my speedometer and I was going 55MPH."

"Sir, I have you on radar at 72MPH."

"The hell you say!" I blurted out. "Are you sure it's reading right?"

Then he made the usual offer to let me look at the radar gun, to see for myself. In this case, I decided to take him up on it, because I knew that I'd seen 55 on the speedometer when I saw him. I was about to get out of the car, when I remembered the Glock in my IWB holster. My t-shirt was tucked in, so it would be glaringly obvious. Not wanting to cause any undue stress or misunderstanding, I said, "Before I get out, I feel like I should tell you I'm wearing a gun. Do you want me to leave it here or what?"

He told me to toss it up on the dashboard, so I unsnapped the belt loops and took the gun and the holster out as one and did as instructed. When we got back to his car, I looked at his radar gun and sure enough, it read 72MPH. I was flabbergasted, and told him that I didn't understand how that could be, since the speedometer definitely read 55 when I checked it after seeing him. We stood and talked for a while, and finally decided that the speedometer must not read correctly, a fact I would not be aware of since it wasn't my truck.

Anyway, he asked me about my gun, and I told him it was a Glock 27. He then told me he was thinking about getting one of those to carry as a backup gun, so I asked him if he wanted to check it out. We ended up standing around on the side of the road in Wherever, GA, talking about guns for five or six minutes. He even asked me if I was interested in selling the gun.

After a while, he wished me a good day and I drove away, without even a written warning. Did he take pity on me because I was driving an unfamiliar truck? Did he cut me slack because we were fellow "gun nuts"? Did I use the Jedi mind trick on him? Or was it my ineffable charm?

Who knows and who cares. At least I didn't get a ticket for driving 17MPH over the speed limit, which I'm sure would've been a pricey one.

 

[psyopspec]

Thank you to the State of MN for the wonderful Carry Permit program.

I don't know if I'd go that far. The permits aren't cheap, and aren't easy to get. And not every cop in that state is as gun-friendly as the one that pulled you over. Still, congratulations for breaking the law and not getting punished as much as another might.

 

[Gifted]

Hmm I've always heard that you shouldn't go reaching for your wallet or anything else until asked so the officer doesn't get worried when he sees you reaching into the glovebox or around your waist as he pulls up behind you.

I've been told that too, and the only traffic stop I've had I followed it. It seems a good idea.