CCW and Law Enforcement

[DblGonzo]

I am just curious how Law Enforcement officers feel about people who carry. I was in a discussion with a few people about a YouTube video (I can't seem to find it now) and a person who claimed to be a police officer just lambasted "civilians who carry a concealed weapon", they are not trained, they are not prepared for the situation they might find themselves in. They are more likely than a "trained expert" (his words) to kill an Innocent bystander.

I have my gun on me or in my vehicle 99.9% of the time. The few times I have had encounters with my local or state police they have been very respectful. I always first thing inform them I have a weapon on me, tell them what and where it is and either let them retrieve it or they let me secure it. And hand over my permit with my DL. One even made sure I reloaded it before I pulled away. He said "I ain't doing you or anyone else any good unloaded."

I am hoping this guy if he truly is in law enforcement he is in the minority.

 

[Tommygunn]

I am just curious how Law Enforcement officers feel about people who carry. I was in a discussion with a few people about a YouTube video (I can't seem to find it now) and a person who claimed to be a police officer just lambasted "civilians who carry a concealed weapon", they are not trained, they are not prepared for the situation they might find themselves in. They are more likely than a "trained expert" (his words) to kill an Innocent bystander.

An FBI study I read (sorry; I have no link to it) stated that civilians shoot the wrong individual in 2% of cases where shots are actually fired, while police shoot 11%.
The main reason seems to be the citizen is generally more aware of who the BG is, while the police respond to dispatch calls which have at best incomplete information, and maybe even wrong information.

You might try that.
Or wait until someone responds with a source URL to help.

 

[mljdeckard]

We discuss this often. My experiences have been overwhelmingly positive. I don't get pulled over often anymore, (since I have gotten married and stuff, it has become less important to go fast everywhere,) but when I have, it's been a conversation about guns. I get out of tickets. I actually have mixed feelings that Utah has just switched the law to where we don't have to notify cops. Now if I do it will look like I'm trying to get out of a ticket.

The only cops I have ever talked to about CCW who don't like it are young cops. It reinforces my perception that I like older cops more. They have more experience with what is and is not correct law, they know that it is a job and not a way to look cool in uniform and boss people around, and they have been a cop for a few years without getting into trouble.

 

[kda]

While I suspect most LEOs have an underlying philosophy that either favors or, to some extent, objects to the CCW concept, I think how they deal with those of us with CCW permits will depend primarily on how we come across when approached.

If we are mature, calm and obviously friendly and cooperative I'd expect it to go pretty well most of the time. If we are sullen, secretive and resist simple commands, etc., or if the cop is the rare jerk that hasn't been fired yet, then it won't go well regardless of whether or not we have a CCW.

 

[Deanimator]

Cops don't have to like CCW.

Nobody's required to like the law, just obey it.

 

[mljdeckard]

Look at it this way. Every time a cop stops you for a traffic violation, he is HOPING that it will be more than that. He's hoping to smell something funny, or find that you have a warrant. When you show him that permit, you have just told him that you are checked daily for criminal records, and that you have taken at least one short class about some laws. This means he's not going to get an arrest. He might decide that now he HAS to give you the ticket because he's not getting anything else out of you, but he probably won't treat you like a criminal.

 

[JellyJar]

Back in the 1980s we had police officers for security on weekends at the furniture store I worked in in Houston, TX. One officer who only worked there a couple of times was originally a NYC cop who got laid off when NYC was having financial trouble and came to TX to work. He was not friendly and did not think civilians should own handguns at all!! This was before TX enacted its current CHL law and at that time most officers were skeptical about allowing civilians carrying concealed. Most but not all. The two local LEOs I have met since moving back to Alabama are all for allowing civilian CCW.

From this I gather that most police are comfortable with the gun laws they are familiar with and don't want them to be any more lenient but not necessarily more restrictive either.

 

[slicksleeve]

I am an Alabama State Trooper. I Stop cars for a living. Traffic violations are what I do. Most people I stop get a ticket. I am very fair in my enforcement, and if I give Jellyjar a ticket for 65 in a 55, (that's right, ten over) and I give Art Eatman a warning, I go home and lay down at night wondering why I gave 1 guy a break and not another guy a break. I have stopped people, and the first thing out of their mouth is, "sir I have a pistol in the glove box and a permit for it." I usually don't ask anything else about the gun, because they told me about it and I have nothing else to worry about. This is Black, White, male or female. I usually suggest that that they put it in the door pocket of their car where they can actually get to it if they need it. (This is a dangerous world here you Know). Bottom line is here in Alabama, if a Trooper pulls you over, at least if it is me, I could care less about your pistol. I am one of you.(I joined this forum because I agree with most of you abou TRTKABA). I stopped you because you broke the traffic law, and that is your main problem, not the CCW that you might also have at the time.

 

[slicksleeve]

Also, I am a young cop,(2&1/2 years on the road). I think everybody should carry concealed, even open carry for that matter, but that is just me. I give field sobriety test to drunk drivers almost every weekend, and some are armed. But hey, they told me that was a hazard of the job. You just deal with it. I like for the civillian to be armed, because I am almost never close to where the crime is, when it happens. You fellas just keep on totin' because you are what keeps America truly safe in my own opinion.