First LEO encounter while carrying.

[Rickstir]

Didn't take long. Got my CCW on Friday and had my first encounter on Saturday.

Coming back from St. Louis in my pickup truck. Wife in front passenger seat smoking a damn cigarette :banghead: We were in our home county which is very rural.

Come over a hill and see a county mounty on my side of the road, obviously clocking. Now I don't speed period. Always drive the speed limit. I also come to a complete stop at stop signs. A rareity in Missouri for sure. We pass officer and think nothing of it. As we start to cross a long bridge over a lake the wife informs me that the cigarette she has thrown out of the truck has come back in. (second time this has happened

I pull about half off the road, narrow shoulder and no traffic coming behind us. I keep watching the rearview mirror as she looks for the cig. After about 2 mins. here comes the mounty around the bend. I tell her to shut the door and pull all the way off the road, my flashers are on. He turns on his lights and pulls in behind me. Great says I. I have my 5.11 Royal Robbins vest on with my 92 FS and a Taurus 650 CIA in the consol. With both hands on the wheel I greet him as he walks up to the truck. Told him what was going on and he just laughed.

At that point I noticed his name tag. "So you are (name withheld), I've been looking for you". Maybe I should have phrased it differently as he momentarily tensed up. I explained that I worked with his mother and he kind of relaxed. I explained that I was in and out of the sheriff's office several times getting my CCW and a couple of Permit to Acquires and had asked for him. He was interested then. He never asked if I was carrying and I didn't volunteer. He had plenty of time to view the inside of the vehicle and noticed I was drinking water. I never drink with a gun in the truck either. Since MO law does not require me to volunteer I didn't say anything because after all this was a fairly innocent encounter. He didn't pull me over.

 

[spacemanspiff]

wouldnt have happened if your wife used the ashtray instead of littering.

 

[johnnymenudo]

Use the ashtray.

 

[outfieldjack]

This may be a bit "OT"

Nothing me up more than when people think that throwing cigs out the window is not "littering."

I have no problem what you do to your own body, but there is no difference in throwing a cig out the window as there is in throwing out a can or trash.

off.......

Thanks, I feel much better now. ANYWAY, here in SC you would have needed to tell the office you were carrying.

Jack

 

[Quartus]

And then these slobs wonder why some people want to simply ban all smoking...

"What's wrong with these people?!? Can't they just leave us alone?"

 

[Sportcat]

I agree about the littering, but did anyone else catch this?

I never drink with a gun in the truck either

:banghead:

Does that mean you drink and drive too?

 

[Zundfolge]

Toss a cig out the window in Colorado and see how fast you're fined and/or arrested.

We get wildfires here.

 

[P95Carry]

Sounds like a pleasant and painless encounter!

Hmmm ... cig's from moving vehicle ..... leaving aside any enviro' fire risk ... try riding a bike and being the recipient of smouldering stub!! Only got me once and it didn't stick but ... so many people are thoughtless .... in fact trash in general from vehicles really cranks me up!

Other thing (OT and sidenote) .. those guys who spray their windshields when I am biking behind them .. always seems thay have the poorest jet adjustment and I get showered! Thoughtlessness - again.

 

[mondocomputerman]

Wish I could CCW in my state, my governess just vetoed it!

 

[Ala Dan]

One way of looking at it is the fact that the sheriff's
deputy thought enough of the situation to stop and
check on your safety. Since NO laws were violated,
shake hands and wish him well; and mozy on about
your business.

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

 

[Viking6]

Congrats on the CCW; try and get your wife to use an ash tray for safety and courtesy.

 

[Kobun]

If the cig was fully extinguished, why worry about it flying back in the truck?
If it was still burning, does she even consider that it might start a fire?

 

[WhoKnowsWho]

Simple solution, stop smoking.

Congrats on getting the CCW and having a calm discussion with the LEO.

 

[Jack19]

I've always wondered....and I have to ask....

Do the same people who toss the butt out the window also just drop them on the floor of their living room?

OT I know...but curious none-the-less.

 

[Ben Shepherd]

O.K. folks, point made by now.

As for the gun side of this:
We need more encounters like this, so the LEO community in general can see we're not a bunch of crazy cooks. Glad it was a positive experience.

 

[JohnBT]

It's just a learned behavior. Well, way back in the dark ages, when men were men and nobody lived long enough to die of lung cancer, very few of the folks I knew smoked filtered cigarettes and the discarded butts just fell apart on the side of the road in short order - they're nothing but paper and tobacco.

As we all know, the cigs still fall apart, but the filters probably have a half-life of a thousand years.

Good idea not to tell the nice policeman that you've been looking for him.

John

 

[sturmruger]

Sound like you and the cop both handled well.

 

[Quartus]

Kinda sad that we're talking about how well this was "handled".


Would we talk about how well a casual conversation after church was "handled"?

People with guns ought to be just that routine.

 

[Shane333]

No offense intended, but I really hate it when people throw cigarettes out the window. Lots of fires get started in Utah from people tossing their cigarette out into the brush. Once I helped stomp out a roadside brush fire in my good shoes. It's amazing how fast those things can get out of hand. Anybody want to guess what caused the fire?

 

[Standing Wolf]

Toss a cig out the window in Colorado and see how fast you're fined and/or arrested.

Oh, yeah? I see people throwing cigarette butts out car windows all the time. Speaking strictly as a lifelong smoker: I'd sincerely like to see littering laws enforced, but never have.

 

[sendec]

Filters are some form of a fiberglass-like substance that'll take a zillion years to decay. I am not against smoking, but I do insist that anyone in my woods exercise a little caution re fire and pack out their remains. Old film cans make great containers for filters.

As for the encounter, having been on both sides I am not sure why these are viewed as extraordinary. I am sure cops have hassled CCW holders. I am also sure that the reverse is true.

I enforced litter laws. Everytime I stopped somebody in a similar situation the reponse was along the lines of "why are'nt you out chasing real criminals?" Then everybody who got a traffic ticket wanted to know why I was'nt tagging the litterbugs. You just can't please some people.

 

[JohnKSa]

It's a rare smoker who doesn't belive the world is his ashtray.

 

[larry_minn]

Ashtray. Nuff said.
The only items I toss out windows while driving in country are peanut shells/apple core/bananna peels. (mainly the first) I feel these items decompose in days not centuries.

 

[PATH]

First option use ashtray. Second option is to field strip cigarette.
Third option, stop smoking!

 

[stealthmode]

yeah use an ashtray i hate when people throw out their butts and it sparks by me or right infront of my car i think its a fire hazard also.