If you carry concealed, can you tell someone you have a gun?

[TargetTerror]

Suppose you are carrying concealed and someone asks you if you have a gun on you. If you answer that yes, you do have a gun, are you in violation of any provision of your CCW license?

I know that technically you haven't brandished or shown your gun, so it remains concealed in that regard. However, the whole point of concealed carry is that it is not obvious or known that you are packing.

 

[.cheese.]

If they ask you a question, and you answer their question, then no. There is nothing illegal about honestly answering that question, assuming you have a right to be carrying where you are.

However:
If you go up to some random guy and say, "I've got a gun." and the guy freaks out, you probably could/would get charged with something.

At the same time though, I suppose if they asked you, you said yes, and then they freak out and claim they never asked and you just threatened them.... well, it would suck to have to prove who did/said what.

 

[geekWithA.45]

There is no _general_ prohibition against disclosing that you are armed that I know of.

There really isn't any good reason to do so, though, encounters with police excepted.

People who know me also know that if I am wearing pants/shorts/a loincloth, that I'm armed. People who don't know me have no business one way or the other.

 

[Zundfolge]

In most states "brandishing" is showing your piece, but it usually has to be done on purpose and with the intention of frightening or intimidating someone.

Saying you're armed could be stretched to be interpreted as "brandishing" under the right circumstances (for example; "Don't back talk me bub, I have a gun!").

But I don't think thats the situation you're talking about.


In general I don't believe it would be a violation of the law anywhere to tell someone that you're carrying a concealed firearm but keep in mind I am not a lawyer, nor have I ever played one on TV. You really need to check the law where you live.

 

[MacEntyre]

respond with a question

"Are you wearing underwear?"

"Why do you hate your grandmother?"

"What time is it?"

 

[3rdpig]

"Are you wearing underwear?"

"Why do you hate your grandmother?"

"What time is it?"

Still beating your wife?

 

[LawBot5000]

Ask why it is any of his business.

 

[Smellvin]

If someone asks you if you're armed, scrunch up your nose, look upwards like you're thinking hard, pause for a moment, think of your best strange foreign accent, and excitedly say "FIVE!" Acceptable alternates would be "Brown," "Kitty," and "Wankle rotary engine."

 

[Green Lantern]

I was in this situation at work one evening. Just me and one supervisor. He asked if I had a gun with me.

First, I think I feel the start of "fight or flight" mode. Being a good employee, I do not have my gun with me. Thus I am well aware that we're both boned if something has happened that would really "need" a gun to deal with. I start scanning the store for any kind of threat that would warrant such a question. But it's actually empty at the time being. Still looking around, I ask "whyyyyyy...????"

A bunny rabbit.

There's a rabbit on the hill that's across from our "McPharmacy" drive-thru window, turns out he was just 100% jokingly asking I had a gun to shoot the rabbit with...

I don't think he caught my full "has the SHTF?!?!?!?" -wondering reaction to the question, which I guess is for the best.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

TargetTerror,
Is your State an open carry State like PA? If it is, it's fairly hard to get charged with brandishing especially for answering a direct question. You would have to actually do something very wrong to get charged. (Like start waving your gun around in a crowded supermarket LOL)

 

[Big Gay Al]

Not exactly in the same vein, but the other night, I had a customer come into buy a pack of cigarettes and got upset when she discovered, much to her dismay that her husband had failed to return her credit card. As she walks out, somewhat disgusted, she's saying how she's going to kill him when she gets a hold of him.

In my ever ready way to offer help, I piped up, "I could loan you a gun, if you need one." It worked, she broke up laughing. She returned less than a minute later, having borrowed some money from a friend, and bought the cigs. She was still laughing about my response, but she was definitely in a better mood.

 

[whm1974]

There's a rabbit on the hill that's across from our "McPharmacy" drive-thru window, turns out he was just 100% jokingly asking I had a gun to shoot the rabbit with...

I don't think he caught my full "has the SHTF?!?!?!?" -wondering reaction to the question, which I guess is for the best.

Is he AWARE that you have a CCW permit? Is CC allowed where you work at? Some things you shouldn't joke about while you are at work.

I could loan you a gun, if you need one.

And IF she did kill her husband, the police WILL be questioning you after they find out you made this joke.

Keep in mind, it's small stuff like this that people kill thier spouses over. you know the "straw that broke the camels back" sort of thing.

I would be very careful about what jokes I'll make if I was CCW. Too easy to be taken the wrong way.

-Bill

 

[sacp81170a]

The folks where I work my day job know that I'm a part time police officer and a concealed carry instructor. I'm always careful to secure my off duty carry weapon while at work. The funny part is that when something happens that scares everyone else into thinking there may be a physical confrontation (we have registers at the front counter where clerks deal with our membership) the first thing they do is ask if I have my gun. The personnel handbook says no firearms allowed, my department's policy says I should be armed when off duty, so I just make sure I can get to it quickly if needed. :banghead:

I'm authorized to carry in court, around judges and elected officials, but I obey the rules when I'm at work. :banghead:

Wish they'd wise up and let everyone who has a CCW carry.

 

[GLOCK19XDSC]

Q: "Are you carrying a gun?"
A: <puzzled facial expression> "Isn't everybody?"

 

[Green Lantern]

Is he AWARE that you have a CCW permit? Is CC allowed where you work at? Some things you shouldn't joke about while you are at work.

1) Maybe, though I haven't told him directly.
2) Nope, hence why I wasn't.
3) Agreed!

 

[gunsmith]

the only problem I've run into

was a few years ago when I first started packing was if people know, they do not hesitate to shout it at innappropriate(SIC) times.
One time I was in a casino talking to a friend who is a bartender and she exclaimed really loudly "you have two guns on you right now"!!!

 

[Spreadfire Arms]

Texas DPS, which instructs the CHL instructors, said in my training class that in their opinion (granted they are not lawyers but they are the legislative body that issues CHL's) you should not tell anyone you are armed because according to them, it is then no longer "concealed."

they cited an incident between two citizens arguing over a parking space. one had a CHL and was carrying. the second citizen noticed a bulge and asked him if he was carrying a gun. the CHL holder said he was carrying a gun but never threatened to use it, nor did he brandish it or display it.

DPS showed up and arrested the guy because it was no longer "concealed."

personally i think that is a bad arrest, but they used it as an example in my CHL instructor class.

my advice is to tell only your significant other or whoever you may be with, so if they brush up against you they don't blurt out, "oh my are you carrying a GUN?" or something equally stupid.

if someone asks you, who you don't know, if you are carrying, you can either say, "No," "None of your business," or even "Maybe," or act like you didn't even hear it. neither of them are a "yes" so really none of them can get you into trouble.

oh yeah also remember that you have to let LEO's know if you are carrying if you are being legally detained (in Texas).

 

[AndyC]

Unless it's an LEO, my answer would be along the lines of "And you need to know this because...?"

 

[Werewolf]

If they ask you a question, and you answer their question, then no. There is nothing illegal about honestly answering that question, assuming you have a right to be carrying where you are.

That depends entirely upon the state you are in and the law regarding concealment.

In Oklahoma the only person that has a right to know that you're carrying is a commissioned OK Police Officer and then only if he is making an official stop. At that point you are required to inform the officer if you are carrying.

If a non LEO becomes aware - no matter how - that you are carrying you've just violated various provisions of the OK Self Defense Act. If you are carrying an answer in the affirmative means your weapon has lost it's concealment. You could lose your CCW and be fined.

In OK if someone asks you if you're carrying the best answer is none of your business.

NOTE: Reality rears it's not so ugly head and I seriously doubt that anything would come of answering the question truthfully - but then some times worst case does happen.

 

[TargetTerror]

I find it interesting that many of you are advocating a non-committal answer such as "none of your business." Is there any problem with simply lying and saying that no, you don't have a gun on you when you do? (though obviously not to a LEO)

 

[jeffkirchner]

I was asked, once, "Is that a gun?" My answer was, "No, I'm just happy to see ya." That was as good as, "It's none of your business."

 

[AndyC]

I find it interesting that many of you are advocating a non-committal answer such as "none of your business." Is there any problem with simply lying and saying that no, you don't have a gun on you when you do? (though obviously not to a LEO)

That's the easiest response, sure, but I find it difficult to lie. Second, when one has been asked a rude question by someone who has no need or right to know the truth, I want a response with a bit more bite. A pointed riposte gives them a wake-up call - a verbal slap, if you will