All of this happened in Mid-May.
I am a disabled vet being treated for PTSD and ADD. About 1 months ago, I had a medication change.
On Tuesday, I went to the range. like any other day at the range, I put my pistol in my glove box when I was done ( a practice I am planning on discontinuing ). for some reason, I forgot to take my pistol back out.
On Wed, I puttered around with guns most of the day.
On Thursday, I was running late for my VA appt, so I threw on 'yesturday's pants' and ran out the door.
I'm checking into the VA, and I'm getting wieghed. While thinking about my wiehgt, I notice there is something heavy in one of my pockets.
Without thinking about it, or looking, I fish the heavy object out of my pocket and hand it to the nurse.
The heavy object was a fully loaded 10 round .45 magazine.
The police were called, and they asked me if I had a gun in the car. I said "no, I dont think so."
They asked if they could search the car. I agreed, because I figured that if I said no, they would hold me and get a warrent, and besides, there wasnt anything in the car anyhow, right?
turns out when I went to the range ( remember the range? ) I never took the pistol out of the car.
Now at no time did I do anything 'threatening', no did anyone I spoke with seem concerned that I might be dangerous. Stupid maybe, but not dangerous.
The police officer wrote me up for "having a firearm on federal property", and let me go.
He did ask me to check in with the mental health folks, and I said 'sure, let's go.'
The mental health folks were very interested in the medication changes, and asked me to take a drug test to verify what I was taking. I said 'sure'.
The tests will show that I was following my doctors orders, and that I was not taking anything -other- than what I was instructed to take.
The doctor -immediately, put me back on my old meds ( I can live with the side effects, there not that bad. )
The cops were very nice, and said that they were going to note in the report that I was 'friendly, compliant, and harmless.'
The US Attny finally got in touch with me, agreed the whole thing was fairly trivial, and offered me a 100.00 fine, and he would write a note to the police department in question, requesting the return of my hardware. Needless to say, I took it.
So simply by 'playing nice' the whole thing went from 6 months to a year in jail and 5 to 10 thousand dollars in fines, to 'gimmie a hundred bucks, and dont do it again.'
Now we get to see if the local police cheif wants to play ball. personally, I think he will.
I am a disabled vet being treated for PTSD and ADD. About 1 months ago, I had a medication change.
On Tuesday, I went to the range. like any other day at the range, I put my pistol in my glove box when I was done ( a practice I am planning on discontinuing ). for some reason, I forgot to take my pistol back out.
On Wed, I puttered around with guns most of the day.
On Thursday, I was running late for my VA appt, so I threw on 'yesturday's pants' and ran out the door.
I'm checking into the VA, and I'm getting wieghed. While thinking about my wiehgt, I notice there is something heavy in one of my pockets.
Without thinking about it, or looking, I fish the heavy object out of my pocket and hand it to the nurse.
The heavy object was a fully loaded 10 round .45 magazine.
The police were called, and they asked me if I had a gun in the car. I said "no, I dont think so."
They asked if they could search the car. I agreed, because I figured that if I said no, they would hold me and get a warrent, and besides, there wasnt anything in the car anyhow, right?
turns out when I went to the range ( remember the range? ) I never took the pistol out of the car.
Now at no time did I do anything 'threatening', no did anyone I spoke with seem concerned that I might be dangerous. Stupid maybe, but not dangerous.
The police officer wrote me up for "having a firearm on federal property", and let me go.
He did ask me to check in with the mental health folks, and I said 'sure, let's go.'
The mental health folks were very interested in the medication changes, and asked me to take a drug test to verify what I was taking. I said 'sure'.
The tests will show that I was following my doctors orders, and that I was not taking anything -other- than what I was instructed to take.
The doctor -immediately, put me back on my old meds ( I can live with the side effects, there not that bad. )
The cops were very nice, and said that they were going to note in the report that I was 'friendly, compliant, and harmless.'
The US Attny finally got in touch with me, agreed the whole thing was fairly trivial, and offered me a 100.00 fine, and he would write a note to the police department in question, requesting the return of my hardware. Needless to say, I took it.
So simply by 'playing nice' the whole thing went from 6 months to a year in jail and 5 to 10 thousand dollars in fines, to 'gimmie a hundred bucks, and dont do it again.'
Now we get to see if the local police cheif wants to play ball. personally, I think he will.
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