Police officer thinks barrel shroud is a suppressor

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Okay--here's what happended, cause I do it alot. You come home late at night, and have multiple trips to the car, and you think you are done. So you lock the front door and go to bed. Next morning you hatch or door are wide open. This might look suspicious to a police officer. S/He drives by and sees the trunk open no big deal. Drive by again an hour later and it is still open. Might look like someone broke into your car, so the officer just looks to make sure--notices the gun--in an open trunk. Now that is suspcious. It all worked out well for you.
 
Okay, I got a question... why would that be called a barrel shroud? The barrel is already shrouded by nature of the design. That piece on the end attaches to the muzzle by way of a set screw. Barrel shroud no, flash suppressor yes. Maybe that's what the officer was thinking? That is was a suppressor of some kind?
 
OK. You still have the car, right? Still got the gun? Still have your freedom, too?


Great. Here's the lesson: don't leave a gun in an unattended vehicle unless the case is secure both to the car and as an enclosure Secure your vehicle when you park it and walk away.

Do you really need some strangers on a public gun forum to know that you screwed-up? Other than to tell you not to screw-up again lest you be more unlucky than the first time?
 
I'm with "the cops did good" camp. You goofed, but got a lesson without incident. Under the circumstances, you can comfortably say, "that's why they put erasers on pencils".
 
The cop was doing exactly what cops should do.

1. Most crimes are crimes of opportunity.
2. Criminals tend to operate in areas where they have success.

If the opportunity to easily commit a crime is removed, then the criminal's success rate in your neighborhood goes down, which nudges the bad guys to seek greener pastures. This cop actually did what people like to think cops do all the time: he prevented a crime.
 
Obviously an "all's well that ends well" situation. I did the same thing as the LEO many times. Dome light left on, door open, etc etc. Good PR for the most part.
Probably a rookie trying to gain brownie points with the sgt.
A couple of weeks ago the game warden came by the place I shoot at on the river and my buddy, who owns the place, had a new GSG5. He asked about the fake suppressor and thought it kinda cool when showed it screwed off.

As far as illegal search goes, I think you can stretch the plain view doctrine to a unlocked gun case pretty easily.
 
Okay, I got a question... why would that be called a barrel shroud? The barrel is already shrouded by nature of the design. That piece on the end attaches to the muzzle by way of a set screw. Barrel shroud no, flash suppressor yes. Maybe that's what the officer was thinking? That is was a suppressor of some kind?
Click to expand...

Wrong-O, broski; that thing is clamped onto the exterior of the barrel, and the shroud ends where the muzzle end. It covers, or shrouds, if you will, the barrel.
 
Ah, okay...got it. I didn't realize it was the barrel you could see through the holes, I thought that was the inner wall-opposite side that you were looking at. Thanks.

Hey at least I didn't confuse it with the "shoulder thing that goes up". Funny thing, at least to me. Poor design for a barrel shroud. I understand it's to keep you from toasting your hands on a hot barrel but I assume that is made from metal, more than likely aluminium.... so in effect it's nothing more than a heat sink to radiate heat away. If the barrel is too hot to touch I can't imagine that being much cooler. Weren't most barrel shrounds wood in the beginning and has they became metal they actually surrounded the barrel without really touching it? Holes for ventilation but providing an air space to insulate you from touching the barrel so to speak.

(Sorry.. I think the OP has been scolded adequately already so I will not offer my thoughts but instead thought I would take the opportunity to learn about "shoulder things that go up" ;) )
 
Let me get this straight:

The cop does you a major solid by preventing a nice gun from getting stolen and you rag because he doesn't know what a barrel shrould is?

You got a funny way of showing appreciation.
 
Hey at least I didn't confuse it with the "shoulder thing that goes up". Funny thing, at least to me. Poor design for a barrel shroud. I understand it's to keep you from toasting your hands on a hot barrel but I assume that is made from metal, more than likely aluminium.... so in effect it's nothing more than a heat sink to radiate heat away. If the barrel is too hot to touch I can't imagine that being much cooler. Weren't most barrel shrounds wood in the beginning and has they became metal they actually surrounded the barrel without really touching it? Holes for ventilation but providing an air space to insulate you from touching the barrel so to speak.
(Sorry.. I think the OP has been scolded adequately already so I will not offer my thoughts but instead thought I would take the opportunity to learn about "shoulder things that go up" )
Click to expand...

LOL, I doubt it fits tightly enough to steal all of the heat from the barrel.
 
I work at a PD in a small town as a dispatcher. Out of 15 cops only 4 of them are gun enthusiasts. Ive had one of them argue with me for a good hour telling me I couldn't own hollow points and that I better give them to him. I finally convinced him by calling the state police and having them tell him its not illegal. More then a few of them don't even know what model Glock they carry. So I am not surprised they thought that was a suppressor. It seems they were helping you out though. Could have been worse. At least a crack head didn't find it first.
 
Any theories on how your trunk was opened??
Click to expand...

my guess it that someone accidentally pushed the "open trunk" button on the key fob when they intended to push the "lock" button.... heard a "click" noise and kept walking...

What made the cop not think someone was going an coming from the house, getting things from the trunk, like groceries
Click to expand...

um.. maybe he sat there for several minutes and made a reasonable logical deduction....

sheesh!
 
I highly doubt the cops just randomly opened the trunk. I am betting that someone in your party left the trunk open leaving the carbine in plain sight... prompting a passerby to call the police. You should consider yourself lucky that your gun didn't get ripped off. Thats a nice piece BTW.
 
How does having a cased rifle locked in your car trunk do anything to make you safer in absence of a CCW?

Ok, so Mr. RM23 and his lovely wife and kids are coming out of Applebee's discussing the lovely faux wall decorations

Suddenly, John W. Crackhead is right at the outside door, starts begging you for money politely, you keep telling him no and he won't listen, finally he starts more and more angry and in your face and eventually pulls out a knife on you and starts demanding your wallet.

What do you do now? Shove him away, run 50 feet to the car, pull out the car keys, open the trunk, snap the 2-4 latches on the case open, pull the gun out of the trunk, (i'm assuming it's loaded, otherwise, insert magazine, cycle action) aim at him and gun him down from across the parking lot?

How can you justify that as self defense in the court of common sense???

That's ridiculous. The beretta in the trunk is not keeping you any safer. It sounds to me like you own a magical security totem, not a firearm. And you did something very irresponsible with it by leaving it out. A good cop did you a big favor and instead you complain he wasn't sure what a barrel shroud is. Despite the fact that he was polite, asked a superior who did know, and inconvenienced you as little as possible and potentially prevented a very serious crime.

My advice to you, leave the security totem inside.
 
I am no lover of the police in this country due to there often times acting more like thugs than police officers. HOWEVER in this case I have to say that the officer seems to have acted in an honorable manner. He did nothing unreasonable and surely didn't hassle you in any manner. I believe you owe this good officer a thank you for securing my weapon sir and I will be more careful in the future. I wish there were more good cops like him it would go a long way in regaining my trust. FRJ
 
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