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Concealed Carry Corner: What To Do Around Police

Talyn

Talyn

SAINT
Founding Member
This week, it’s all about interacting with police in various situations depending on what part of the country you live in. Let’s take a closer look at what to do around police if you happened to get pulled over or stopped by police with a concealed handgun on your body.

Concealed Carry Corner: What To Do Around Police

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HansGruber said:
MN does not, and I will not inform unless asked to step out of the vehicle.

Too many jittery cops out there.
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I know a S ton of cops and I have asked most of them about this. There are no small number of them that say just keep your mouth shut, why escalate the situation. Most of those guys are younger and have way less time in. The older guys say they appreciate being told and think it generally creates less tension. I'm not sure what the correlation there is, but I'd guess it's because a lot of the younger guys just aren't really used to regular people carrying guns yet. They probably didn't encounter it much in their "So far" short adult lives.

Of course I know some "Jump out boys" in the city who are definitely not older and I don't think it would phase them a bit, though they are unlikely to be pulling people over in traffic stops. And my buddy who is currently serving as a bailiff in the county court is 62 and he said it really wouldn't make any difference to him either way.

I suppose if you follow the ( excellent) advice to shut the car off, roll the window down and keep your hands on the steering wheel you'll be fine either way.
 
Texas police have never been an issue.
I’ve been stopped many time for speeding and minor traffic offenses.
Declare my CCW, normal polite police interaction and on my merry way.
When local Sheriff office stopped me at 4am from a hog hunt, I thought he was going to 💩his pants.
NVG’s, Multiple AR’s , thermals, and various equipment in the truck.
He was “may I ask where you are coming from ? “ 🤣🤣🤣
 
As an LEO I pretty much assumed many of the people I made contact with were armed. Florida has had a concealed carry license law since 1987 and around 2 million have the license, so just about all currently serving officers are acclimated to the idea. Florida goes to permitless constitutional carry on 1 July so officers will have more reason to assume people are armed. With very few exceptions open carry is prohibited in public places.

Florida does not require you to inform, unless they ask. Know the law in your state. I appreciated it when people informed, and generally told them to not touch it and moved on. If we thought we might be making an arrest, or investigating a potential crime, we would take steps to secure the gun until finished. The circumstances of the stop will dictate . Officers ALWAYS have the right to secure their safety so it is best to not raise their suspicion.

Officers are always concerned about felons in possession of firearms, and about people who want to kill them, so they will continue to be hypervigilant to the presence of firearms.
 
Annihilator said:
Yea, kinda feel the same way, in Ohio you don’t have to notify, unless you want, but agree ☝️☝️
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Hmmm, when did Ohio change? It use to be you had to immediately inform at the beginning of any interaction with police. My wife got pulled over and the lady cop read her the riot act because she didn't inform her until she was asked.

In  PA, where I live, you don't have to notify.
 
I figure if you have a permit, the officer already know when he walks up to your window. Our state will go permitless carry July 1, but I will keep my permit for convenience when crossing state lines. I understand officers want to go home to their families when their shift is over, so they need to be cautious. Respect is a good thing.
 
I haven't been pulled over since 2008 or thereabouts. I have been told the first question the police ask you nowadays is do you have any weapons in the car. Assuming that's true, if a cop asked me that I actually wouldn't say anything I just I would just hand them my permit.

When I first got my permit I got pulled over by the state police driving home from work one night.

I didn't know it at the time but the particular cop that pulled me over was a lunatic who committed suicide about 8 months later after shooting his wife when she served him with divorce papers.

When the guy pulled me over he walked up to the car and introduced himself as Trooper so and so. He told me exactly why he stopped me. Then he told me that he was going to run my paperwork and that if everything checked out he was going to let me go with a warning.

It was actually the second time he pulled me over and the second time he released me with a warning.

so, he asked me for my license, registration and proof of insurance. While I was handing him all of that he asked me if there were any weapons in the vehicle. I didn't say anything I just pulled my permit out of my wallet and handed it to him with the other documents.

 I want to be clear, he had my handgun permit in his hand less than a minute after the interaction started.

He jumped back from the car and put his hand on his gun and started screaming at me. He told me that Colorado law required me to inform him that I had concealed handgun permit immediately upon contact. No such law exists. He threatened to take me to jail for not informing him. Again, no such law exists. After he screamed at me for another couple minutes he handed me back my documents (I don't even remember if he went and ran them) and let me go.

I made a decision that night that unless I was specifically asked I was never going to volunteer that information to the police.
I'm sorry and I mean no disrespect in what I'm about to say but you don't know who that cop standing outside your window is. You don't know if that's another Daniel Harless. You don't know if that's another Trooper Hayward.

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This is my wallet. If I get pulled over my license, registration and proof of Insurance are in my hand as soon as I take my keys out of the ignition. There's no reason for me to be reaching for anything in my car.

I've already said I haven't been pulled over in 14 or 15 years. There's also the fact that in Colorado Springs now the police aren't doing traffic stops anymore. So I think my odds are pretty low anyway.

I ran into cops all the time while I was armed as a security guard. I was open carrying and I never had a single cop comment on it.

One afternoon I was doing checks at The Parks and Rec building in Colorado Springs and five cops surrounded me. They got out of their cars and they told me that there had been a report of maybe a person in the woods across the street with a rifle. They asked me if I'd seen anything. Then they asked me if I was armed. There's literally five or six cops standing in the circle around me with (I assume) the senior cop talking to me. I watched the guy to my right look at my hip and as far as I know that's the first time any one of them knew whether or not I was carrying a gun. I wasn't on that particular assignment.
 
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I have only been stopped once ( mechanic forgot to reattach the right side front lights after a grill repair) since I had my LTC. Got my licenses and registration out before he came to my open window. I had my hands on the wheel. After he looked at the drivers and LTC, I told him where I was carrying. Everything went smoothly until he asked why my plates were registered to an F150 (as I was driving the Camry). Good thing I had the registration out.

In Texas, you can have the same Amateur Radio License Plate on up to 3 vehicles. The software they used to run the plate was not aware of this so confusion ensued. After a lengthy explanation and the display of my amateur license, all was well.

I completely trust the police but the politicians, not so much. With the advent of patrol car mounted license plate readers, I can see that blue state politicians would view the stopping of out of state LTC holders as a new form of the small town speed trap money pit.
 
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BobT said:
In Texas, you can have the same Amateur Radio License Plate on up to 3 vehicles. The software they used to run the plate was not aware of this so confusion ensued. After a lengthy explanation and the display of my amateur license, all was well.
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I want to be sure I understand what you just said, are you saying that you could have three different vehicles with the same license plate on them?

As in ABC-123 on 3 different vehicles?
 
somorris said:
I figure if you have a permit, the officer already know when he walks up to your window. Our state will go permitless carry July 1, but I will keep my permit for convenience when crossing state lines. I understand officers want to go home to their families when their shift is over, so they need to be cautious. Respect is a good thing.
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I would say the officer doesnt know because a license plate doesnt offer any details on the driver.
It could be a friend, spouse, child, whomever driving that car or someone without a permit that is carrying illegally.
 
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