Do you Inform if pulled over while carrying?

[bwframe]

I hand the officer my pink card along with my drivers license. I do it for selfish reasons and it has worked every time since I started doing it years ago. The "common courtesy" of informing up front has turned a handful of speeding tickets into warnings.

To qualify, I've yet to do this with state police. Also, Bloomington police did confiscate my handgun to "check for stolen," still no ticket though. (Learned it might be time for a BUG.)

 

[Hornett]

(Learned it might be time for a BUG.)

I have thought about putting a Phoenix HP22a in the compartment next to my seat so I would have something give up if need be.
HP22A ? Phoenix Arms
The best part about the HP22 (if you have never owned one) is that they are made in Commiefornia and they have safeties ALL OVER them.
You can't take the magazine out unless the safety is on.
So if you put it on safe to remove the mag, the slide is locked and you cannot put the gun back on fire without putting the magazine back in.
You just can't get that last round out of the chamber, no matter how you try.
You end up physically racking the slide repeatedly with the gun off safe to get the bullets out.
I could give that to an ornery officer and let him go crazy trying to unload it.

I have never done that because it really is dangerous.
If the officer would have an AD or hurt their self, I would feel terrible.
It's borderline criminal, but it has crossed my mind.

For the edification of the masses, (the 2 or 3 that might be interested) here is the correct way to unload an HP22a, it can be done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_lktuayM48

 

[Coltsfan33]

Yes

 

[bobzilla]

I can't answer this one. I try to not get pulled over to start with. Just seems to make the interactions with LEO go smoother when there isn't one. BUT... if it does happen, I will not go out of my way to inform. I also won't lie.

 

[Cameramonkey]

I hand the officer my pink card along with my drivers license. I do it for selfish reasons and it has worked every time since I started doing it years ago. The "common courtesy" of informing up front has turned a handful of speeding tickets into warnings.

To qualify, I've yet to do this with state police. Also, Bloomington police did confiscate my handgun to "check for stolen," still no ticket though. (Learned it might be time for a BUG.)

Just curious for any LEOs (or lawyers) out there. What is the PC for running the gun to verify if it is stolen? The simple fact of a moving violation? Or does this rank right up there with "officer safety" and is just a BS excuse to overreach?

 

[DragonGunner]

Just curious for any LEOs (or lawyers) out there. What is the PC for running the gun to verify if it is stolen? The simple fact of a moving violation? Or does this rank right up there with "officer safety" and is just a BS excuse to overreach?

Not law but your right, its just BS along with officer safety. No reason at to ask about a gun, no reason to take the gun for any reason…..a phone call to Guy R. would be in order.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

This thread is illustrating my dilemma.

It is unusual for me to get pulled over. I'm not too hard on the gas pedal, I use my turn signals, stop at stop signs, etc. When I do get pulled over, my primary goal is nobody getting hurt, officers, passengers, myself, other cars passing, etc. When I see lights behind me, I first look for a spot to pull over that limits the chances of someone getting hit by a passing car. I also do not want a ticket or get involved in some needless drama, but that naturally comes after my concerns for the safety of everyone involved.

I have never proactively informed and have never been asked. I am not opposed to the officer knowing that I am armed as I am a proper person and a citizen. I am reluctant to tell the officer that I am armed because I am concerned that the officer will want to take possession of my firearms, take them out of their holsters and generally dick around with them on the side of the road. The side of the road is not a safe place to be dicking around with firearms and a traffic stop is not a safe time to be doing it.
My concerns are compounded by the likelihood that I will not be carrying just one gun, but possibly also a bug and there is a fair chance that my vehicle will also have a handgun in a locked box and a rifle, also locked up but usually buried under a bunch of tools of various types. Good grief, if I tell the officer that I am armed and he wants to take possession of my firearm, is he going to take the gun from my hip, my pocket, my locked box, unload everything from the back seat and unlock the rifle and haul all this **** back to his car to finger ****, call in numbers, disassemble, etc? If I am not going to tell the officer about my bug or the guns locked up in various places, why tell him about the one on my hip? If I were to lie, I would lie about all of them and if I am going to shut up, I would shut up about all of them.

If I refuse to answer the question "do you have a firearm on you?", I am concerned with becoming interesting to the officer. I do not want his approval, but I also do not want his curiosity and I have no interest in a roadside urination contest. I appreciate that he has an important and dangerous job to do, but how do I know that he has the sense to know that the side of the road is not the proper place for anyone to be cute with guns.

I am not out cruising for drunk driver checkpoints hoping to put a cute video up on youtube of me educating an officer about the law on the side of the road. I just want the traffic stop to end as quickly and safely as possible so the officer and myself can go back to our business.

If I could expect an officer to conduct himself in a reasonable and predictable manner (to be clear, I consider dicking around with firearms on the side of the road to be unreasonable), I would have no issue informing the officer that I was armed. As the situation stands, I will not volunteer the information unprovoked and am still torn on how to answer if the officer asks. I do not think I would lie, but I hate to answer in the affirmative, and I hate to refuse to answer the question.


I have not noticed any of our officers chiming in on this thread. Maybe the title does not interest them or they are not posting do to an expectation that it would turn into a cop bashing thread or they would be called to explain and defend every action by every other officer throughout history around the entire world. That said, I would welcome their thoughts on this as seeing things from both sides could be enlightening.

It is most helpful reading your various theories and experiences. Please continue!

 

[ATM]

...If I refuse to answer the question "do you have a firearm on you?", I am concerned with becoming interesting to the officer. I do not want his approval, but I also do not want his curiosity and I have no interest in a roadside urination contest.

Anyone who understands their rights is an interesting curiosity these days. Consider which of your rights you would be willing to waive in order to remain uninteresting.

If a contest of wills escalates, as the officer becomes louder and more insistent that you answer his questions, become even more silent to match his intensity. They hate it when you get more silent.

...and I hate to refuse to answer the question.

Why do you hate Liberty?

 

[Cameramonkey]

And Bubba reminded me of a cool story.

Grandma gets pulled over. Cop asks her if she knows how fast she was going. She says she does, and the officer asks if she has any weapons in the car. She replies that she has a pistol in the center console, a pistol in the glove box, and a rifle in the trunk. Oh, and there is a dead body in the trunk as well.

The officer is flabbergasted and orders her out of the car as he radios for backup. He cuffs her and stuffs her in his car and the supervisor arrives and they start tearing the car apart.

A little while later the supervisor comes back to the car and says "Maam, we tore that car apart and didnt find anything. The officer said you told him you had three guns and a dead body in the car."

The old lady replies "I bet that SOB also said I was speeding, too!"

 

[rhino]

I've told the story more than once on here about when I was pulled over just outside of Spencer when some Spencer police officers were apparently on a fishing expedition. I won't repeat it, but I do think I answered too many questions that got increasingly more invasive. Then came the trick questions like "you realize your license is almost expired, don't you?" when it was actually good for several more years. When they asked me if I had a gun on me, I said, "Of course I do," because I was trying to get home and they were interrogating me for no reason. One of them asked me, "where is it" and I know he was planning to take it from me when I said, "Which one?" That made him stop moving toward me because he was confused. He asked me what I meant, so I explained that you asked me where the gun was and I responded by asking him which gun he wanted to know about. That confused him and his partner more, and he finally said, "Well, don't go for it and we won't have any problems." Yeah, kind of like if you hadn't asked in the first place?

My fault for engaging in conversation and losing my patience. In the future, if I get pulled over again, I choose not to answer questions that I deem are not pertinent to a traffic stop.

By contrast, a few years ago when ISP stepped-up traffic enforcement on US-231 between Lafayette and Crawfordsville, I got pulled over three times. They were stopping people who are going over 55 even by a little. The first time I got a written warning, but the officer admitted that he didn't know how fast I was going. Not sure how that was supposed to work. The second time, I got a written warning for having one of two license plate lights out, even though only one light is required. Not sure how that was supposed to work, but whatever. The third time I was in a 45mph zone, but thought I was in a 55. The officer was ahead of me and caught me with the radar that faces backward. He asked me to slow down, pay attention to where the speed limit changes, and then said he would not write a ticket because he was going faster than I was. I was impressed!

In all three cases, the ISP guys were professional and none of them asked any questions that were not related to the alleged traffic violation. I approve!

 

[kolob10]

I been stopped 4 times in my life. The most recent was by a Morgan County officer. He said I was exceeding the speed limit (didn't say by how much). He told me to sit tight while he ran my license and plates. He returned and told me to slow down and have a nice day. He never asked if I had a weapon. The previous three stops were all different. One was on new year's eve. Officer said I didn't dim my brights (never had my brights on). He asked if I had a weapon in the vehicle. I replied that I did. He asked where and I told him in the glove box. He said just leave it there. He never asked for my license or insurance papers. He told me to have a nice night. Third time My wife was stopped while I was the passenger. We had a tail light out. Bloomington officer asked if we had weapons. I replied yes. He asked where? I said in the glove box. He told me not to move, came around the truck,reached in front of me in the glove box and removed the gun. He asked me if it was loaded, I said yes. He took the gun and my wife's license to his car and called two more cars to assist him. After about 15 minutes he returned to the truck and placed the gun on the dash with the slide and mag removed. He returned to his car and he and his buddies laughed for a minute or two and returned with a warning. The other time I was stopped by a Bargersville officer in the wee hours of the morning (coming from a late night at work). He asked if I had any drugs or weapons in the car. I replied that I had a pistol in a shoulder holster on my left side. He asked me to place my hands out the window and get out of the vehicle. He reached in and removed the pistol (45 ACP Colt). He promptly remove the mag, ejected the chambered round in the dirt beside the truck and told me to place my hands on the hood of the truck while he checked to see if the gun was stolen. I asked why he had stopped me. He said I bobbled within my lane. I smiled and waited. He returned to the truck and placed the gun on the top of the vehicle and threw my unloaded mag in the seat of the truck. I asked him if I was free to go and he said yes but I should watch myself when I come through Bargersville. He started to leave but noticed a sack in the seat of the truck (my lunch bag). He asked if there was anything illegal in the bag. I said no unless chocolate chip cookies were illegal. I then offered him a cookie. He was not amused. I left and he followed me for a few miles. I was careful not to bobble in Bargersville from that day forward.

I was with my sons one day near Bargersville. My son was speeding and was pulled over. Officer asked if there were any weapons in the car? My son said yes. The officer asked where? My son pointed to his side and to me and his brother. Officer was in training with the training officer standing to the rear of the car. The training officer asked us to pass the guns through the drivers window. We reluctantly complied due to safety concerns. Officers did the routine checks and returned with the guns. My Kimber 45 acp now had a big scratch on the slide where they had attempted to remove the slide I guess. The trainer came back with the guns and asked why my son had an aftermarket (Stainless) barrel in his Glock? Since I had given the gun to my son my son turned to me with a puzzled look. I explained to the officers why I had changed the barrel. He said he was a department trained Glock armourer and had never heard of my reason before (we shoot cast bullets for practice - they are cheaper - Glocks don't like cast bullets). I suggested he call Glock and inquire. He was not happy with my response. My son received a ticket.

Will I inform in the future? Yes, just a courtesy to the officer. They have a tough job!

 

[looney2ns]

I travel a lot and have a tough time keeping up with individual laws by state. I always inform no matter where I am.

Handgunlaw.us

 

[Tanfodude]

I have been pulled over so many times (lost count of them) from different counties and not once have I been asked if I had a weapon. What gives?

This thread is illustrating my dilemma.

It is unusual for me to get pulled over. I'm not too hard on the gas pedal, I use my turn signals, stop at stop signs, etc. When I do get pulled over, my primary goal is nobody getting hurt, officers, passengers, myself, other cars passing, etc. When I see lights behind me, I first look for a spot to pull over that limits the chances of someone getting hit by a passing car. I also do not want a ticket or get involved in some needless drama, but that naturally comes after my concerns for the safety of everyone involved.

I have never proactively informed and have never been asked. I am not opposed to the officer knowing that I am armed as I am a proper person and a citizen. I am reluctant to tell the officer that I am armed because I am concerned that the officer will want to take possession of my firearms, take them out of their holsters and generally dick around with them on the side of the road. The side of the road is not a safe place to be dicking around with firearms and a traffic stop is not a safe time to be doing it.
My concerns are compounded by the likelihood that I will not be carrying just one gun, but possibly also a bug and there is a fair chance that my vehicle will also have a handgun in a locked box and a rifle, also locked up but usually buried under a bunch of tools of various types. Good grief, if I tell the officer that I am armed and he wants to take possession of my firearm, is he going to take the gun from my hip, my pocket, my locked box, unload everything from the back seat and unlock the rifle and haul all this **** back to his car to finger ****, call in numbers, disassemble, etc? If I am not going to tell the officer about my bug or the guns locked up in various places, why tell him about the one on my hip? If I were to lie, I would lie about all of them and if I am going to shut up, I would shut up about all of them.

If I refuse to answer the question "do you have a firearm on you?", I am concerned with becoming interesting to the officer. I do not want his approval, but I also do not want his curiosity and I have no interest in a roadside urination contest. I appreciate that he has an important and dangerous job to do, but how do I know that he has the sense to know that the side of the road is not the proper place for anyone to be cute with guns.

I am not out cruising for drunk driver checkpoints hoping to put a cute video up on youtube of me educating an officer about the law on the side of the road. I just want the traffic stop to end as quickly and safely as possible so the officer and myself can go back to our business.

If I could expect an officer to conduct himself in a reasonable and predictable manner (to be clear, I consider dicking around with firearms on the side of the road to be unreasonable), I would have no issue informing the officer that I was armed. As the situation stands, I will not volunteer the information unprovoked and am still torn on how to answer if the officer asks. I do not think I would lie, but I hate to answer in the affirmative, and I hate to refuse to answer the question.


I have not noticed any of our officers chiming in on this thread. Maybe the title does not interest them or they are not posting do to an expectation that it would turn into a cop bashing thread or they would be called to explain and defend every action by every other officer throughout history around the entire world. That said, I would welcome their thoughts on this as seeing things from both sides could be enlightening.

It is most helpful reading your various theories and experiences. Please continue!

 

[The Bubba Effect]

I have been pulled over so many times (lost count of them) from different counties and not once have I been asked if I had a weapon. What gives?

Apparently sometimes they ask and sometimes it turns into a circus.

 

[Cameramonkey]

I dont blame our officers for not chiming in. They all get it and several even train other departments on why RAS is required and why "officer safety" is a BS reason as I recall.

I'd be *****ing up a storm if my nice 1911 came back with a brand new idiot scratch due to officer neglegence.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

I dont blame our officers for not chiming in. They all get it and several even train other departments on why RAS is required and why "officer safety" is a BS reason as I recall.

I'd be *****ing up a storm if my nice 1911 came back with a brand new idiot scratch due to officer neglegence.

I'd be ****ting bricks if I was sitting in a car on the side of the road with three other guys carrying carrying loaded and holstered handguns and the officer told us to unholster from our seated positions and hand them out the window to him. What a complete and total cluster****.

I honestly think at that point I would have to politely refuse and tell the officer that I think it is unsafe to draw guns in a car and hand them around. If he wanted us out of the car and wanted to disarm us, I would not refuse that, but a car load of guys drawing and fumbling with loaded guns in a car at a traffic stop is jut stupid.

 

[ATM]

... The training officer asked us to pass the guns through the drivers window. We reluctantly complied due to safety concerns.

There isn't a taser battery strong enough to make me comply with such a moronic request.

...Will I inform in the future? Yes, just a courtesy to the officer. They have a tough job!

Developing PC to arrest me is supposed to be tough. If helping him is courteous, I guess I'll just stop at being polite.

 

[Joniki]

Handgunlaw.us

I am well aware of this web site and I have the app on my phone.

 

[RapidRounds]

I can't remember or I would post a link. I remember a course a few years back that had officers explain and demonstrate what to do when pulled over carrying. They recommended that when you are approached by an officer you hand them your driver's license as well as your concealed carry permit without saying stupid things like... "I have a gun" or saying anything in that regard. These officers continued to explain that sometimes they ride in pairs some of which are rookies and they might be quick to react to those types of comments. Once they see the very distinctive pink carry permit you won't have to say anything. They will probably be extremely appreciative of your disclosure and respect for the law. Being a fan of the show Cops I did see an episode where the officer gathered the information from driver and passenger then went back to his patrol car. Upon returning he then asked if there were any drugs or firearms in the car. Once he discovered there was a gun in the car he was pretty pissed. Obviously he had suspicion however it would have been better for the guy to have disclosed this. I have personally used this method. He never asked me to get out or ask where it was. The cop went to his car, wrote me a ticket brought back both my licenses and never mentioned a thing about it.

 

[ATM]

...Upon returning he then asked if there were any drugs or firearms in the car. Once he discovered there was a gun in the car he was pretty pissed.

What was he pissed about? There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a gun in the car.

Obviously he had suspicion however it would have been better for the guy to have disclosed this...

How might it have been better to have disclosed this? I can only imagine it would have made things worse with an officer who becomes pissed when encountering armed citizens.