concealed carry in a nice car hypothetic situation
- Thread starter hudson231
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Over a 16 year career I have had one instance of being involved in an exchange on a traffic stop with a subject who had already shot at police in another jurisdiction. Unfortunately, when I encountered him I didn't have that information because it happened in a jurisdiction that was pretty far away and had happened some time earlier. Fortunately, I was not hurt...but encountering someone who is armed and means to harm you is a sobering event in your career. It doesn't have to happen often...it only has to happen once.
My agency has had numerous close calls over the years and is bordered by agencies where there have been a handful of officer involved shootings with relation to traffic stops over the past 15 years.
Oh...and when I went to the Academy almost 17 years ago it was 20 weeks. It is considerably longer now.
I get the distinct feeling that no matter what I say it won't change your mind, and that's fine. I don't care. The donut shop is a place to ask questions and hopefully get answers. It's not a place to politic about the perceived abuses of police. There are other threads for that.
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Thankfully, it doesn't happen as often as it could. I like it to attribute that fact to the safety standard my officers are trained to.
You are quite misinformed... My academy training, for example, consisted of 24 weeks of law enforcement training, followed by 3 months of field training (and a 1 year probationary period). The training I received during my academy, although not as physically strenuous, was much tougher and longer than the military boot camp I attended.
The issue you have with law enforcement sounds like a personal problem you created.
I would like to thank everyone for there .02 and just for the record i have no issue with the officer taking my weapon while im stopped ( long as he doesn't scratch my car lol) I completely under stand that he/she has no idea if i am a good ol' god fearing weapon owning american or the next Ted Bundy. And the one thing i have learned about being pulled over is be respectful, be honest, and realize that the cop is just doing there job and that will work out much better for everyone involved.
It would be great if everybody had this mentality and outlook.
quad is a cop hater. y'all can do nothing right in his eyes.
I don't know about his agency but it happens all the damn time way too often for a cop to be complacent in ensuring his safety
much rather him than a non-cop with 6 hours of training so he could get his CC permit.
Funny Story me and a buddy years ago were going to a outdoor gun range and along the way we were pulled over for speeding. We or I since I was driving told the officer we were carrying and handed our permits to him along with my license, etc... The officer asked if we could hand him our firearms. (He did not know we were on our way to the range) so we began to hand him our weapons. I was carrying a glock 20 and a glock 32 in twin holsters behind my back and had a glock 26 on my ankle. My buddy was carrying 3 pistols on him as well and between the seats we had 2 shotguns and 2 Colt carbines and a Remington 700. By the time he was being handed the 5th pistol he was laughing and said stop stop. Be safe and slow down. I couldnt imagine what might have happened if I was a jerk to the officer and carrying that much in my vehicle, legal or not.
Treating an officer with respect and courtesy will get you much further than being an asshat. Every traffic stop is another encounter where they may have to use deadly force and if an officer asked me to do something entirely reasonable to make them feel safer and more comfortable during a traffic stop I will gladly do it because it's a kind gesture and stuff like that helps people get a warning instead of a citation. Yeah you may have a CCW and you may not have a duty to inform or hand over your gun. as long as you're willing to accept the consequences then go ahead but depending upon where you carry in relation to your license you may end up getting ventilated at worst or staring down the business end of a service weapon at best. Me, I'm gonna be Mr. Nice Guy because I'd rather get a warning than pay out a fine along with increased insurance rates and I certainly don't want to get a couple extra holes installed or a forceful introduction to the pavement until we work things out.
Not saying police officers are trigger happy, but in a situation where fractions of a second matter I certainly wouldn't fault an officer for firing in a scenario like that.
Several years ago, and being the only one in the vehicle, I was pulled over while driving my friends pickup to a real estate closing. The reason for the traffic stop was due to my friend not having a front license plate on his pickup (required in Colorado). Upon pulling over the officer approached as I hit the button to roll the window down and replaced my hand on the steering wheel where the other hand already was. Once he was at the window and had a clear view of the cab and had asked for my license and registration, I complied and also handed him my ccw permit while stating my firearm was concealed on my right hip.
He asked me to hand him my "weapon"......................................... stating that he preferred to be the only one armed on a traffic stop. As logical as that sounds, I was in shock. If I reach for my firearm and he had shot me, how would that look? If I didn't comply how would that look? This officer didn't know me, what if I hadn't been trained appropriately and upon removing my firearm (with one in the chamber and no manual safety) from a seated position (while wearing a seat belt) I had caused a N.D. scenario and possibly injured myself, him or an innocent third party? What if I hadn't been a law abiding citizen and used his request to carry out something terrible?
I complied, the officer took my firearm, returned to his cruiser and ran my info. When he returned he handed me the firearm completely field stripped and then handed me the 17 rds of ammunition from the magazine. He then proceeded to chat with me about firearms, and said calmly and politely "you can go ahead and load that back up now."
I'm not in any way stating that law enforcement is not a dangerous job and a traffic stop is not a dangerous situation. What I am stating, is that my opinion would be that an officer in that situation should take my credentials, request I remain with my hands on the wheel and call for a backup officer to babysit me while he conducts the duration of his stop.
He asked me to hand him my "weapon"......................................... stating that he preferred to be the only one armed on a traffic stop. As logical as that sounds, I was in shock. If I reach for my firearm and he had shot me, how would that look? If I didn't comply how would that look? This officer didn't know me, what if I hadn't been trained appropriately and upon removing my firearm (with one in the chamber and no manual safety) from a seated position (while wearing a seat belt) I had caused a N.D. scenario and possibly injured myself, him or an innocent third party? What if I hadn't been a law abiding citizen and used his request to carry out something terrible?
I complied, the officer took my firearm, returned to his cruiser and ran my info. When he returned he handed me the firearm completely field stripped and then handed me the 17 rds of ammunition from the magazine. He then proceeded to chat with me about firearms, and said calmly and politely "you can go ahead and load that back up now."
I'm not in any way stating that law enforcement is not a dangerous job and a traffic stop is not a dangerous situation. What I am stating, is that my opinion would be that an officer in that situation should take my credentials, request I remain with my hands on the wheel and call for a backup officer to babysit me while he conducts the duration of his stop.
But then he would have had you on the side of the road for longer than required, which is also a legitimate safety concern. Not to mention the using additional assets that may be busy or moving them away from something more important than a no front plate "fix-it" ticket. I'm no LEO but reasonably speaking, he probably made the best call.
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