Local police with gun registration???

[SwampFoxZ71]

When the officer asked if he had any weapons, more people per year are killed by fists and vehicles than by assault weapons, would the correct answer 'technically' have been yes?

Or the smartass answer with a question, "What is your definition of a weapon?"

[streaker69]

"I have nothing illegal."

Can you be 100% certain of that? How about that crack rock that fell out of the mechanic's pocket the last time you had your vehicle inspected? Or the baggie of pot stuffed under the dashboard by the previous owner in the used car you recently purchased? Or the pocket knife you have because the township you happen to be in recently passed a knife ordinance?

The best answer is silence, or affirming your right to remain silent.

[BimmerJon]

And in PA, what is the correct reply to such a question?

Am I free to go?

[NShortino]

This is why I keep my insurance and registration inside my pocket constitution, stuck right between the pages for the 4th and 5th amendments. That way no matter what they ask, they already have the answer with my paperwork.

[ray h]

Can you be 100% certain of that? How about that crack rock that fell out of the mechanic's pocket the last time you had your vehicle inspected? Or the baggie of pot stuffed under the dashboard by the previous owner in the used car you recently purchased? Or the pocket knife you have because the township you happen to be in recently passed a knife ordinance?

The best answer is silence, or affirming your right to remain silent.

It doesn't matter if you have anything illegal or not, the answer is still "I have nothing illegal". You won't be charged with lieing because it's not illegal unless it's a federal officer you are talking to.

[jw34]

They do have access on their MDT. I've witnessed it.

Maybe some systems, but definitely not ALL.
Our county system in Berks does not have that info. LTCF status & ROS data info has to be specifically requested by the officer via dispatch. Dispatch gets that info from a terminal that cops cannot access. From our in-car terminals, we can run vehicles for ownership/registration info, people for drivers license status and warrants, and any item for stolen.
I have seen software programs in other departments (Reading City PD) where officers or dispatchers can link "important" data to names, addresses or vehicles.
So if person A was involved in an incident years ago involving a gun, a "flag" can be assigned to pop up when that name, address or plate is queried in the system.
County depts here have two seperate software systems, one for dispatching calls, linked with the dispatch center, and another system for internal use (report writing, etc). If I plug your name into the first system, I'll get your driver license and a warrant query. Internal system will tell me every incident you're linked to, etc.
Reading's might be done all thru one software system.
There are many more software programs, and every county or dispatch center chooses their own. We've been thru three different dispatch systems in the last 12 years in Berks. 10 years ago, our program would automatically run the vehicle owners drivers license when a license plate was entered. Our most recent program doesn't do that now, but has GPS mapping which I find ironic. (First part of the job is to learn every street, block, and alley). Guess the youngsters need to rely on computers for everything.

[ForeverPA]

"I have nothing illegal."

We'll see about that.

[BenP]

In a casual conversation with a friend, he brought up that he had been pulled over (for what I would assume was a traffic violation) and when the officer approached his vehicle he was asked if he had any weapons.

When he stated that he did not, the officer asked him again stating that he knew he was a gun owner.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I know this is secondhand information, but I had stated the conversation about gun control laws, etc... and he then told me this story.

It's possible since the ROS can be searched by name and date of birth. He could of ran his name through the ros after running his plate.

[The Unknown 1087]

"I have nothing illegal."

Would that make them suspicious though? "Why would he/she that? Do they have something??"

I know a few years ago that they did, but I haven't been involved with it for a while. I knew there were all kinds of issues with the amount of data they were trying to get to the terminals all those years ago, don't know if those issues were resolved or not.

Oh I didn't know that. It's been two years or so since I've witnessed it. I'll have to ask sometime soon.

[Iceman]

I don't know if he was in a personal or his business vehicle at the time... I have never seen anything stuck on any of his vehicles at all.

He does not have a carry permit either, so it would not have been linked to this.

Berks\Lehigh area.

From the way I took it, when the officer first came up to him was when he was asked, so linked to the plate number?