Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
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  1. #1
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    Default Gun sniffing police dogs?

    I read an article today that says some Connecticut police dogs have been trained to sniff out hidden guns and ammo. Link below.

    https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/...sniffing-dogs/

    Anyone knowledgeable about how effective these dogs actually are? For those of us who are not qualified under HR 218, this puts concealed carry in non-permissive states in a whole new light. (Not that I or any of you would consider doing such a thing!) But nonetheless, I have talked to more than a few normally law abiding citizens male and female who would normally never do anything inappropriate with a firearm who say that the very small chance of a properly behaved citizen getting caught carrying concealed is vastly outweighed by the greater chance of getting robbed, stabbed or shot in some of the finer sections of the country.

    So if you are appendix carrying your freshly cleaned snubbie which has not been fired recently, is the dog going to sniff it out while you're walking from a restaurant with your wife back to your parked car? What about if it is locked up in a metal case in your trunk as you travel from one legal location to another? Does a dog alert for a "gun" give probable cause to search your car? What about your pocket knife that you occasionally lube with a drop of gun oil? Cn they sniff that out too? Thoughts?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Gun sniffing police dogs?

    Quote Originally Posted by sbmania View Post
    So if you are appendix carrying your freshly cleaned snubbie which has not been fired recently, is the dog going to sniff it out while you're walking from a restaurant with your wife back to your parked car?
    If the dog was given the opportunity to sniff you, yes. The dog will most likely trigger on the smell of Hoppes just as easily as it will trigger on gunpowder, and both have a scent strong enough for humans to detect - meaning a dog should have no issue whatsoever.


    Quote Originally Posted by sbmania View Post
    What about if it is locked up in a metal case in your trunk as you travel from one legal location to another? Does a dog alert for a "gun" give probable cause to search your car? What about your pocket knife that you occasionally lube with a drop of gun oil? Cn they sniff that out too? Thoughts?
    Yes, the dog can sniff all of that out.

    As for probable cause, that's a different story. I think it's been established in most if not all states that a drug dog getting a hit constitutes probable cause. But guns are different than drugs - they're legal. In most places, the fact that a dog detects you have guns on your person/in your car does not indicate/suggest that a crime has been/is being/will be committed, and therefore does not present probable cause without additional information (felon status, for example). But the cops in the anti states won't care about this detail, so you'll be left trying to argue that in court.

    IANAL.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Gun sniffing police dogs?

    Just watch 'North woods law" and the like; the all have dogs trained to find shotgun wads, etc.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Gun sniffing police dogs?

    I have a Golden retriever and he can definitely sniff out my CCW when I carry. He learned the smell since being a puppy and his cage being next tot he safe. He would smell the safe every time I opened it. When I carry, he bumps my waist area...pretty smart for a dog...

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Gun sniffing police dogs?

    Dogs can be trained to detect anything.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Gun sniffing police dogs?

    No creation of man can compare to the effectiveness of a dogs nose.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Gun sniffing police dogs?

    Watch Live PD one time. Those dogs might be able to smell drugs,guns, keys to a 74 Gremlin, whatever. They can certainly ‘sit’ on visual command. That ‘sit’ is then automatically(and criminally) construed as ‘ oh look, my doggie alerted on your civil rights flying out of the window’.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Gun sniffing police dogs?

    And that would eventually construct a percentage of false alarms. Given enough false alarms the "hit" of a dog would become unreliable and useless in the obtaining of probable cause. Thus, that scenario is not likely to occur.
    There are two kinds of guns. Those I have acquired, and those I hope to.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Gun sniffing police dogs?

    If they can detect cancer I'm sure they can detect guns.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Gun sniffing police dogs?

    Quote Originally Posted by MT1 View Post
    Dogs can be trained to detect anything.
    If they can detect Socialists...

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