The cop asks if I have any firearms...

[wa3ra]

Yes, it WAS an unfinished thought; that is a good way to get a conversation started!

Actually, I was pulled over for the first time in years because the registration expiration and the inspection registration on the new car do not coincide, but I'm still within the time frame to get the car inspected, and I had a partial year tag moved to the new car, so even though the tag shows expired on the plate, the paperwork and PennDOT's computers show that it actually good until the same date that the inspection runs out (but I can't have the sticker until the 'new' registration comes...go figure)

Anyway. he lights me up and approaches, then the typical 'do you have any firearms, drugs, illegal aliens, hand grenades or anything like that in there?

I KNOW he saw me coming from the range, so I told him "nothing illegal in here.", then he said "any legal firearms?", and I told him, "well, technically, no."

Naturally, I was asked to explain.

[My Nagant is from 1896, and I had it loaded with correct ammo (unlike the .32 mags that I was firing it with at the range)]

"Is it loaded?" "yes, and in its holster". as I pointed at the holster. "LTCF?" "yep" "I'm not sure if you actually need it for that gun, but it is loaded, so I asked, OK?" "Sure, I'm not sure about the loaded part, either."

"OK, let me check the paperwork on the car" . Comes back a few minutes later, and says" Jeez, PennDOT could screw up a free lunch...you're good to go...Hey, can I see that gun? Just for me...unload it though, I've never handled one of them before..."

We then had a very nice conversation, and he thought the way the cylinder in the revolver seals up the gap was the coolest thing he'd ever seen...

Just then, his 'boss' pulls up (a captain in the same department), who is a good friend of mine...so we spent the next 10 minutes BSing until they had to go on a call...

Anyway, I'll be meeting the both of them at the range when the weather breaks....I guess the cops don't like shooting in the cold

All in all, I'd say that this was a pretty decent traffic stop overall (except that it happened at all!)

[cgbudde]

You have the right to use the 5th amendment but they have the right to smash your face up against a car if they see the weapon on you.

That is the most assinine comment I have ever seen someone make. You sir would make a good citizen of a communist country. Please do us a favor and moveout of this country. For you to think that a persons rights don't mean shit, makes me want to throw up.

Many Americans have fought and died for our rights, and you feel it is ok for police to shit all over them. i hope you are not a LEO, because if you are and this is your attitude, then you are a disgrace to the profession.

[tlgpa]

I KNOW he saw me coming from the range, so I told him "nothing illegal in here.", then he said "any legal firearms?", and I told him, "well, technically, no." ......
......"OK, let me check the paperwork on the car" . Comes back a few minutes later, and says" Jeez, PennDOT could screw up a free lunch...you're good to go.

Wait, this can't be. You must've been arrested and anal raped by bubba? Or tased? Had your face smashed up against the car?

This post is full of fail. Cops can't be this smart.

Ohhh I know, they're saving the good stuff for later when they meet you at the range.

[jahwarrior72]

Yes, it WAS an unfinished thought; that is a good way to get a conversation started!

Actually, I was pulled over for the first time in years because the registration expiration and the inspection registration on the new car do not coincide, but I'm still within the time frame to get the car inspected, and I had a partial year tag moved to the new car, so even though the tag shows expired on the plate, the paperwork and PennDOT's computers show that it actually good until the same date that the inspection runs out (but I can't have the sticker until the 'new' registration comes...go figure)

Anyway. he lights me up and approaches, then the typical 'do you have any firearms, drugs, illegal aliens, hand grenades or anything like that in there?

I KNOW he saw me coming from the range, so I told him "nothing illegal in here.", then he said "any legal firearms?", and I told him, "well, technically, no."

Naturally, I was asked to explain.

[My Nagant is from 1896, and I had it loaded with correct ammo (unlike the .32 mags that I was firing it with at the range)]

"Is it loaded?" "yes, and in its holster". as I pointed at the holster. "LTCF?" "yep" "I'm not sure if you actually need it for that gun, but it is loaded, so I asked, OK?" "Sure, I'm not sure about the loaded part, either."

"OK, let me check the paperwork on the car" . Comes back a few minutes later, and says" Jeez, PennDOT could screw up a free lunch...you're good to go...Hey, can I see that gun? Just for me...unload it though, I've never handled one of them before..."

We then had a very nice conversation, and he thought the way the cylinder in the revolver seals up the gap was the coolest thing he'd ever seen...

Just then, his 'boss' pulls up (a captain in the same department), who is a good friend of mine...so we spent the next 10 minutes BSing until they had to go on a call...

Anyway, I'll be meeting the both of them at the range when the weather breaks....I guess the cops don't like shooting in the cold

All in all, I'd say that this was a pretty decent traffic stop overall (except that it happened at all!)

i call bullshit on this post! here's what really happened:

so, i was driving along, minding my own business, when the damn po-po lit me up. i was like "wha?" but then i was like, "lemme pull over."

the po-po was all, "you got any illegal guns in there?" and i was like, "naw." but then they was like, "how about legal guyns?" then i was like, "well, yes, but i got a LTC-", then they was like, "LET ME SEE YOUR HANDS!!!LET ME SEE THEM!!! DON'T MOVE!!! GET OUT OF THE CAR!!!! I SAID DON'T MOVE!!!!! GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE CAR!!!!!!" then they was all like throwing my against my car, and smashed my head against the door, because i was playing silly little reindeer games with them.

it's all good, though, they had the right to do that, yo!

[wa3ra]

You know, Jah, I need to rep you just on general principle, but the rep nazis have been denying me for a week now...

I'm not sure where this kid came from, but he had his shit together! I made sure Cap'n Joe knew it too!

[lexnaturalis]

All I am saying is all the times I have been stopped I told them up front and nothing has happened to me.

That's your right. You can disclose anything you want to the cops.

The point is that you don't have to.

they have the right to smash your face up against a car if they see the weapon on you.

I don't think that word means what you think it means.

[StraussiE WousiE]

I think wa3ra's post shows that in certain situations, speaking to them, isn't so dumb. He felt comfortable enough to tell the officer what he had.

[zackattack784]

I think wa3ra's post shows that in certain situations, speaking to them, isn't so dumb. He felt comfortable enough to tell the officer what he had.

No, his post shows that speaking to police won't always end up with you on the ground with guns pointed at you. It's still dumb.

[gnbrotz]

And I'm cc'ing my Nagant...

By the definition, it isn't a firearm...*

What would YOU do...




* at least per CFR27...

Am I being detained?

Am I free to go?

Repeat as necessary.

[GunLawyer001]

Wait, this can't be. You must've been arrested and anal raped by bubba? Or tased? Had your face smashed up against the car?

This post is full of fail. Cops can't be this smart.

Ohhh I know, they're saving the good stuff for later when they meet you at the range.

Not picking on your post, just using it for context:

Nobody claims that EVERY time that you notify police of your legal firearm they will take it, and hide it in the property room, and make you hire a lawyer and file a Petition for Return of Property, and spend $1,000 to get back your $400 gun. It won't happen every time. It will hardly ever happen at all.

But it happens sometimes.

Cops are mostly used to catch speeders and expired tags. They write up theft reports for your insurance claims. They break up bar fights, if the bar fights last a very long time. Cops are not lawyers, and they have not memorized the UFA or the hundreds of other pages in the Crimes Code.

Cops think that your gun has to be "registered", and they KNOW that we have a gun registry because they use it from time to time, and usually the serial number matches the registered owner. You can spew all that curbside lawyering you want about "Pennsylvania law doesn't allow gun registration", but these cops KNOW that's just crap, you can call it a "Record of Sale Database" or you can call it a "Registry" or you can call it "Mary Ann Summers", it's still a list of guns and owners. The registry exists, the State Police maintain it. And if your gun isn't registered to you, you aren't getting it back without a judge saying so. And their departmental property room is full of guns that they took without charging anyone with a crime, so this is an accepted practice.

If I had one chance in a hundred of being electrocuted when I turned on the kitchen light, I would NEVER touch that switch. If there's one chance in a hundred that my gun will be unlawfully seized during a traffic stop if I tell the cop it's there, for "officer safety" or "just to make sure it's not stolen" or "just to make sure it's registered to you", then I'm going to exercise my 5th Amendment and 4th Amendment rights, and wait for a warrant before telling him what he'd find if he unlawfully searched me. Every time. Because I don't know which cops are ignorant of the laws, and which ones will respect my rights, so I will defensively assume the worst of them all.

Just like they assume the worst of me.

Read any cop forum, the accepted wisdom is that every traffic stop could turn fatal, every encounter with an unknown citizen is dangerous. NOTHING is more important than "going home alive at the end of the shift", certainly not your pesky Constitutional rights. That's why some of them want to disarm you for driving 65 in a 55 zone, because they don't know if you're an accountant or a drug dealer, they don't know you. Well, I don't know the cop, either, so for "citizen safety" I'm going to assume that I'm not being stopped by Officer Friendly.