Never again

**Ludwig12of45** · April 2nd, 2012, 08:02 AM

First off, let me preface this by saying that the following incident happened a long time ago, when I was young and stupid. Now I'm older and less stupid, but after reading this forum I learned a few things and how I would handle it differently.

It was about 10-12 years ago, 2 friends and I decided to go to a concert at Montage Mountain (I forget who we saw that night). I volunteered to drive as always, and my friends got a case of beer to drink prior to going in (at $9/beer, it just doesn't make sense to drink in there).

So we get there early, and we're sitting in the parking lot in my truck, just people watching and drinking (them, not me). We see the police walking around talking to people, and it doesn't worry me because we aren't doing anything illegal or wrong.

Eventually, they come up to us. I roll the window down, and the convo goes something like this:

"How are you?"
"Good, you?"
"Good, what do you have in there?"
"Just some beer, waiting for the show to start"
"Do you have any illegal drugs?"
"Nope, just beer"
"What are you drinking?"
I look at the bottle of Iced Tea and say "Farmer's Iced Tea" Best damn Iced Tea I ever had too, I have to say.
"Anything illegal at all in your vehicle?"

Now at this point, I know I have my firearm in the glove compartment, but it's not illegal so I answered truthfully

"Nope, nothing illegal"
"Mind if we look?"

This is where I made my first mistake

"No problem, you're not going to find anything illegal"
"We're just looking for any illegal drugs"
"Well, you might want to start at the multi-colored van a couple rows back with the smoke coming out the windows"

We stepped out of the truck as the 2 cops looked in the front area, opened up the center console (with help from me as they were about to break it), and then opened the glove box. "uh oh, i thought"

"Gun..."
"And I have a license to carry that"
"Can I see it?"
"Of course"

I take out my license and hand it to him

"Can I see some ID too?"
"Sure"

I hand him my driver's license too, as they ask my friends for their ID's.

Meanwhile, the other cop is asking my friend the same question, "is there anything illegal in this vehicle?" My buddy answers "If there is, I wouldn't know, it's not my truck"

"Turn around on put your hands on the vehicle"

WTF I'm thinking...is this for real?

They pat us down, find nothing (of course) and he takes my gun back to the cruiser while the other cop stays with us.

"Is this necessary?"
"We're just checking"
"Fine"

He comes back, hands me my firearm, and says everything's ok and says not to take it inside. I say ok and get back in my truck with my friends.

The whole point of this story is I was young and intimidated, and after being a member of PAFOA and reading a lot of stories, I know now how to handle a situation like that. I never would have agreed to them searching the vehicle (which they did a piss-poor job, and never looked in the back).

I just felt like sharing...I've been to Montage countless times, and never had a problem before or since.

**Curmudgeon** · April 2nd, 2012, 08:52 AM

I have no doubt I would handle a similar situation far better today than I would have in my younger years as well.

Looks like it ended well, fortunately for you, the rifling of your property and possessions notwithstanding.

I think, for many people, standing up to the kind of authority and power possessed by LEOs is not an easy task, nor does it come naturally, when most of us are raised to respect and obey such figures.

**41800216** · April 2nd, 2012, 09:40 AM

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

I have no doubt I would handle a similar situation far better today than I would have in my younger years as well.

Looks like it ended well, fortunately for you, the rifling of your property and possessions notwithstanding.

I think, for many people, standing up to the kind of authority and power possessed by LEOs is not an easy task, nor does it come naturally, when most of us are raised to respect and obey such figures.

I honestly could not have said it better myself...hah took the words right out of my mind!

Every time I'm reading a story of an encounter with law enforcement I get butterflies in my stomach worried the LEO is about to be a douchebag and go beyond his/her limits and cause an innocent owner (who likely worked hard to afford that gun) to have to fight to get their property back. It's relieving to see situations end well, with the gun being returned to its owner, but unnerving that so many LEOs knowingly (or worse, unknowingly) step beyond the limitations of the law and do things their own way.

**twency** · April 2nd, 2012, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

I have no doubt I would handle a similar situation far better today than I would have in my younger years as well.

Looks like it ended well, fortunately for you, the rifling of your property and possessions notwithstanding.

I think, for many people, standing up to the kind of authority and power possessed by LEOs is not an easy task, nor does it come naturally, when most of us are raised to respect and obey such figures.

Thanks for the story. The "if I knew then what I know now" type stories always interest me. I have my own version involving alcohol (I wasn't drinking) and talking to cops (knowing what I do today I would probably have lawyered-up), but thankfully have never had any LEO encounters while in possession of firearms.

**internet troll** · April 2nd, 2012, 10:45 AM

Good story to share. Makes it easy to see how one seemingly innocent thing can escalate in a police encounter.

**ROCK-IT3** · April 2nd, 2012, 05:18 PM

So the police officer carries your gun back and forth openly between your vehicle and his, probably in plain sight of several people watching the activities, then tells you not to take it inside. I'm surprised the gun was still there when the concert was over.

**longcall911** · April 2nd, 2012, 07:32 PM

This seems to fit in the "but the cops seemed like nice guys and I had nothing to hide" category.

Most of us have had similar experiences at one time or another. Now you know. . . and hopefully you'll do your best to educate others. Just because the cops are polite, that is not a reason to give up your rights. It's much like being ok with getting raped, simply because he said please first!

**medsteele** · April 3rd, 2012, 12:57 AM

I'm glad I found this forum when I did. I haven't had any meaningful interactions with the law yet, and now I know my rights and how to protect myself from unknowingly giving them up. I had a few tickets before, where looking back I wouldn't have said as much as I did, but all in all I haven't made too many glaring errors.

Glad it ended well and you're better-educated now OP.

**JonEMTP** · April 3rd, 2012, 01:34 AM

Thank you for sharing.

It is good to see that you understand more now than you did then... although it is a shame that you got taken advantage of by those that you trust to keep the peace.

**photoshooter** · April 3rd, 2012, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by longcall911

This seems to fit in the "but the cops seemed like nice guys and I had nothing to hide" category.

Agreed but there's often another level beyond that.
Many of us, myself included, were raised in households that taught children, "these are the people you can trust in our community, these people are there help us;
policemen
firemen
teachers
coaches
parish priests..."

Of course that's all gone to shit a thousand different ways but it's easy to see where it all came from. Thankfully we're able to give our children some better perspective on the world outside our homes.