Armed Citizen from AR Interacts with Police Officer in AL

Gun Watch ^ | 17 September, 2013 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

On a road trip from Arkansas through Alabama, an armed citizen, on vacation with his wife, had an encounter with a police officer.

Officers on the street have always been more supportive of armed citizens than police administrators.   As state after state made it easier for ever increasing  numbers of citizens to be legally armed in public, the attitude of police became more positive as they gained experience with armed citizens.

In the words of Kopis, a contributor to opencarry.org, here is what happened on the road in Alabama:

So i rolled the windows down, took the key out and put my hands on the wheel, the trooper walks up and i stuck my hand out and introduced myself and said also, "i do have a CCW permit out of AR and my GLOCK is on my right side, do you want to disarm me?" and in a country twang, he responds "well, ill make ya a deal son, you dont draw yours and i wont draw mine" LMAO! i said that's a fair deal officer! He got my at 75 in a 55 and wrote me a warning, how awesome is that?

This sort of encounter is much more common than the negative ones that I usually write about.  Most police officers see armed citizens as an asset rather than a threat.  You do not hear these stories because they are not news.

They are less common in those areas that are still working hard at suppressing second amendment rights.  I would not expect this treatment in New York City, New Jersey, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Chicago.

Police attitudes are changing.  Police communicate with each other, and every positive encounter with armed citizens, every incident where an armed citizen assists a police officer, adds to the momentum of changing police attitudes.  

The common experience of police officers is that legally armed citizens are the good guys and gals.  They are not the problem, they are part of the solution.  It starts with the police on the street, but more and more police chiefs and sheriffs are echoing that message as well.


 ©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

Link to Gun Watch

[IamConservative]

Here in Maine, firearms are part of the culture.

Amazing how not being at the top of the food chain will endure folks to their guns..

[CopperTop]

My experiences have been very similar. I have yet to run into a conflict from any LEO over firearms. I did run into one drill sergent type cat in Wadesboro one time that gave me a chewing about not announcing my CCW. And I can’t blame him. I’d forgotten and it’s common courtesy IMO. Shouldn’t hafta be a “rule”. d:^)

[zeugma]

A good friend of mine is on the local PD. I had an interesting discussion with him about CCW holders. In Texas, if you're CCW it shows up on the computer when they pull you over. Don't know if it shows up when the plates are run, or if it is only tied to the license.

I asked him, "When you pull someone over and you find they are a CCW holder does it make you more nervous or more relaxed regarding the encounter?" He responded that he'd probably be a lot more cautious. I asked him to please go look at the criminal stats of CCW holders, as they are by far the most law-abiding group he's likely to encounter in just about any situation. Told him, he should take that in to account in his situational risk assessment. He said he'd think about it, and do some research on his own. Since then, he told me he's brought it up with others on the force. Score a big win for me!

[marktwain]

” I asked him to please go look at the criminal stats of CCW holders, as they are by far the most law-abiding group he’s likely to encounter in just about any situation. Told him, he should take that in to account in his situational risk assessment. He said he’d think about it, and do some research on his own. Since then, he told me he’s brought it up with others on the force. Score a big win for me!”

Good job. You are moving the ball forward. The closer we can move everyone’s view toward reality, the better off we are.

[Gaffer]

Georgia does not require a CCW holder to self-identify. During my wife’s and daughter’s basic handgun course, the former LEO told them the answer to “do you have a weapon in the car?” It is, “not that you should be concerned about, officer.”

[Gaffer]

The LEO in my state KNOWs that a law abiding CCW holder does not have to self-identify. I am tired of being polite and friendly while exercising the most basic or rights affirmed to me by the Constitution. The truth is that the media and meddling society will ALWAYS create disaster out of nothing and no amount of ‘normal politeness’ will change that. It is a regional, cultural and political matter in practicality; it is not likely to change. We have to demand and sustain our rights.

[theBuckwheat]

Based on the following excerpt and other studies, it appears that CCW permitees as a class may have the lowest rate of violent crime than any other class, including law enforcement officers.

::

The rate that concealed carry permit holders are now losing their permits for gun related violations

Between, October 1, 1987, and November 30, 2008, Florida issued permits to 1,439,446 people, many of whom have had their permits renewed multiple times. Only 166 had their permits revoked for any type of firearms related violation – about 0.01 percent. I was just looking up the new numbers. Updating those numbers to January 31, 2010, Florida has now issued permits to 1,704,624 people. The number who have had their permits revoked has risen to just 167. In 14 months, just one person with a Florida permit has lost his permit for a fire arms related violation. There are currently 692,621 valid permits. That is a revocation rate of 0.00014 percent.

http://johnrlott.blogspot.com/2010/02/rate-that-concealed-carry-permit.html

[MeanWestTexan]

Well, a carry permit means you’ve passed a background check that basically means you are not ever going to be a problem for the officer.

So, in a way, the carry permit lets them breath a sigh of relief.

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

Officers on the street have always been more supportive of armed citizens than police administrators.

A complete idiot wrote this line?

The Chief of Police in the city of Milwaukee (Mat Flynn) is actively anti-gun and makes no bones about it. The Sheriff of Milwaukee County (David Clark) is on record as saying "The Police can't be everywhere, civilians need to get a gun and learn how to use it to stay safe." There you have it...

Regards,
GtG

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I was looking at it from the point of view of “An armed society is a polite society”. That is, politeness is a function of being armed, not that by being polite we are somehow allowed to be armed.

Even the handshake allegedly came into being as a way to insure that the other person did not have a short dagger hidden up their sleeve.

[Ken H]

Vermont is one of the most gun-friendly states in the Union. You can compare gun laws in all 50 states here =>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_the_United_States_by_state

[Ken H]

Vermont is one of the most gun-friendly states in the Union. You can compare gun laws in all 50 states here =>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_the_United_States_by_state

[Gaffer]

I guess you are right. It has been so much recently where LEOs are on the wrong side it is hard to go back.

[SwankyC]

And returned.

Chicago chief of police McCarthy, “I don’t care if they’re licensed legal firearms, people who are not highly trained… putting guns in their hands is a recipe for disaster"

Not to mention that he threatened gun owners would pretty much be shot on sight.

[xrmusn]

Thanks...I was ‘correct’ as to Vermont - according to my ‘Guide to Firearms Laws of the 50 states’, they state that Vermont - along with AZ AK ID IN IA KY MI MS MO NC OK SD TN UT & VT extend automatic recognition to ALL other states...
BUT as ‘anyone/everyone’ will tell you if in doubt CHECK with the state, either on line or get verification.
Must inform upon official contact are AK AR(contact// when asked for ID) LA MI NE(also EMS upon official contact)NC OH
OK SC TX(ID req)

VT also has a ‘statement’ that you can’t carry with the ‘avowed purpose of injuring someone’.

Like NY and NJ if you can’t prove you are coming from and going to a state that ‘recognizes’ your permit you and the gun are gone...AND that is only if the gun is secured to their specifications.

I frequently leave the ‘home area’ and always have my ‘friends’ with me - I will NOT leave the job without an invoice with destination clearly stated AND if picked up out of state, I insist on an invoice on with ‘home address, pick up address and destination address’ from the Company I am contracting to and I have my own invoices for ‘back up’.
BUT that does not relieve one from following the laws of the state you are in...That is why I don’t ‘speed’, weave in and out of traffic or give ANYONE an excuse for stopping me. Not only because of the lost time, I don’t want to get in a hassle (no matter where I am) if the subject of S&W or SR comes up...

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

That’s why, of late, I have been pitching for the idea of police training reform at the state level. A lot of these problems began in the 1970s, when the feds started encouraging police to be more aggressive, using SWAT tactics in routine police work.

Originally done to counter a few high profile police assassinations by radicals, it had just the opposite of its intended effect, with more police and civilians getting wounded and killed.

Already there have been some efforts to reform this, by taking police out of their cars, putting them back on beats, and getting to know the people on their beat personally. But it needs to become part of their institutionalized training.

[Gaffer]

I can agree with that