“IIRC, cops have the right in most states to disarm you while investigating what is going on. After that, if there is no crime, they have to return the unloaded gun & ammo to you. At least, that is what I was taught in my CCW class in Arizona...”
“Yes, but there is a huge difference between an investigation and a consensual encounter. Unless we are missing additional facts, this would not be an investigation, but rather a voluntary consensual encounter.”
In other words, no crime had been committed, thus there is no investigation.
You do not need to be under investigation for a crime to be disarmed by the cops. If they don’t know what is going on, they have the right to take control of the scene to ensure both their safety and the public’s until they DO know what is going on.
If the cops have a complaint about a guy acting weird with a gun along a public road, they have the right to take the gun away while figuring out what is happening. If no law is being broken, they should then return the unloaded gun to the owner and drive off. But at least in Arizona, per my CCW class, you do not have the right to keep your gun when encountering the cops.
Based on what I was taught, the guy would have been in the wrong in Arizona. And the cop should have asked him to turn over his weapon while they investigated a complaint...