Hello all! First post, and first day reading about the laws around open carry. I have hit most of the stickies and have seen some good info. I listened to several audio recordings of interactions and have seen several videos and came away from most of them with a few simple questions around interactions with police officers confronting those who open carry.
Let me first start off by saying that while I own several guns and am an advocate for our right to bear arms, I also am a realist and pretty much agree that things like fully automatic weapons being completely unnecessary for day to day protection. So I guess what I am saying, is I am not a completely staunch any-gun anywhere kind of person, but I very much appreciate and expect to be able to take a semi automatic handgun of any kind with me pretty much anywhere whenever I want (which, we all know we can't do). Anyway, to the question...
I hear so many of these audio recordings going something like this:
Police officer: What is your name
MWAG: [Says nothing]
-Repeat above several times
Police officer: Law abiding citizens are allowed to have guns, I need to verify you are a law abiding citizen tell me your name
MWAG: [Says nothing]
Police officer: Do you understand that law abiding citizens are allowed to possess a firearm?
MWAG: Hugh?, Okay
Police officer: Repeats, and adds that he doesn't know who the MWAG is
I think you get the gist.
Now, I get that your best course of action is to remain silent, less to defend against etc. But at the end of the day, if it is our right as law abiding citizens to carry a firearm, and I am a law abiding citizen, why should I not just cooperate and provide my name, so they can verify that I am a law abiding citizen and go on with my life, instead of making the cops mad about something that's completely avoidable? Now, if I was not a law abiding citizen, then hell ya, I would keep my mouth shut, but the fact here is that I am , and none of the MWAG's in the recordings were criminals either.
I guess I get it at the end of the day, its all about our "rights" and if we give an inch, they take a mile type thing, but it is a huge hassle, makes a scene and I am sure whoever I am with at the time if something like that went down wouldn't exactly appreciate the scenario either.
So my question is, who here has been stopped, gone the route where they are compliant and also the route of "saying nothing" and which turned out better.... I imagine the compliant route is less stressful for everyone.
Thoughts?
Let me first start off by saying that while I own several guns and am an advocate for our right to bear arms, I also am a realist and pretty much agree that things like fully automatic weapons being completely unnecessary for day to day protection. So I guess what I am saying, is I am not a completely staunch any-gun anywhere kind of person, but I very much appreciate and expect to be able to take a semi automatic handgun of any kind with me pretty much anywhere whenever I want (which, we all know we can't do). Anyway, to the question...
I hear so many of these audio recordings going something like this:
Police officer: What is your name
MWAG: [Says nothing]
-Repeat above several times
Police officer: Law abiding citizens are allowed to have guns, I need to verify you are a law abiding citizen tell me your name
MWAG: [Says nothing]
Police officer: Do you understand that law abiding citizens are allowed to possess a firearm?
MWAG: Hugh?, Okay
Police officer: Repeats, and adds that he doesn't know who the MWAG is
I think you get the gist.
Now, I get that your best course of action is to remain silent, less to defend against etc. But at the end of the day, if it is our right as law abiding citizens to carry a firearm, and I am a law abiding citizen, why should I not just cooperate and provide my name, so they can verify that I am a law abiding citizen and go on with my life, instead of making the cops mad about something that's completely avoidable? Now, if I was not a law abiding citizen, then hell ya, I would keep my mouth shut, but the fact here is that I am , and none of the MWAG's in the recordings were criminals either.
I guess I get it at the end of the day, its all about our "rights" and if we give an inch, they take a mile type thing, but it is a huge hassle, makes a scene and I am sure whoever I am with at the time if something like that went down wouldn't exactly appreciate the scenario either.
So my question is, who here has been stopped, gone the route where they are compliant and also the route of "saying nothing" and which turned out better.... I imagine the compliant route is less stressful for everyone.
Thoughts?
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