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Pulled over, officer had his piece at the low ready...

Reverend73

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.....I kid you not:cuss:. Here's the story. So I'm tooling along in my 84 Toyota pickup (heavily off road modified) down 64E just past Indian River rd not speeding, in the right hand lane, heading to my boss' house to help him install some crown molding.Then I notice blue lights in my rearview and think what the heck?? So I pull over, cop comes up to the passenger door. Its locked so I lean over and unlock it and he opens it. "License and Registration", so I give it to him (I'm military so its registered in FL and have FL drivers license, but have VA insurance) and ask why he pulled me over. Says my bumper are too high. Fair enough. I like to be upfront with officers so I got his attention and stated "be advised" as I lifted my sweatshirt to expose my Kimber .45. He's says "you got a permit for that", I state, sure do as I hand it to him. He takes it, and goes back to his cruiser. So I'm thinking he's going to be cool with it. Not so. About 5 min later comes back to the passengers side, opens the door and says he's going to need the gun, says he's not sure if my FL CCW is valid here, I assure him it is. He says can you unload the weapon in the holster, I say no (the entire time he has his piece pulled and at the low ready). So he says pull your shirt up and I will remove it (I have the new blackhawk serpa holster--very good retention) he tries in vain. I say, Ill push the release button, you pull the gun out--ok. Still cant get it, lol. So he says for me to slowly pull it, but leave it just in the holster, which i do and he finally retrieves the weapon. At this point I stated something to the effect of "for heavens sake, you know I'm a naval officer, disarming me at gunpoint is really uncalled for. " To which he stated he was doing it for his safety and mine, blah, blah, blah. Then about 10 min later he finally comes back, says my FL CCW is valid here (no kidding), and gives me a ticket for bumpers too high. I could not care less about the ticket, Im actually a little proud of it, as its my first one in the old "yota", but the thing that pisses me off is the fact that I was treated like a common criminal when the only law I broke was a vehicle code. Give me a friggen break.
 

rebfan

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I bet that was real fun, not! I guess it just shows how some LEO's are fine with guns and some are not. Considering you were up front, and did not attempt to hide it, I'd say he overacted a bit.
 

VAopencarry

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Good Grief!!

Let's, for the sake of arguement, say your permit was not valid in VA.

Does this make you all of a sudden more dangerous? You have a valid permit from another state, even a cop that might not have much common sense should understand you still went through a background check and certain criteria in your home state. Is drawing his weapon really needed!!!!

The officer's conduct was not appropriate. WTF! it's the same as if I showed a VA CHP and all was well, he gets to his car and discovers my CHP expired last month. So he draws his weapon on me? :cuss::banghead::banghead:
 

Mike

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The deal is, even if your permit was not good in VA, as the infraction is a misdemeanor, all he can do is write you a ticket - it would be unlawful to arrest you!
 

swatpro911

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the officer would not arrest you for that trust me its lot of paper work and court visits. The thing could have happen is that you would get a ticket for not having a valid chp that is recognized in va
 

TEX1N

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swatpro911 wrote:
the officer would not arrest you for that trust me its lot of paper work and court visits. The thing could have happen is that you would get a ticket for not having a valid chp that is recognized in va
It would be a misdemeanor for illegally carrying a concealed weapon. It doesn't matter if you have a non-recognized permit or no permit at all it's still a violation of 18.2-308.

Reverend73, it sounds like the officer has not dealt with many CHP holders. One the plus side, you may have helped the officer to realize that disarming a stand-up citizen during a routine traffic stop is a waste of both his and your time. Who knows, maybe you saved the the next person in your shoes some hassle.
 

Tomahawk

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Mike wrote:
The deal is, even if your permit was not good in VA, as the infraction is a misdemeanor, all he can do is write you a ticket - it would be unlawful to arrest you!
That's providing you switch to open carry on the spot andassure the copit'll stay that way until you get a valid permit, correct?
 

Mike

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Tomahawk wrote:
Mike wrote:
The deal is, even if your permit was not good in VA, as the infraction is a misdemeanor, all he can do is write you a ticket - it would be unlawful to arrest you!
That's providing you switch to open carry on the spot andassure the copit'll stay that way until you get a valid permit, correct?
Right - the subject of the summons must desist from the alleged unlawful conduct also.
 

Reverend73

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Agent6-3/8 wrote:
I'm not sure which has me more baffled. The overreacting LEO, or the ticket for "bumper too high.":?

Yeah, the rear bumper is about 1 1/2" too high. The spec, for those interested is for trucks with GVRW of 4501 to 7500lbs is 29" front, 30" rear.
 

TEX1N

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Reverend73 wrote:
Agent6-3/8 wrote:
I'm not sure which has me more baffled. The overreacting LEO, or the ticket for "bumper too high.":?
Yeah, the rear bumper is about 1 1/2" too high. The spec, for those interested is for trucks with GVRW of 4501 to 7500lbs is 29" front, 30" rear.
Yeah, I thought it was funny how he would know the "bumper laws" but not the gun laws! That's just classic.
 

DrMark

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Reverend73 wrote:
At this point I stated something to the effect of "for heavens sake, you know I'm a naval officer, disarming me at gunpoint is really uncalled for. " To which he stated he was doing it for his safety and mine, blah, blah, blah.
So he had you at gunpoint for your own safety. Right. :?

When a police officer lies to your face, it reflects badly on law enforcement personnel as a whole. Pitiful.
 

Reverend73

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I will be filing a complaint, in person, while open carrying. I want to reverify the state statutes to make sure I don't violate any laws, but I am fairly positive I just read where the no carry in police stations bill just got killed.
 

LEO 229

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I would not have disarmed you.

You have a permit... you told me you were armed... I have no problem with that.

You would have to have done something real bad or I knew was going to take you into custody before I take away your gun.

I might ask you to keep it on the dash so I can see it from a distance when I approach.



And I could care less about your bumper height!! ;)
 

Reverend73

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LEO 229 wrote:
I would not have disarmed you.

You have a permit... you told me you were armed... I have no problem with that.

You would have to have done something real bad or I knew was going to take you into custody before I take away your gun.

I might ask you to keep it on the dash so I can see it from a distance when I approach.



And I could care less about your bumper height!! ;)
Thanks LEO. Ive posted a similar thread on a florida board I visit, and based on discussions there, I should have told the cop about the weapon in a different fashion (ie "I have a CCW and I am armed" or something to that effect) rather than the way I did it. I will be going to courtfor the bumper height thing rather than just pay the fine, so maybe I will see the officer there and can have a discussion with him over why he chose to disarm me at gunpoint. I'm all for officers going home every night but this was a tad bit excessive.
 

ParaWarthog

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This is prima facie evidence of the absolute asinine hypocrisy behind concealed carry laws. If the driver had been openly carrying, there would be absolutely no requirement for any permit check, and additionally, disarming quite possibly would have never occured. Unbelievable.
 
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