Identification required?

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Here's a question that's caused me a bit of thought lately:

Given that Open Carry is lawful under GA laws so long as one is in posession of a valid GFL.
Given that Open Carry is lawful and should not be a cause for an unwarranted stop by Law Enforcement.

so.....

If stopped by LEO and asked for identification is one under any oblication to provide.....what?
I realise that I am under obligation to provide identification should I be placed under arrest, or am being cited for an infraction. Barring that, what are my legal obligations to the State?

My GFL? I can see where it may be hard to assertain whether I am in fact the person named on the liscense.
My Driver's License? What if I'm not operating a vehicle on Georgia highways?
My leather bound copy of the Constitution? that thing's waaay too heavy to carry on a daily basis.




I've been lurking and absorbing for a long time, just occured to me to come up for air.

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Fallschirjmäger wrote:

Here's a question that's caused me a bit of thought lately:

Given that Open Carry is lawful under GA laws so long as one is in posession of a valid GFL.
Given that Open Carry is lawful and should not be a cause for an unwarranted stop by Law Enforcement.

so.....

If stopped by LEO and asked for identification is one under any oblication to provide.....what?
I realise that I am under obligation to provide identification should I be placed under arrest, or am being cited for an infraction. Barring that, what are my legal obligations to the State?

My GFL? I can see where it may be hard to assertain whether I am in fact the person named on the liscense.
My Driver's License? What if I'm not operating a vehicle on Georgia highways?
My leather bound copy of the Constitution? that thing's waaay too heavy to carry on a daily basis.

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Welcome! Hope the first breath goes well.

Does the GFL or the statute authorizing it require you to show identification if the license is demanded?

On your other questions, you'll have to research your State Law. I googled the GA legislature and found this link on its home page: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/hottopics/gacode/default.asp

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C'mon over to http://www.georgiapacking.org/ and say hi.

We had a thread almost exactly like this here:
http://www.georgiapacking.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4444

The basic conclusion was that you HAVE TO show your GFL, but nothing else. Recommendation is to also show the DL or other photo ID (school, work, etc.) but it's not required.

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Hey guys, thanks for all the replies.

It's pretty much the same as thoughts in that the GFL is "identification" so far as my carrying a firearm is concerned. If anyone believes it to be insufficent that's for them to take up with the Court, not me.


Oh, I've been on GeorgiaPacking, too. Just as here I've been imitating the wise old owl.

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Under Georgia state law a GFL is valid ID to use at the polls when voting. I used mine the last time I voted in 2006.

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officerjdc wrote:

Under Georgia state law a GFL is valid ID to use at the polls when voting. I used mine the last time I voted in 2006.

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I used mine last time, too, but it that still the law today? I thought the voter I.D. law changed? Hard to keep up with all the court challenges.

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Well, because when you apply for your GFL, your picture ID, such as DL or Greencard numbers are used, the officer doing the stop should be able to simply punch in your GFL number and cross ref with DL or GC etc, thus pull a mug shot.

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exgabrit wrote:

Well, because when you apply for your GFL, your picture ID, such as DL or Greencard numbers are used, the officer doing the stop should be able to simply punch in your GFL number and cross ref with DL or GC etc, thus pull a mug shot.

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What?

None of that is true at all.

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Given the info they take, I would have thought that they'd be able to connect the dots ???? are you saying that they have no easy way of determining the identity behind the GFL they carry ??

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exgabrit wrote:

Given the info they take, I would have thought that they'd be able to connect the dots ???? are you saying that they have no easy way of determining the identity behind the GFL they carry ??

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There is no connection between GFLs and DLs. There is no central database of info for GFLs.

My GFL number is formatted XX-XXXX, nothing like the DL numbers. Each county might number the GFLs they issue differently.

The GFL must be taken at face value by anyone inspecting it.

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without a database of GFL at least on a county level, crossrefer'ing would be impossible. should a DB exist, the fact that the numbering system is different shouldn't cause a problem with a cross-ref table connecting a DL with GFL even if its a manual lookup.
i'll have to investigate and see if i can find out if anything is kept anywhere.

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exgabrit wrote:

without a database of GFL at least on a county level, crossrefer'ing would be impossible. should a DB exist, the fact that the numbering system is different shouldn't cause a problem with a cross-ref table connecting a DL with GFL even if its a manual lookup.
i'll have to investigate and see if i can find out if anything is kept anywhere.

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I was a police officer for 12 years ( up until 2001). At that time, there was no way to verify.

I believe that is still the case, which is why West Virginia will not honor Georgia's license.

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I'm amazed (well not really, its the gov after all). from an IT / programming stand point, I could go home today and write a system in my off hours that could connect them all together, coded and tested by the end of the month (including tea breaks). but i'm sure why they don't have it is that they get quoted tens of millions of dollars for jobs.

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Here's a question that's caused me a bit of thought lately:

Given that Open Carry is lawful under GA laws so long as one is in posession of a valid GFL.
Given that Open Carry is lawful and should not be a cause for an unwarranted stop by Law Enforcement.

so.....

If stopped by LEO and asked for identification is one under any oblication to provide.....what?

Click to expand...

Driving a car is lawful under GA laws so long as one is in possession of a valid DL. Driving is assumed to be lawful and should not be cause for an unwarranted stop.

However,IF you arestopped, the first thing they ask for is license, registration and proof of insurance. Failure to provide any of theseif stopped for a moving violation is a ticketable offense. A police officer must have an articulable reason to stop you, but because detainment is not an arrest the officer isnot required toexpress the reason for the detainment.

Driving a car is an everyday occurrence, and the act of simply driving a car will not attract attention. Open carry, on the other hand, is rare and attracts LOTS of attention, like driving an Indy car on the freeway. If there is reasonable articulable suspicion you could be doing something illegal, as you would be if you didn't have a license, they can stop you because you attracted their attention to possible violations of carry laws. You did so simply by carrying, but unless the officer is pressed to elaborate in courtthat will probably never come to light.

Now, that really shouldn't apply; it's an unfair bias. A personcarrying should be presumed to be doing so legally just as a driver would be. That however probably won't happen until more people OC and/or a permit is not required to do so.

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Liko81 wrote:

If there is reasonable articulable suspicion you could be doing something illegal, as you would be if you didn't have a license, they can stop you . . .

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Liko81, if the crime of which the officer suspects you is carrying without a license, would he not have to be able to articulate his particularized reasonable suspicion that you are not licensed before making the stop?

It is not reasonable suspicion that you are a weirdo for carrying, it is reasonable suspicion of a crime. Right?

An Indy car on the freeway would be illegal. A wild paint job may be unusual, but he cannot stop you for something unusual. A wild paint job is not a crime.

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Well, logic is on our side.
The way the world works is that weird or unusual gets attention whether valid or not. Although I'm sure if you lived in little five points, weird or unusual would be the norm and probably carrying wouldn't raise an eyebrow.

people who have guns and carry are really adopting a lifestyle and right now, that lifestyle isn't the lifestyle most people pursue. i'm sure in a view years, us gun carriers will be as accepted as goths, gays and people with odd car colors.

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The other completely obvious fact is that if you are a criminal or carrying without a license, if you OC'd and are stopped, you are in a crap load of trouble. Therefore such as person would NOT open carry period. Ergo, a LEO would be wasting his / her time stopping an OC'er simply due to the fact that such a person (unless completely dense) is carrying with a license.

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exgabrit wrote:

The other completely obvious fact is that if you are a criminal or carrying without a license, if you OC'd and are stopped, you are in a crap load of trouble. Therefore such as person would NOT open carry period. Ergo, a LEO would be wasting his / her time stopping an OC'er simply due to the fact that such a person (unless completely dense) is carrying with a license.

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In 12 years of police work, I never once encountered a criminal openly carrying a pistol in a belt holster.

So, I think you are correct, the fact of open carry tends to indicate there is no crime, not the converse.

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Thanks for the validation
I got something right today, haha.

Ironically I was emailing my wife today who is staying in south london with a friend for a month. I myself am a UK citizen from the same area. she's scared to leave the apartment even during the day. jokingly i offered to mail her gun. sad state of affairs when gun ownership is taken away and fear to leave an apartment takes over.

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Malum Prohibitum wrote:

Liko81 wrote:

If there is reasonable articulable suspicion you could be doing something illegal, as you would be if you didn't have a license, they can stop you . . .

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Liko81, if the crime of which the officer suspects you is carrying without a license, would he not have to be able to articulate his particularized reasonable suspicion that you are not licensed before making the stop?

It is not reasonable suspicion that you are a weirdo for carrying, it is reasonable suspicion of a crime. Right?

An Indy car on the freeway would be illegal. A wild paint job may be unusual, but he cannot stop you for something unusual. A wild paint job is not a crime.

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And just like I said, it's an unfair bias.You mentioned awild paint job; thatdoes indeed make the cops look more closely at what you're doing. Same with sports cars, ultra-luxuryvehicles (Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Maseratis)or other conspicuous consumer vehicles. The same aspect of human nature that makes those cars desireable as head-turners also puts you in a more uncomfortable spotlight for thieves and cops. OCing is similar in that respect; it's uncommon and thus it turns heads of both the public at large and LEOs.Turning headsmay or may not be the purpose (one might argue that if you could legally CC and OCed instead your purpose is to advertise the fact you are armed; not the topic ofdiscussion), but regardless, you are going to catch the attention of LEOs, whose job it is to look for things that are out of place that could indicate wrongdoing. OC by itself is not reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing and so the LEO should not simply be able to Terry stop you, but you're going to catch their eye and if they see you doing anything else wrong they can stop you.