Stopped in Washoe County

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This evening my wife and I decided to go for a walk around our community in Cold Springs (about 15 minutes north of Reno). Since I already had on a tucked in polo shirt I decided to stick my XD in the Serpa holster and open carry rather than change clothes and conceal. As we walk out of our court a Washoe Sheriff SUV drives by with two deputies in it. They notice my gun and simply wave and keep driving. About 10 minutes later into our walk we are on one of the more main streets running through our development and we can't help but notice that several of the cars are driving past us slowly and that drivers are whipping out their cell phones. A couple of the cars even pulled over down the street from us to watch us while they talked on the phone. About 5 minutes later a Washoe Sheriff car drives past us with two deputies in it. As soon as they pass us they make a u-turn and pull up behind us. I hear them pulling up, so I've already stopped walking and slowly turned around to face them with my hands in plain view. Both deputies get out of the car with their hands in the vicinity of their guns, but not actually ready to draw. The driver says, "What the heck are you doing walking around with a gun on your hip?" I honestly respond that I have a concealed carry permit and simply did not want to change clothes to just take a short walk with my wife. He asks to see the permit and instructs me to slowly get out my wallet without moving towards my hip. The gun is on my right hip, and my wallet is in my back right pocket, so i do a wide sweeping motion with my right arm to make sure I'm not coming close to the gun while getting my wallet out. I also had my wife's ID on me, so I handed him both of our IDs and my permit. I could tell as soon as I'd mentioned me having a permit he calmed down quite a bit. Once he saw it he calmed down even more. He looked over the IDs and permits, suggested a couple times that I conceal my gun in the future and let us continue on our walk.

While stern at first, the deputy was very professional and courteous. He never asked me to disarm and never even called in for a check on our licenses or my permit. Just seeing the permit and verifying that all the info matched my license was enough for him. The stop was short and to the point, and had the best possible outcome. I didn't catch his name, but I'll definitely send a note to the Sheriff's office thanking the officer for his professionalism and courtesy.

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Forgive me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't you have been perfectly within the law even if you didn't have a concealed carry permit? Showing him your permit certainly seemed to expedite the entire encounter, but what do you think his reaction would have been if you hadn't had one?

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that's the sole purpose for me showing him my permit. i wanted the encounter to end quickly. yes, i was fully within the law even without a permit. if i hadn't had the permit, my guess is he would have disarmed me while he ran my license to make sure i was actually legally allowed to own/carry a gun. i'm sure he still would have suggested that get a CCW and conceal in the future, although i would still be under no legal obligation to.

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njeske wrote:

that's the sole purpose for me showing him my permit. i wanted the encounter to end quickly. yes, i was fully within the law even without a permit. if i hadn't had the permit, my guess is he would have disarmed me while he ran my license to make sure i was actually legally allowed to own/carry a gun. i'm sure he still would have suggested that get a CCW and conceal in the future, although i would still be under no legal obligation to.

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Personally, I would not worry, you have not done anything wrong and as much as he would try to intimidate you, nothing would come of it. I would have simply said that I feel more comfortable open carrying. When he asked for the CFP I would have simply said I am not carrying concealed and that I may or may not have a permit (think Dave Ridley from Manchester, New Hampshire).

Remember, your right, when something is legal, it's legal, if they try to push their opinion on you, remind them kindly that they are law enforcement, not opinion enforcement.

I've open carried once in Clark County and I had no problems whatsoever, besides an old guy staring at me while I pumped my gas.

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It's always a choice: show an ID when you don't have to, or not show it when you don't have to. Either tactic can work well. It's highly doubtful to me that doing the same tacticover and over willl always work well.

People have their reasons for either tactic.

Seems to me that there would be a better spot for that wallet in such situations, though. That's rather like keeping your license and registration in the glove compartment--with your legal gun.

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Jared wrote:

njeske wrote:

that's the sole purpose for me showing him my permit. i wanted the encounter to end quickly. yes, i was fully within the law even without a permit. if i hadn't had the permit, my guess is he would have disarmed me while he ran my license to make sure i was actually legally allowed to own/carry a gun. i'm sure he still would have suggested that get a CCW and conceal in the future, although i would still be under no legal obligation to.

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Personally, I would not worry, you have not done anything wrong and as much as he would try to intimidate you, nothing would come of it. I would have simply said that I feel more comfortable open carrying. When he asked for the CFP I would have simply said I am not carrying concealed and that I may or may not have a permit (think Dave Ridley from Manchester, New Hampshire).

Remember, your right, when something is legal, it's legal, if they try to push their opinion on you, remind them kindly that they are law enforcement, not opinion enforcement.

I've open carried once in Clark County and I had no problems whatsoever, besides an old guy staring at me while I pumped my gas.

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He didnt' try to intimidate me, and merely suggested that I coneal in the future. I don't think he thinks I'll even take his advice. I know I didn't have to show him my permit, I made the choice to to put him at ease and make sure the stop went as smoothly as possible.

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Hello, njeske, I'm actually from the same neighborhood as you are. In Nevada, it is legal to open carry even without any license at all. There are no laws reguarding open carry here. There wasn't any real reason for the Sherrif to stop you unless he thought you were involved in suspicious activities, which I suppose he may have thought if someone called the police.I walk through Cold Springsat times with a .22 pistolin plain sight on my way out to the desert to shoot some cans. So far, it hasn't seemed to cause any disturbances with people who have seen me norlaw enforcement vehicles that have drivenby.

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GunCat wrote:

Hello, njeske, I'm actually from the same neighborhood as you are. In Nevada, it is legal to open carry even without any license at all. There are no laws reguarding open carry here. There wasn't any real reason for the Sherrif to stop you unless he thought you were involved in suspicious activities, which I suppose he may have thought if someone called the police.I walk through Cold Springsat times with a .22 pistolin plain sight on my way out to the desert to shoot some cans. So far, it hasn't seemed to cause any disturbances with people who have seen me norlaw enforcement vehicles that have drivenby.

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i know the NV law regarding open carry.like i said before, i only showed my permit since i thought it wouldspeed up the encounter, and it did. i think he only stopped because of all the calls they were getting. my wife and i saw at least 3 people on their cell phones watching us from a distance as we walked. i'll definitely open carry again. although i may choose to walk on the other side of the street so that my hip isn't fully visible to everyone.

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njeske wrote:

GunCat wrote:

Hello, njeske, I'm actually from the same neighborhood as you are. In Nevada, it is legal to open carry even without any license at all. There are no laws reguarding open carry here. There wasn't any real reason for the Sherrif to stop you unless he thought you were involved in suspicious activities, which I suppose he may have thought if someone called the police.I walk through Cold Springsat times with a .22 pistolin plain sight on my way out to the desert to shoot some cans. So far, it hasn't seemed to cause any disturbances with people who have seen me norlaw enforcement vehicles that have drivenby.

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i know the NV law regarding open carry.like i said before, i only showed my permit since i thought it wouldspeed up the encounter, and it did. i think he only stopped because of all the calls they were getting. my wife and i saw at least 3 people on their cell phones watching us from a distance as we walked. i'll definitely open carry again. although i may choose to walk on the other side of the street so that my hip isn't fully visible to everyone.

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Excuse me....he stopped you because of all the calls they were getting ? Musta been a slow night, or perhaps he just wanted to do some good ol' feather ruffling before his shift was over.

How about this; when dispatch gets the call they simply inform the caller that 'open carry' is legal and end it there after assertaining that the caller had not actually seen any illegal activity by the person so armed.

Police can be very nice when violating your rights or giving you their opinions. Being nice does not change the results however, in as much as he attempted to intimidate you and also asked for 'your papers please'.

Apparently (most) cops here in NM are properly trained in these matters. I haven't yet
had to deal with things like this. I did however have to deal with an assertive cop on a trip recently to Colorado. His Lt. agreed there was a training issue involved.

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good lord people... calm down. he never asked to see anything until i offered up the fact that i had a permit. he never tried to intimidate me, he merely made a suggestion. i have several friends in the various departments in the area and one who just graduated the regional academy. part of their academy training is to know that open carry is perfectly legal. there was noharrassment at all.

let me say once again that I KNOW I DIDN'T HAVE TO SHOW EITHER ID OR A PERMIT. i only did so to speed up the encounter.the deputy was perfectly professional the entire time. as evidence of the fact that he knows i wasn't doing anything illegal, he didn't even radio my info in. just glanced over it and let me and my wife be on our way. the stop probably would have lasted a bit longer hadi pressed my rights and not show ID ora permit unless he could prove probably cause for needing such documents, i just wanted to get the whole thing over with.

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njeske wrote:

good lord people... calm down. he never asked to see anything until i offered up the fact that i had a permit. he never tried to intimidate me, he merely made a suggestion. i have several friends in the various departments in the area and one who just graduated the regional academy. part of their academy training is to know that open carry is perfectly legal. there was noharrassment at all.

let me say once again that I KNOW I DIDN'T HAVE TO SHOW EITHER ID OR A PERMIT. i only did so to speed up the encounter.the deputy was perfectly professional the entire time. as evidence of the fact that he knows i wasn't doing anything illegal, he didn't even radio my info in. just glanced over it and let me and my wife be on our way. the stop probably would have lasted a bit longer hadi pressed my rights and not show ID ora permit unless he could prove probably cause for needing such documents, i just wanted to get the whole thing over with.

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MY earlier message was about what the cops did and NOT about you.

As you said in your original message:

"As soon as they pass us they make a u-turn and pull up behind us. I hear them pulling up, so I've already stopped walking and slowly turned around to face them with my hands in plain view. Both deputies get out of the car with their hands in the vicinity of their guns, but not actually ready to draw. The driver says, "What the heck are you doing walking around with a gun on your hip?" "

To me that justifies my comments made earlier.

YMMV...well, I guess your mileage DOES vary from mine. i.e. The dispatcher should have not made the radio call to the officers, and the officers should have just passed by without comment once they saw the weapon properly holstered. The rest was an aberation IMHO.

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para_org wrote:

njeske wrote:

good lord people... calm down. he never asked to see anything until i offered up the fact that i had a permit. he never tried to intimidate me, he merely made a suggestion. i have several friends in the various departments in the area and one who just graduated the regional academy. part of their academy training is to know that open carry is perfectly legal. there was noharrassment at all.

let me say once again that I KNOW I DIDN'T HAVE TO SHOW EITHER ID OR A PERMIT. i only did so to speed up the encounter.the deputy was perfectly professional the entire time. as evidence of the fact that he knows i wasn't doing anything illegal, he didn't even radio my info in. just glanced over it and let me and my wife be on our way. the stop probably would have lasted a bit longer hadi pressed my rights and not show ID ora permit unless he could prove probably cause for needing such documents, i just wanted to get the whole thing over with.

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MY earlier message was about what the cops did and NOT about you.

As you said in your original message:

"As soon as they pass us they make a u-turn and pull up behind us. I hear them pulling up, so I've already stopped walking and slowly turned around to face them with my hands in plain view. Both deputies get out of the car with their hands in the vicinity of their guns, but not actually ready to draw. The driver says, "What the heck are you doing walking around with a gun on your hip?" "

To me that justifies my comments made earlier.

YMMV...well, I guess your mileage DOES vary from mine. i.e. The dispatcher should have not made the radio call to the officers, and the officers should have just passed by without comment once they saw the weapon properly holstered. The rest was an aberation IMHO.

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i definitely see your point, but i guess that's where the difference is then. i personally don't have an issue with them stopping to chat to try and determine if i'm someone who maybe isn't supposed to be in possession of a firearm. do i think they probably should have just seen man with a holstered gun walking hand-in-hand with his wife and not stopped us? sure. but i also don't take offense to them stopping and chatting. that's why i showed my permit, and they felt no reason to even run me. to each their own i guess.

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To be VERY clear about why I feel the way I do. (And why I think you should also.);

I am a BIG believer in the NEED to retain a presumption of innocence. As long as the cops can feel nothing wrong and/or no threat of reprisal from doing what they did to you, even by just stopping someone who is doing NOTHING wrong, then you LOOSE those rights over time.

i.e. Open carry is suppose to PERFECTLY legal. As such the police MUST maintain a presumption of innocence and keep going UNLESS there is a compelling need to stop.and then to ask you about 'your behavior'. Your situation, unless you left something out, does NOT legally present such a need. (That is unless I woke up today in a facist state. <- Although we can easily debate that too !!)

That need to be free from being questioned and/or detained because someone else is uncomfortable with our exercising of the right to (openly) carry is what a large part of this web site is about IMHO. That is in as much as we get nowhere allowing ourselves to be 'handled' by the police in such a manner as they presented themselves to you in the situation you described.

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para_org wrote:

To be VERY clear about why I feel the way I do. (And why I think you should also.);

I am a BIG believer in the NEED to retain a presumption of innocence. As long as the cops can feel nothing wrong and/or no threat of reprisal from doing what they did to you, even by just stopping someone who is doing NOTHING wrong, then you LOOSE those rights over time.

i.e. Open carry is suppose to PERFECTLY legal. As such the police MUST maintain a presumption of innocence and keep going UNLESS there is a compelling need to stop.and then to ask you about 'your behavior'. Your situation, unless you left something out, does NOT legally present such a need. (That is unless I woke up today in a facist state. <- Although we can easily debate that too !!)

That need to be free from being questioned and/or detained because someone else is uncomfortable with our exercising of the right to (openly) carry is what a large part of this web site is about IMHO. That is in as much as we get nowhere allowing ourselves to be 'handled' by the police in such a manner as they presented themselves to you in the situation you described.

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point taken.