imported post
SoI was driving home from work and a tire went flat. I had my gun on my hip, but since it's gettin chilly down here I threw my jacket on while I was outside. While I was getting the spare out of my trunk a trooper pulled up. As he approached, he asked me what the problem was. I told him I had a flat tire, and was glad he was there 'cause I needed a flashlight
. I then kept my hands out and too my side and said "and just to let you know, I have a concealed carry permit and I am armed." He looked at me kinda funny, then I asked him to help me find the lug nut key that I had dropped. While we were searching for it, he asks, "So can I ask why you have a concealed permit??" I said, "Well I want to carry as much as possible and it's hard to legally w/o the permit. Ya know, I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it." He looked at me with a blank stare, and then said, "Oh, yeah, makes sense. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, it's your right. As long as you're a law-abiding citizen, it's your right.."
The conversation went on from there about how he was glad I knew how to change my own spare and blah blah blah. He stuck around until I was all packed up and I was on my way. When I got in the car I noticed my jacket had hooked up over my weapon as I was messing with the spare.
Two things came out of this for me. First, I was very impressed with the officer's attitude and behavior. I was about to ask him his badge number but a big truck drove by and then he got back in his car and left. I'm still going to call the PD and let them know that whichever officer responded to the guy with the flat tire was outstanding.
The second thing that I realized is that while the most people, myself included, think the "must inform" law is useless, it really helped me out this time. At some point while I was changing my tire with the officer watching me with his flashlight, my gun popped out. Had I not made him aware that I was armed, that might have been a difficult situation for both of us. I doubt he would have acted poorly, BUT I would expect any LEO to have to step back, ask the person to keep his hands visible and ask some quick questions to make sure this wasn't an attempted cop trap or whatever. I'm glad we got that out of the way at the beginning of the conversation.
SoI was driving home from work and a tire went flat. I had my gun on my hip, but since it's gettin chilly down here I threw my jacket on while I was outside. While I was getting the spare out of my trunk a trooper pulled up. As he approached, he asked me what the problem was. I told him I had a flat tire, and was glad he was there 'cause I needed a flashlight
. I then kept my hands out and too my side and said "and just to let you know, I have a concealed carry permit and I am armed." He looked at me kinda funny, then I asked him to help me find the lug nut key that I had dropped. While we were searching for it, he asks, "So can I ask why you have a concealed permit??" I said, "Well I want to carry as much as possible and it's hard to legally w/o the permit. Ya know, I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it." He looked at me with a blank stare, and then said, "Oh, yeah, makes sense. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, it's your right. As long as you're a law-abiding citizen, it's your right.."The conversation went on from there about how he was glad I knew how to change my own spare and blah blah blah. He stuck around until I was all packed up and I was on my way. When I got in the car I noticed my jacket had hooked up over my weapon as I was messing with the spare.
Two things came out of this for me. First, I was very impressed with the officer's attitude and behavior. I was about to ask him his badge number but a big truck drove by and then he got back in his car and left. I'm still going to call the PD and let them know that whichever officer responded to the guy with the flat tire was outstanding.
The second thing that I realized is that while the most people, myself included, think the "must inform" law is useless, it really helped me out this time. At some point while I was changing my tire with the officer watching me with his flashlight, my gun popped out. Had I not made him aware that I was armed, that might have been a difficult situation for both of us. I doubt he would have acted poorly, BUT I would expect any LEO to have to step back, ask the person to keep his hands visible and ask some quick questions to make sure this wasn't an attempted cop trap or whatever. I'm glad we got that out of the way at the beginning of the conversation
.