The original post needs more detail...
Under the auspices of a traffic stop, a police officer is allowed to ask you questions. You are not obligated to answer, however. But if you DO answer, you ought to tell the truth or there are a variety of excuses they can use to charge you, from obstruction, false reporting, etc.
Florida has no gun registration, so there is no legal way for them to 'run the numbers'. All that will show is if a firearm with that serial number has been reported stolen. Many times just the number is taken, and especially with older guns with just a block of numbers, there might be another gun of another make and model out there with the same number. I believe there have even been cases of duplicate numbers issued by the same manufacturer. I purchased a used rifle once and the 'official' serial number on the dealer's inbound FFL form had the part numebr stamped on the bolt--not a serial number but a drawing #--as the firearm. It was a surplus WWII military rifle. as suck, there are about 1 to 2 million rifles out there with that same part number stamped on the bolt ! I pointed this out to the FFL dealer as I was filling out the 4473 and he said that it was the number the gun came to him with and so he had to sell it with that number...
Back to the original post--during a terry stop an officer has the right to secure your weapon temporarily for officer safety--since you are in an auto, if you committed an infraction he observed to warant being stopped, he can then check your license, insurance and registration and any visible checks from the outside of the vehicle--lights, windshield intact, etc. If all observable signs are good to go, he cannot detain you any longer. Once he has checked your papers/license as being valid and run your name to make sure you are not sought on any warrants, that is IT. He needs to return your firearm, issue you a citation if warranted, and cut you loose. 'Running numbers' doesn't enter into it, since there isn't a database to compare your firearm to, and he has no articulable suspicion to believe the gun is stolen.
As for the 'my friend is a bodyguard and has a CCW'--
A CCW is a CCW. It allows you to carry a firearm. It conveys no special powers such as security/bodyguard status. It's kind of like Dale on 'King of The Hill' buying a hat that says 'Bounty Hunter'. Wearing a hat gives you no special powers or status. I've had, while working as an RO in Florida, several instances of peopel carrying CCW's coming in and throwing around the 'bodyguard' title. One claimed it gave him the right to open-carry ANYWHERE in the state, regardless of private property rules. A county sheriff told him to disarm and the man told him 'I am a BODYGUARD, I don't have to obey you. I can open carry anywhere in the state'. He was carrying two Glock 17's in thigh holsters, a semi-auto M-4 Carbine, and a Remington 870 shotgun, along with a half-dozen rifle magazines in a chest pouch plus a bandolier of shotgun ammo, worn over body armor and swat black fatigues. The name 'Sharkman' was written on the back of his kevlar armor (I'm not making this up). He was walking around in public with an overweight girlfriend-looking young lady who was wearing 'Daisy Dukes' and a t-shirt. he claimed she was his 'client' and 'her life was in danger' thus 'he had to be armed like this at all times in case an attempt was made on her life'.
She looked like his girlfriend to me. I asked what she did to cause such a hefty price to be put on her head and he told me it was 'classified'. I kid you not.
The sheriff's deputies at the county range informed him that open carry wasn't legal in Florida, and that if the property agent/manager (in this case, me) asked them to leave, they had to leave or be trespassed.
'Sharkman' took out his CCW--he didn't have a Florida security license or anything a legitimate security guard had--and claimed that the CCW made him exempt from any laws or law enforcement commands.
He got a nice ride downtown. Unfortunately he left his client there, unprotected, but the other deputies promised to watch out for the hoardes of assassins that were undoubtedly stalking her...
Sorry, I degress. Too much caffiene this morning.
