sirpuma wrote:
Shreveport Citizens Disarmed By Police For 2nd Amendment Bumper Stickers
At what point does an officer have a 'right' to disarm you? I would say if he has a reasonable fear of his safety. If he pulls you over for failing to use a turn signal, he doesn't need to take your weapon. Like the case where one of our members was handcuffed and his weapon taken and emptied because he was legally OCing. His rights were violated by officers who broke the law. This should NEVER be acceptable.
So long as people lay down like beaten dogs with their tails between their legs when any police officers decides to make up his own rules, these things will only get worse. :banghead: They need to KNOW their limits and they need to hear it from the TOP down and from the BOTTOM up.
According to Terry v. Ohio, the Supreme Court ruled that during an official detainment, the officer has the right to frisk an individual for weapons once they have reasonable suspicion that person is armed. Upon discovery of the weapon, the officer may disarm and seize that weapon for the duration of the detainment in the interest of officer safety.
Two things are required here - reasonable suspicion for the detainment itself, followed by reasonable suspicion of the presence of a weapon. SO:
You are clocked at 15mph over the speed limit. You are detained based on reasonable suspicion (traffic stop). Officer asks if you have any weapons. You answer yes. Now he has reasonable suspicion of the presence of a weapon. He now can do two things if he wants to seize your weapon for the duration of the detainment. He can ask you to hand it over to him, or ask you where it is and if he may retrieve it. OR he can ask you to step out of the vehicle and frisk you. If the weapon is in your vehicle at this point, and you are not in your vehicle, he has no right to enter your vehicle without your permission. So - if the gun is on you, he can seize it from your person - or he can now take whatever means he feels necessary to keep you separated from the weapon in your car, which might be telling you to stay out of the vehicle, or might be asking you to come back to his car.
Now, the case of a cop answering a MWAG 911 call is completely different. He sees you open carrying your weapon, in accordance with all applicable laws. Now he has NO reasonable suspicion for a detainment. At this point he also has no right to disarm you for officer safety, even if he wants to talk to you, because he has no reason for a "Terry Stop". All that was reported to 911 was there is a guy in Wal Mart with a gun, or eating dinner or whatever. No report of any crime has actually been made, there is no crime for him to "investigate".