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First run in with a cop.

p2a1x7

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2009
Messages
99
Location
Pullman, Washington, USA
I went around the Seattle area with my girlfriend to give her some company between her interviews today. The first one was in Bellevue and I just went down to Barnes and Noble with no issue. Then we went over to downtown Seattle for her next one and to walk around a bit. There was a mounted officer outside the parking lot we parked in. I walked by and it went a little like this.

Cop, "Hi"
Me, "Hi" walking away
Cop, "Can you come over here for a second?" I do so. "Did you know you have a gun on your hip?"
Me, "Yes"
Cop, "Open carry huh? Well don't be surprised if you get run down by some cops if your behavior makes people nervous."
Me, "Ok" I stare at him and he stares at me for a second
Cop, "Ok" and I walked away.

I think it went pretty well considering I was a bit annoyed that I heard him say gun down instead of run down (run down makes more sense now). But I didn't want to bring it up because my girlfriend doesn't like me carrying anyways, so the less I make it an issue, the less she will care. Other than that if your behavior makes people nervous, open carry or not, I don't see why you should be surprised if someone calls the cops on you. So I don't see his point. I also went into a gelato place and someone said something about packing heat, but I don't really think they were talking to me. A cop did come up from down stairs when I was there, but nothing interaction. All in all, a good day, got some mushrooms and bok choy from Pikes Place Market and had a good dinner.
 

FMCDH

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2008
Messages
2,037
Location
St. Louis, MO
Did he honestly ask you if you knew you had a gun on your hip?? :banghead:

I guess LEOs have nervous conversational breakdowns like the rest of us. ;)


Believe it or not, I have had that exact same line given to me, but not from an LEO, it was a co-worker in Alaska.

My response...

"Yep, and you don't, so whats up with that?"

I think his brain locked up on him, because his jaw worked for a few moments but no words came out. I just smiled big at him and chucked him on the shoulder and walked on.
 

p2a1x7

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2009
Messages
99
Location
Pullman, Washington, USA
Yep, that's what he said. When he said that I looked at his gun and thought about saying, "Did you know you have one on your hip too?" But with the girlfriend around and needing to go to an interview, I figured it was best to go with yes. In hindsight I should have said "Did you know you're on a horse?"
 

FMCDH

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2008
Messages
2,037
Location
St. Louis, MO
Yep, that's what he said. When he said that I looked at his gun and thought about saying, "Did you know you have one on your hip too?" But with the girlfriend around and needing to go to an interview, I figured it was best to go with yes. In hindsight I should have said "Did you know you're on a horse?"

Yes!

Knowing me, I totally would have chided him for that gaff, but I can understand your reasons for keeping it simple. :)
 

Citizen

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
18,269
Location
Fairfax Co., VA
Did he honestly ask you if you knew you had a gun on your hip?? :banghead:

I'm betting this was an investigational encounter, and the question was an attitude test.

If the OPer had smart-alecked a reply, things might have gone a little differently from the cop's end.

The OPer passed the investigation by his responses. And, he passed the attitude test by not getting lippy.

I'm not a big fan of consenting to a police encounter. But, this one turned out OK. If you ignore the outrageous idea by the cop that merely exercising a basic human right by carrying a defensive arm deserves suspicion or a fishing expedition, of course.
 

John Hardin

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2007
Messages
683
Location
Snohomish, Washington, USA
If the OPer had smart-alecked a reply, things might have gone a little differently from the cop's end.

The OPer passed the investigation by his responses. And, he passed the attitude test by not getting lippy.
Yeah, that's the problem. It's too bad that a response like looking in feigned shock at your own hip and saying "Oh my God! How did that get there??" might not get the officer to leave you alone.

Cop, "Open carry huh? Well don't be surprised if you get run down by some cops if your behavior makes people nervous."
"I hope your brother officers are familiar with the law and the opinions of the Washington State Supreme Court and know that it takes more than 'making someone nervous' to rise to the level of an offense."

What a weird encounter. I guess it was handled about as well as something like that could be.
 
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Fisherman

Regular Member
Joined
May 15, 2010
Messages
160
Location
45R
I went around the Seattle area with my girlfriend to give her some company between her interviews today. The first one was in Bellevue and I just went down to Barnes and Noble with no issue. Then we went over to downtown Seattle for her next one and to walk around a bit. There was a mounted officer outside the parking lot we parked in. I walked by and it went a little like this.

Cop, "Hi"
Me, "Hi" walking away
Cop, "Can you come over here for a second?" I do so. "Did you know you have a gun on your hip?"
Me, "Yes"
Cop, "Open carry huh? Well don't be surprised if you get run down by some cops if your behavior makes people nervous."
Me, "Ok" I stare at him and he stares at me for a second
Cop, "Ok" and I walked away.

That reminds me of a song:
I could see by his outfit, that he was a cowboy,
He could see by my outfit, that I was a cowboy toooooo,
We could see by our outfits, that we were both cowboys,
If you get an outfit, you can be a cowboy toooooo.

Makes more sense if you know some cowboy songs. LOL
 

CrimsonSoul

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2009
Messages
144
Location
, ,
"did you know you ha a gun on your hip?"
Look down in horror
"OMG ew ew ew!! Get it off get it off!"
 

dadada

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2010
Messages
112
Location
Edge of the woods
I'm betting this was an investigational encounter, and the question was an attitude test.

If the OPer had smart-alecked a reply, things might have gone a little differently from the cop's end.

The OPer passed the investigation by his responses. And, he passed the attitude test by not getting lippy.

I'm not a big fan of consenting to a police encounter. But, this one turned out OK. If you ignore the outrageous idea by the cop that merely exercising a basic human right by carrying a defensive arm deserves suspicion or a fishing expedition, of course.


Smart-alecked, like if his retort to the "do you know you've got a gun on your hip" question would have been, "do you know your horse has a d!@k on it?" and then just kept walking away? I'm assuming the cop was on a horse, and not "mounted" as in the two dogs in heat sense of the word.
 
Last edited:

jbone

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
2,230
Location
WA
Run down, sounds painful!
Would be interesting to know what “run down” means in his book of law abiding citizen contact
Is it run down and launched against a wall, run down, and over with a cruiser, run down clubbed and disarmed, run down by the dogs and bite, or run down in order to complement a peaceful citizen for exercising a right?
 

amzbrady

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
3,521
Location
Marysville, Washington, USA
Smart-alecked, like if his retort to the "do you know you've got a gun on your hip" question would have been, "do you know your horse has a d!@k on it?" and then just kept walking away? I'm assuming the cop was on a horse, and not "mounted" as in the two dogs in heat sense of the word.

did you mount that horse yourself?
 
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