JJ
Regular Member
So I returned home today after spending a couple days in South Lake Tahoe. Glock 20 on my right, two 15 round mags on my left.
While riding my Goldwing motorcycle through Lodi on Kettleman Lane I saw him too late. A bike cop parked on the right pointing his radar gun at me. Crap. My wife of twenty years had two requests of me during my trip, and one of them was "don't get a ticket, we can't afford it". (because she just paid HER $222 speeding ticket!)
So Officer Freeman pulls out behind me and displays all his pretty lights to me. Double crap, wifey is not going to be happy and I'm surely about to be violated. I pull off Kettleman to the right onto a side street and stop in a very small patch of shade very close to the curb. Officer Freeman pulls in behind me, in the sun.
Although I am wise enough to have my voice recorder strapped around my neck, I was not smart enough to activate it immediately (I had time before the "hands on your head" command) as I am focused on making sure my hands stay on the handlebars after I stop, I didn't even turn the ignition key off.
So after Officer Freeman gets stopped he issues the command and I comply, placing my hands on my helmet. He approaches (his weapon still holstered) on my right and asks if I am a police officer. I reply in the negative, and add that I am legally openly carrying unloaded. He advises that he needs to do an e check. I reply that I do not consent to any search or seizures of my person or property but will not resist if he still intends to attempt an e check.
After some pushing and pulling he manages to remove my Glock and confirm its status as unloaded. He then asks if I have ammo. "Yes, I have loaded magazines on my left side." He instructs me he is going to hold my property until we are done. Duh. I'm parked in the gutter parallel to the curb (the shade!) facing forward. As another officer pulls up across the street I notice out of the corner of my eye, behind me, instead of writing a ticket Officer Freeman seems to be looking at the serial number on my Glock.
As I voice my objections, and tell him the only violation the law currently allows is the 12031e check, I realize I did not activate my recorder and now turn it on as I ask officer Freeman if he suspects me of committing any crimes other than a traffic violation. He then hands my gun to the other officer and repeats he's gonna hold onto it until we're done since "you have ammo and we don't want it to become loaded".
While Freeman writes my ticket (49 in a 35, stupid me) officer #2 asks why I carry. I give the standard answers, and then educate him on the Supreme Courts ruling in McDonald vs. Chicago and how the ruling applies to all the states. By now there are six officers on scene. None of the other officers ever approached me. The officers didn't lecture me and returned the respect I gave them. They did say it is something they're not used to seeing. I said that's part of the problem and we're working on it!
After I signed and received a copy of my ticket Freeman placed my gun back into my holster. The entire encounter took about ten minutes. They all hung out and didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave. A quick check of my GPS showed a school about a half a mile down the road so I got off my bike (I was told to stay on it during the stop) and opened the side case on my bike to get my lock box. I announced my intention to secure my firearm "until I get out of town" to the crowd of officers, to which one replied, "Why? Everyone that is working has already seen you." LOL
Freeman then thanked me for my cooperation. I asked if they had received any memos on OC, he said they had, but he had only encountered one other open carrier. (a security guard on a bike on his way to work in street clothes)
I'm not sure if Freeman had completed the serial number check on my gun before I saw what was going on, but he did put it down as soon as I objected.
While riding my Goldwing motorcycle through Lodi on Kettleman Lane I saw him too late. A bike cop parked on the right pointing his radar gun at me. Crap. My wife of twenty years had two requests of me during my trip, and one of them was "don't get a ticket, we can't afford it". (because she just paid HER $222 speeding ticket!)
So Officer Freeman pulls out behind me and displays all his pretty lights to me. Double crap, wifey is not going to be happy and I'm surely about to be violated. I pull off Kettleman to the right onto a side street and stop in a very small patch of shade very close to the curb. Officer Freeman pulls in behind me, in the sun.
Although I am wise enough to have my voice recorder strapped around my neck, I was not smart enough to activate it immediately (I had time before the "hands on your head" command) as I am focused on making sure my hands stay on the handlebars after I stop, I didn't even turn the ignition key off.
So after Officer Freeman gets stopped he issues the command and I comply, placing my hands on my helmet. He approaches (his weapon still holstered) on my right and asks if I am a police officer. I reply in the negative, and add that I am legally openly carrying unloaded. He advises that he needs to do an e check. I reply that I do not consent to any search or seizures of my person or property but will not resist if he still intends to attempt an e check.
After some pushing and pulling he manages to remove my Glock and confirm its status as unloaded. He then asks if I have ammo. "Yes, I have loaded magazines on my left side." He instructs me he is going to hold my property until we are done. Duh. I'm parked in the gutter parallel to the curb (the shade!) facing forward. As another officer pulls up across the street I notice out of the corner of my eye, behind me, instead of writing a ticket Officer Freeman seems to be looking at the serial number on my Glock.
As I voice my objections, and tell him the only violation the law currently allows is the 12031e check, I realize I did not activate my recorder and now turn it on as I ask officer Freeman if he suspects me of committing any crimes other than a traffic violation. He then hands my gun to the other officer and repeats he's gonna hold onto it until we're done since "you have ammo and we don't want it to become loaded".
While Freeman writes my ticket (49 in a 35, stupid me) officer #2 asks why I carry. I give the standard answers, and then educate him on the Supreme Courts ruling in McDonald vs. Chicago and how the ruling applies to all the states. By now there are six officers on scene. None of the other officers ever approached me. The officers didn't lecture me and returned the respect I gave them. They did say it is something they're not used to seeing. I said that's part of the problem and we're working on it!
After I signed and received a copy of my ticket Freeman placed my gun back into my holster. The entire encounter took about ten minutes. They all hung out and didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave. A quick check of my GPS showed a school about a half a mile down the road so I got off my bike (I was told to stay on it during the stop) and opened the side case on my bike to get my lock box. I announced my intention to secure my firearm "until I get out of town" to the crowd of officers, to which one replied, "Why? Everyone that is working has already seen you." LOL
Freeman then thanked me for my cooperation. I asked if they had received any memos on OC, he said they had, but he had only encountered one other open carrier. (a security guard on a bike on his way to work in street clothes)
I'm not sure if Freeman had completed the serial number check on my gun before I saw what was going on, but he did put it down as soon as I objected.
