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Its kind of scary the first time.

Sc0tt

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2010
Messages
315
Location
Asheboro, NC
Im talking about the first time a LEO tells you he's going to be looking for you and he going to throw you in jail.

Heres what happened:

I was in randelman and had stoped at the McDonalds to get a Tea. There were three Randelman LEO's and 1 RCSO (randolph county sherrifs) there.

I stoped and asked the RCSO if I could get his opion on somthing, I have recently mounted a removable holster to the side of my center console, I asked if he would mind taking a look at it and telling me if In His opinion it would be conceld if I got pulled over and didnt have time to put it on the dash. The RSCO LEO was happy to give his opinion, While I was talking to him a Randelman LEO comes over to offer his assitiance thinking it was a terry stop, once he realized he was glad to help too.

So we walk over to my car and he pulls out a flash light and looks at it and says to get it and he looking and he gave me the usual bit about how its best to keep it on the dash but in his book unless I was being an ass he didnt consider it conceled
(BTW I'll post a pic later)

A 3rd Randelman Officer walks over and then this conversation started:

3rd Officer: How Old is He?

Me: Im 24 sir

3rd officer: Ok son let me tell you somthing, I know alot of you kids are doing the open thing latley and I dont care, I
hope you know that theres a new law out that says if I catch you out with that thing espically in a bank Im going to throw you in jail

Me: On what charge?

3rd Officer: Welll if I catch you in a bank with it Im going to make sure you get hit with everything I can think of, but if you just around Im going to charge you with armed terror to the people, Your shaking you head whats funny?

Me: yes sir you could throw me in jail for somthing like that but in the end its up to a DA and the jurry to determine if I broke the law and I am confident enough in the gun laws to know where I can and can not carry.

3rd officer: What like the SECU?

Me: Perhaps it is legal to do so there.

[ At this point I realize I done the evil deed or getting into an argument with an intolerant biggot]

3rd officer: No, No! No one can carry in a bank unless your a LEO, you see this badge son, this is what you have to have to carry in a bank.

[Now the other 2 officers have turned on me- SHOCKING]

2nd Officer; No One can carry into a bank but cops.

RCSO: I can take you down there and show you that it says no guns.

Me: No it says no "conceled" guns, look sir I was simply asking the advice of these two other officer on somthing, I didnt come here to agrue gun laws, Now unless I am being detained for some reason I going to wish you all a safe night.

3rd officer:
Heres my advice. leave it at home. What are you carrying it for anyways *scoffs*

Me:
[ This part was admited for my saftey ] - for my personal protection, its better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.

[another officer luaghs and says he will have to remember that]

[ I get in my car and leave]

So....

::1:: Did I handel this well?

::2:: Should I let it go or should I write a letter or send an email to the cheif of police or a supervisor. (Its eating me up I didnt get his name :(

Thanks!
 

nobama

New member
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Messages
756
Location
, ,
Here is the deal, I would never ask any LEO for advise, especially on carrying a gun. This backfired and turned into an "us verses them" Maybe if it would have been only one LEO, but as you can see, not all LEO believe in liberty or freedom. As usual, one of the LEO was wrong about bank carry.
 

Badger Johnson

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2011
Messages
1,213
Location
USA
Yeah, dumb move to ask a LEO an opinion like that because they all will have different opinions. You set yourself up.
 

Large Caliber Kick

Regular Member
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
224
Location
Mooresville, North Carolina, United States
Scott,

In my opinion you handled the situation quite well. I have figured out that the response of "I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it." seems to work the best. In 1 year of casual and two confrontational encounters with leo's, I've never had one say they didn't understand after hearing it put that way. I had two occasions when I was delivering pizza before I owned a handgun that left me wishing I had one and I've never once called the authorities for assistance and gotten a response time of less than thirty minutes.
 

condeist

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2011
Messages
48
Location
Franklin Co., NC
You can absolutely open carry in a bank. It is private property, just like any other business. So unless they expressly have a sign prohibiting all weapons, you are good to go. I know for a fact you can open carry in SECUs. It may be worth the time sending a letter to the police chief so maybe the cops can get some instruction on what the law really is. HINT: Its not his badge.
 

SovereignAxe

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2011
Messages
791
Location
Elizabethton, TN
from what I've gathered about police is that they're just like car salesmen. Car salesmen don't know a lick about the cars they're selling. They know about money, a little psychology, and how to get a car into the hands of a customer. How the car works is bonus info that may or may not be true-they know which ones are nicer than the others and which customers should be buying what, but about half of what they know is BS.

Same thing for an LEO. They know little about the law except the most common stuff-killing is bad, running a red light is bad, robbing and violence is bad-nuances of what is legal and what is not is not really of their concern. The side of their car says "to serve and protect" but that doesn't pay the bills. Putting people in jail pays the bills. If someone goes to jail and is found not guilty-it's no skin off the cop's back. If they put a convicted criminal behind bars, they've "served and protected" the community, and that's what they get recognition for.

I've BSed with cops before, and that's usually pretty fun, but my fiancee's family is full of cops and I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've asked any of them for legal advice, and that's usually taken with a grain of salt.
 

Badger Johnson

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2011
Messages
1,213
Location
USA
I used to posit that LEOs DID know the law but played 'dumb' to allow them to stretch their authority.

Now, I think you're right. They purposely only have a vague notion of 'legal and illegal', fire=pretty, gun=bad, and so forth.

THIS allows them to make up any law they want on the spot, using their badge as the 'authority' and their testosterone poisoning (female LEOs, too) and gun, and overwhelming force (piling on) as muscle. They enable their behavior by 1. Having tacit approval from above (command) and 2. By lying and covering up evidence.

My opinion on this 'behavior' we keep coming up against.

$.02
 
Last edited:

chiefjason

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
1,025
Location
Hickory, NC, ,
The problem with getting legal opinions from a LEO is that the officer you ask will likely not be the officer you end up dealing with. So their opinion becomes useless at that point. You handled it well for the situation. But you might want to avoid that situation in the future.

I'd email the Chief and include the statute info. I'd also mention State v Huntley that states the OC is not GATTTOTP. The email will give you a paper trail if he responds too.

Oh, and some LEO's don't like dealing with folks if they are eating. Can't say I blame them too much. I tend to leave them alone. I figure if something needs to be discussed, they will find me.
 

Sc0tt

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2010
Messages
315
Location
Asheboro, NC
The problem with getting legal opinions from a LEO is that the officer you ask will likely not be the officer you end up dealing with. So their opinion becomes useless at that point. You handled it well for the situation. But you might want to avoid that situation in the future.

I'd email the Chief and include the statute info. I'd also mention State v Huntley that states the OC is not GATTTOTP. The email will give you a paper trail if he responds too.

Oh, and some LEO's don't like dealing with folks if they are eating. Can't say I blame them too much. I tend to leave them alone. I figure if something needs to be discussed, they will find me.

They weren't eating just doing the usual standing around talking in front of the door.

@condeist: IK open carry is legal in a bank unless there's a gun busters sign, Only CC is prohibited by law. I OC in SECU quite often (I however was not about to tell them that) The sad part of this is that even if it is legal they could still charge me, take me to jail, seize my gun, and it would be up to me to fork out for a lawyer to fight it, That may of been his idea to scare me because it worked, even though I know its legal to carry in a bank I am now hesitant to do this.

@chiefjason: I didn't think about the paper trail idea. I am going to most definitely be sending a letter to the Chief now, something along the lines that that its is the officers job to catch criminals as to defend my constitutionally protected rights *Protect* and Serve.
 
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