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Ticketed for Exp Registration with 9mm in seat

kywildcat581

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
107
Location
Louisville, Kentucky, USA
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First off, Hello.. my name is David and I am 28 y. old. I have been reading this forum for quite some time and have not posted. I have learned a lot from this community and I now openly carry a 9mm on my hip holstered pretty much 90% of the time.

5:40 A.M on my way to work I was pulled over because of my registration on my vehicle being expired. Had two LEO cars behind me from the start, and I was on my way to work. First thing in the morning and I am getting pulled over, yay, my luck.

Well I had my hands on the steering wheel and a Highpoint C9 holstered in my passenger seat with a full magazine.

The LEO approached my vehicle and was immediately notified of the pistol my my passenger seat and the status of the magazine out of respect. I was asked to step out of the car.. chatted with him for a few moments about my tags being expired and how I will get them taken care of once I get off of this overtime. I have been working a lot of overtime and I have not been home at all when the clerk has been open due to my hours at work. I have not had opportunity.

He then asked the question "I would like to secure the weapon long enough for this stop to be completed, once we are done I will return it to you." I just noted I did not mind at all and he got the gun and took it with him to his cruiser. I do not see any harm in this process and I do not blame him for doing so.

Long story short from this point he informed me that he was a gun guy, and he too openly carried everywhere he went before joining the force. He understands the risks in the world and benefits of carrying.

He returned my pistol to me with magazine in one hand and pistol in the other, along with a ticket for my tags and told me to have a great day.



Now I will say this is the first time I have ever been pulled over with a weapon in my car and he did tell me he appreciated my honesty, and my attitude about the situation.

I think it was a bit too early in the day for me to be nervous, as I was still waking up, but I must say that for Louisville to have such a bad look on the LEO response to open carry, this was 1 for the books. I never even saw the second officer, he didn't even get out of his car. Sounds to me that he needs to teach his knowledge and courtesy to a lot of others.

Just a small thumbs up to that officer.
 

kywildcat581

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
107
Location
Louisville, Kentucky, USA
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I will say this in addition, this was not my first LEO encounter while openly carrying.... and I have not had a bad one yet... but this one really shined out to me for a few reasons.

BTW the Highpoint C9 - highly recommended. reliable and affordable... goes bang every time and accuracy is pretty well on par
 

Bill Starks

State Researcher
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
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4,304
Location
Nortonville, KY, USA
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weapon on the seat.... you out of the vehicle.... AND he still had to take the weapon for safety with another cruiser behind him????
 

kywildcat581

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
107
Location
Louisville, Kentucky, USA
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I thought the same for a moment.. but with him being so cool about the situation... what's the bother? He could have been an uneducated and arrogant LEO to make the day a lot worse....

Didn't really bother me though... I understand that just because I openly told him th e location does not guarantee to him I am not nuts... just because we carry openly doesn't mean we are all in the mental state to really be doing it... I am sure there are plenty of people out there that probably have no business with a gun on their side, but still have that right because no one knows exactly how crazy they are.

On that note, especially where he had me pulled over, I do not have any hard feelings...

Note: Please don't flame on me for the above, I know this is the exact thought pattern that makes people believe that open carry is not safe... and this is what I am trying to help prevent.. but fact be known there are a few of thm out there... but from the situation I personally was not bothered... I did not go into the full conversation as it had been a week or so ago, but he actually supported the open carry community as a whole
 

langzaiguy

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
Messages
916
Location
Central KY
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At first I was pretty furious at your title because I though I KY LEO had cited you for having your gun registration expired--GLAD that wasn't the case.

I suppose I'm in the middle of the debate--I don't have any qualms about having the firearm in a neutral location for an officer's peace of mind. I still wouldn't consent to them taking it to their car and running the numbers. Like you said--I'm not here to debate this either.

Glad this situation worked out for you & it's definitely great to see that you've had all positive experience with KY LEOs!
 

GoldCoaster

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Jun 24, 2008
Messages
646
Location
Stratford, Connecticut, USA
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I guess you could have asked him to put it in the trunk - mind you, it makes anything in the trunk open to scrutiny.

If you were out of the car and the pistol was inside the car, you'd think he'd have been secure enough at his cruiser. He'd see you go for the gun.. it's not like he patted you down when you got out did he? You could have had another one concealed somewhere so where's his safety?

Too bad he gave you a ticket.
 

kywildcat581

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
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107
Location
Louisville, Kentucky, USA
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No pat downs, just took my word for it that I only had that gun. I guess he figured since I donated that much information and I was honest about the tags, etc, that I was a pretty reliable guy. But he did handle it in a good manner.... I have had nothing but good experiences here in Louisville and hopefully it remains this way. Radcliff as well, chatted with Radcliff and West Point officers on the side of the road openly carrying. Nothing was mentioned, just a joking "Your not a felon are you" me... nope... then he just looks at my kids and joked a bit with them....

Hopefully this experience continues... BTW... glad I am finally involved in the forum, I have been reading for a while now and I have not seen anyone other than myself carrying openly in Louisville... hopefully that will change as well..
 

NoHadji

Regular Member
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May 24, 2009
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Location
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A gun guy and he still gave you a ticket? Lame! Save the tickets for the libtards and let the good guys go!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Citizen

Founder's Club Member
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Nov 15, 2006
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18,269
Location
Fairfax Co., VA
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These are not criticisms. More along the lines of pointing out some things.

You understand that by not notifying (when not illegal) you are already giving the LEO all the respect and courtesy required by law and good citizenship? To give it some perspective, compare to how some people show their respect during a traffic stop--surly to cop, scream at cop, assault cop, fail to stop, elude, etc. If youare polite while fully exercising your rights, yougive him full measure of respect and courtesy.

He was not joking when he asked if you were a felon. You were being interrogated investigatively. Had you fidgeted, acted nervous, looked away (interpreted as looking for an escape route), things could very well have gone downhill. Pat-down time. Felons have kids with them, too.

I've got $5 that says the serial number on your gun was run through a database to see if it was stolen. This is more likely why he wanted it. As already mentioned, you were not a danger standing outside the car with the gun inside.

Also, as already mentioned, your above-and-beyond cooperation still resulted in a citation.

Weare under no obligation by law or good citizenship to expose ourselves to police fishing expeditions or possible over-reach by notifying them about the presence of a firearm. (This assumes there is not a statutory requirement to notify.)
 

kywildcat581

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Sep 27, 2009
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107
Location
Louisville, Kentucky, USA
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Good thoughts, but given the situation overall he was very polite at his work and non offensive to me about what he was doing. There was no demand in his request to "secure" the weapon either... it was worded with an "if you don't mind" somewhere...

now what if I did mind? No telling .... but I didn't... overall a plus for LMPD
 

Statesman

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Jul 20, 2008
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Location
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
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I would make it clear that while I don't mind the weapon being "secured" from me for the duration of a legitimate stop (expired registration, etc), I do not consent to having the serial number entered into any computer, on the basis of implicit firearm registration. I have read of court precedent supporting that police are permitted to secure weapons for the duration of a stop, and I support this for the officer's sake. However, the officer should be required by law to ask for permission to run the serial number (i.e. consent to search). Is this so?

I would like some more info about such traffic stops, and what is done with the serial numbers when checked against a stolen list of serial numbers. Are they recorded along with the name of the person being stopped, or is the query transaction completely separated from the incident and the person, and the serial# is not recorded anywhere?

If there is no existing legislation protecting against this kind of data collection, it's high time something gets proposed.

Oh, and props to LPD for being supportive of OC. Way to go!!
 

kywildcat581

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
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Location
Louisville, Kentucky, USA
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I would like to know more information as well... I didn't even think about it... I don't even know for sure if it was ran or not....

Maybe some of the LEO here can assist with this question
 
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