I hit the flashers, pulled over, killed the radio, rolled down the windows on both sides, and turned on the dome light. He made his approach stopping to the center and rear of my truck, and announced himself as Officer So-and-So (not his real name
) with the Tx DPS and asked me to step out and join him at the rear of the truck. As I got around to the rear he started asking for ID and the normal rig-a-ma-roll when I cut him off mid sentence and said “Before we go any further you need to know this…� and handed him my CHL and DL. At this point the subject immediately changed to “do have one on you NOW and if so, without touching it tell me where.� I told him I had a Sig 229 on my right hip, he seemed happy with that and started to carry-on, I had to cut him off again to tell him about the Smith&Wesson in my front pocket, and I figured while I had his attention I might as well tell him about the rifle in the cab, I also mentioned the knife in my back pocket, nether of which he really cared about.
He then asked if I worked in Law Enforcement, I replied I had considered it but decided I couldn’t put up with the number of idiots I’d be expected deal with on a daily basis. He chuckled and admitted to having seen his share of idiots and mentioned he was a supporter of the Right to Keep and Bare Arms; I think that statement was more of a hey I’m on your side lets be friends kind of thing.
At this point he explained he wanted to disarm me and told me go to the passenger side of the truck and set both guns on the front seat and then stand at the rear of the truck while he ran my info. As I unholstered the Sig he commended “Wow, that does conceal well� (I think he was surprised to see that much gun come out from under a t-shirt) and then quizzed me on the type and caliber and same with the Smith as I removed it from my pocket still in the holster. He took this opportunity to have me get my insurance from the glove box, being about a foot from where he had me put the guns I guess he wanted to supervise while got that, and I can’t blame him in the least for that.
As we stood behind the truck and chewed the fat talking guns and what not, the dispatcher came on the radio “BE ADVISED blah blah something� my ears perked up and the officers body language was sort of a well duh/no kiddin. Turns out that was them telling him I had a CHL. He then handed me my white slip and said I could reholster and be on my way. He hightailed it outa there before I could get the Sig back in the holster.
Lessons Learned:
- I noticed while standing behind the truck that turning on the dome light also turns on the cargo lights which creates a glare on the back window and seems to make it even harder to see in. That may have been part of his reason for asking me to step out. Next time I'll use the map lights.
In talking to him the CHL return only comes back if the dispatcher is doing their job, apparently it requires an extra step that gets skipped sometimes. He did say that the Grimes County dispatch has their stuff together and he was going through them because if needed backup was a lot closer than Bryan.
Also when disarming someone he does one of three things:- Disarm the person and take the gun back to his cruiser and then return it at the end of the stop.
Remove the mag and any rounds Lock the slide back and set them apart from one another and then have the person stand somewhere else. He did say striping the rounds from the mag was common but he typically didn’t go that far.
Or in my case have them set the gun on the passenger seat and stand behind the vehicle.
- Disarm the person and take the gun back to his cruiser and then return it at the end of the stop.
It is only fair to write for positive experiences if you plan on complaining about the negative ones!
