Abraham wrote:...I rather look at the idea of handing over my CHL when not carrying, as boot licking...all this is moot for me, as I always carry and thus will always produce both CHL and DL if requested for I.D. by an LEO, but in the off chance I'm not carrying, and I.D. requested, I will not produce my CHL as the law says it's not required.
If the I.D. requesting officer gets irate, it'll be very interesting to see how that turns out...
Like you, I am
rarely not carrying, so the odds of having
to make the choice
to show/not-show my CHL are slim. But I have a different take on it than you regarding "bootlicking". It's ONLY bootlicking
to the person who considers it that for himself, because he shows the ID out of fear. There is a range of entirely reasonable reasons one might choose
to show the CHL anyway even if not armed, ranging from "good-guy courtesty"
to "this just doesn't matter enough
to me
to not show it". In neither of those two examples is anybody groveling, and that is essentially what boot-licking means: "groveling". Not every cop is either relaxed about the 2nd Amendment, or generally in favor of CHL, but in my experience since moving
to Texas, most seem
to be unconcerned about it. I understand that it doesn't matter from a legal perspective whether they favor it or not.....it's the law of the land in Texas, and they have
to follow the law just like I do. But such encounters can either be pleasant or unpleasant, and the citizen is as responsible for how that social transaction proceeds as is the LEO on the other side of it. I choose the former (pleasant and friendly) and will avoid the latter (unpleasant and unfriendly) if it is possible
to do so without compromising my health, safety, or legal status. It goes
to one of those existental questions: "Is this the hill I'm willing
to die on today?" For me, it isn't.
I also realize that one can refuse
to show the ID
and remain pleasant and friendly......in his own mind. But, if there is a 2nd person
to the social transaction (a cop in this instance),
that person may not interpret the refusal as pleasant and friendly. I completely realize that I am not in control of how the other person interprets my behavior, but if I choose behavior which makes a cop more comfortable around me, then I'm happy
to do it.....for the simple reason that I
generally want people
to be comfortable around me. I'm a social creature. I enjoy good company, I want
to be good company, and I don't discriminate based on what the person does for a living as long as it is legal......EVEN IF, at that moment in time, he/she is earning his/her living by writing me a traffic ticket. That's just the way I am hardwired.
I don't feel
compelled to show the ID against my will, I
want to do it. It's my choice
to do it or not. On the day I don't want
to do it, I won't do it. And that is a much different thing than "boot-licking". A boot-licker shows the ID out of fear of the cop, or out of the view that the cop is somehow better than himself just because he's a cop. That's not me.
