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jbirds1210 wrote:

KC5AV wrote:

jbirds1210 wrote:

KC5AV wrote:It would probably be best to inform the officer that you are armed when he tells you to step out of the vehicle.

I agree.

Of course, you would agree.

point taken. I really like for people to have guns...fills me with pride when someone takes responsibility for their well being. I am open about the fact I have a gun or two and appreciate no surprises. Common courtesy is ALWAYS given by me and I have never been anything but supportive about anything gun related. I had a CHL ten years before becoming a police officer.

Here is the way I see a traffic stop with jbirds1210 going:

jbirds1210: "Sir, do you know why I stopped you?'"
Driver: "No sir officer."
jbirds1210: 'I stopped you because you were driving a little faster than the speed limit."
Driver: "I'm sorry officer"
jbirds1210: "And sir, are you carrying a firearm?"
Driver: "No sir officer."
jbirds1210 "Why the heck aren't you??"

Keith B wrote:

jbirds1210 wrote:

KC5AV wrote:

jbirds1210 wrote:

KC5AV wrote:It would probably be best to inform the officer that you are armed when he tells you to step out of the vehicle.

I agree.

Of course, you would agree.

point taken. I really like for people to have guns...fills me with pride when someone takes responsibility for their well being. I am open about the fact I have a gun or two and appreciate no surprises. Common courtesy is ALWAYS given by me and I have never been anything but supportive about anything gun related. I had a CHL ten years before becoming a police officer.

Here is the way I see a traffic stop with jbirds1210 going:

jbirds1210: "Sir, do you know why I stopped you?'"
Driver: "No sir officer."
jbirds1210: 'I stopped you because you were driving a little faster than the speed limit."
Driver: "I'm sorry officer"
jbirds1210: "And sir, are you carrying a firearm?"
Driver: "No sir officer."
jbirds1210 "Why the heck aren't you??"

jbirds1210 "I'll let you off with a warning as long as you promise to drive to the nearest gun shop and rectify that oversight immediately."

well i dont fully understand the law about carrying in the car.... usually i hear you can carry it in the car, but it has to be not visible. I wonder has this happened to anyone before and what was the end result of.. I wonder can that person fight this case, since the officer told him to get out of the car.

Den wrote:well i dont fully understand the law about carrying in the car.... usually i hear you can carry it in the car, but it has to be not visible. I wonder has this happened to anyone before and what was the end result of.. I wonder can that person fight this case, since the officer told him to get out of the car.

You are correct on the law. Carry in the car (either in a glovebox, any other box, OR on your person) is completely legal, it just cannot be visible.

I would also assume that since they were following officer directions that if it did come to a case, they would be exonerated, especially if there was DashCam Video available proving that the officer ordered them out of the car.

One way to avoid the problem in the first place is to drive at or below the speed limits, make sure all of your car's lights and other equipment work, make sure that your inspection and registration tags are current, and obey all other traffic laws. That is not a guarantee of not being stopped, but it will certainly minimize the risk of it.

Many of us who have CHLs will freely admit that having one, and the associated responsibility of carrying a weapon under its authority, has caused us to moderate our own behavior and sort of "tone things down" a bit. So if you are going to carry a gun on your person in your car under authority of MPA, and you do not possess a CHL, and you are worried about the possible legal ramifications of being ordered out of your car by an LEO while you still have the gun on your person, then..... STOP BREAKING THE LAW!

....or pray that the cop in your rear view mirror is jbirds1210.

The Annoyed Man wrote:One way to avoid the problem in the first place is to drive at or below the speed limits, make sure all of your car's lights and other equipment work, make sure that your inspection and registration tags are current, and obey all other traffic laws. That is not a guarantee of not being stopped, but it will certainly minimize the risk of it.

That is certainly true. I've been stopped twice simply because I was driving a vehicle that matched the description...

TAM has a great point.

While it is unlikely for someone to be able to obey all of the traffic code, those are the more flagrant, easier noticed violations.

Can't say I haven't used "fail to signal within 100 ft of turning" or "stopping/standing without dimming headlamps" to get a stop on someone. Most of the time it's burglary/robbery/narcotics related.

Either way, just let the ofc know before you get out. That's what I do.

KC5AV wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:One way to avoid the problem in the first place is to drive at or below the speed limits, make sure all of your car's lights and other equipment work, make sure that your inspection and registration tags are current, and obey all other traffic laws. That is not a guarantee of not being stopped, but it will certainly minimize the risk of it.

That is certainly true. I've been stopped twice simply because I was driving a vehicle that matched the description...

...which is why I said "not a guarantee." But it does lower the odds significantly. I've lived here in Texas for four and a half years now, and I've been stopped once - for an expired inspection sticker. Now, I'm not a perfect angel behind the wheel, but overall, I tend to drive conservatively. I keep my vehicle in good shape with functional turn signals and brake lights. More importantly, I use my turn signals. I do occasionally exceed the speed limit in a "flow of traffic" sort of way, but as a general thing, I don't race through traffic and make lots of sudden lane changes. I don't like to follow other vehicles too closely, and I hate it when they do it to me. It's not that I'm the best driver ever, but my point is that my driving doesn't really draw attention to me. And that is the key. You can't help it when your vehicle resembles a stolen one, or if you have to make a sudden maneuver to dodge debris in the road; and those things may get you noticed. But it's just common sense that if you don't want to get pulled over, don't drive like you want to get pulled over. Driving like you do want to get pulled over will most commonly result in your getting pulled over.

One of the guys I used to pit with back when I roadraced motorcycles in the late '80s was a California Highway Patrol officer in his professional life. We were hanging out once and just talking about stuff in general, and I asked him a question about what kind of things did he notice about other drivers.... like did he give sports cars or muscle cars more attention than soccer moms in minivans. He told me that he didn't so much pay attention to the types of vehicles around him as he did to whether or not a given vehicle stood out from the background traffic patterns because it was moving at a slightly faster or slower speed, or it was changing lanes more often than other cars, etc. He compared it to what a predator first sees when it focus on prey. Usually the prey blends in with the background and it is hard to see. But motion draws the predator's eyes to that prey. It was that simple. So it's not the lane change that gets you. It's zig-zagging between lanes that the officer notices. Then he/she notices that you're also going faster than the flow of traffic. Well, if the posted limit is 65 and that is the general flow of traffic, and you're cruising through that traffic at 75.... etc., etc.

I didn’t realize not signaling for a lane change was a moving violation. I know its common courtesy.
I’m amazed by the number of people who don’t use their signals and as a motorcycle rider I find it particularly offensive.
Why isn’t it enforced? Sorry. I’m off topic aren’t I.

handog wrote:I didn’t realize not signaling for a lane change was a moving violation. I know its common courtesy.
I’m amazed by the number of people who don’t use their signals and as a motorcycle rider I find it particularly offensive.
Why isn’t it enforced? Sorry. I’m off topic aren’t I.

Probably doesn't have a big enough fine!

The Annoyed Man wrote:One of the guys I used to pit with back when I roadraced motorcycles in the late '80s was a California Highway Patrol officer in his professional life. We were hanging out once and just talking about stuff in general, and I asked him a question about what kind of things did he notice about other drivers.... like did he give sports cars or muscle cars more attention than soccer moms in minivans. He told me that he didn't so much pay attention to the types of vehicles around him as he did to whether or not a given vehicle stood out from the background traffic patterns because it was moving at a slightly faster or slower speed, or it was changing lanes more often than other cars, etc. He compared it to what a predator first sees when it focus on prey. Usually the prey blends in with the background and it is hard to see. But motion draws the predator's eyes to that prey. It was that simple. So it's not the lane change that gets you. It's zig-zagging between lanes that the officer notices. Then he/she notices that you're also going faster than the flow of traffic. Well, if the posted limit is 65 and that is the general flow of traffic, and you're cruising through that traffic at 75.... etc., etc.

I certainly agree. I have noticed from time to time that if the general traffic flow exceeds the speed limit and you are located in that "cell" of automobiles travelling at roughly similar speeds, and you do not change lanes, that some LEOs have a tendency to completely ignore you despite your speed.
The conclusion that I tend to draw from those experiences is that if you appear to be flowing with the traffic and do not appear to be operating the vehicle in an unsafe manner, than you may not draw the attention of an LEO despite exceeding the posted speed limit.