If you're pulled over for a traffic stop i.e speeding, stop light, rolling stop etc... Do you need to disclose you have a legal firearm stored properly locked and unloaded in the trunk?
There’s an old mafia saying, “Fish get caught because they opened their mouths…so keep your mouth shut.”
Everyone has seen shows where criminals are given their Miranda rights. We learned this in high school civics class because we have the right to remain silent… in any encounter with government agents.
This lesson applies to our experiences with the police at a traffic stop.
The question I would have for the person who posted this question is, “why on earth do you want to volunteer this information to the police?”
Let’s make this legally clear, at the outset of a common traffic stop , the driver has no duty to disclose to the police, that he has any firearms in his vehicle, even if they are unloaded, locked, and in the trunk of the car.
All you have to give is your drivers license, car registration, and car insurance. If the police want to ask you questions about whether you admit you were speeding or did not stop completely at the stop sign, you can just keep your mouth shut and tell them; “can you please give me a warning and that you’ll be more careful.”
And if they won’t give you a warning, just tell them “where do I sign the notice to appear.” Your verbal actions will mentally disarm the officer. You don’t have to answer their questions, let alone make admissions or confessions to them. If you admit you were speeding or you ran the stop sign, it’s on their video camera, and they will make a written note on their copy of the traffic ticket to remind them. You confessed if it goes to trial
Traffic police are trained to be hyper vigilant, since at any moment, you will try to kill them.
When are you volunteering that you have guns in your car, you elevate their vigilance & paranoia.
What benefit do you gain by disclosing this information??? Absolutely nothing
Do you think the police will treat you better, or do you think the police will think you are a good guy because you’re being honest with them?
On a different note, if I have a CCW, and have the handgun on me or within reach in my car, and the permit issuing jurisdiction requires that I disclose this to the police upon the outset of an encounter;
Then pay attention to what I’m about to say on how to conduct yourself.
Have your permit and drivers license in your hand before they approach you, and the first things I would tell them is;
“I have a valid permit and I’m lawfully carrying, how do you want me to proceed?”
If the officer asks you, where is the firearm located, don’t take it out. Notifying them VERBALLY, as to where it’s located, and before you take any measure to physically remove it, or to exit the vehicle if you are so ordered, look to your right or over your shoulder to see if there is a partner officer, and communicate to the officer you were initially dealing with, to make sure his partner knows what you are doing.
The last thing you want is to be pulling out a gun, at the direction of this officer, without the other hidden officer knowing what you’re doing.
The last thing you want to tell the officer, when they first approached you is; “I have a gun.”
Philando Castile was a Minnesota CCW holder, who did not wisely conduct himself, and a paranoid police officer shot him… all because at the out of the stop, he told the police “I have a gun.”
If you noticed with what I put in bold above, I made no threatening verbal or physical action to an officer.
More importantly, I did not throw out “that I have a gun.”
Way too many times, that phrase was used as a threat, as a warning, and as a precursor to violence being unloaded within seconds. That is why you need to use your words wisely.
“I have a valid permit and I’m lawfully carrying, how do you want me to proceed?”
With what I put in bold above, you will notice that I used polite, legal terminology, that almost every officer will understand, that you may have a valid gun permit, and that there is a firearm located nearby.
It is very nonthreatening, it does put them on alert, it meets your obligation to disclose (if you’re permit issuing jurisdiction requires it) and ensures, at the outset that no one is going to lose their
over a possible firearm being involved in the encounter.
