Mentioning the second amendment brought back a memory. It was back in the eighties that I stopped a guy driving a Toyota pickup for speeding. Normally what happens in a traffic stop is the driver waits for the officer to approach the vehicle and make contact. This time the driver got out at the same time I did.
This is when a warning bell goes off. It’s been my experience that the driver has something in the vehicle they don’t want to see and they think they can avoid this by meeting the officer halfway. Or, the person has been stopped by OHP, which at the time they would have the driver sit beside them in the Troopers car. I don’t know if that is still their policy or not.
I make contact and ask for his DL. He hands it to me. Then I ask for his Insurance Verification. He tells me it’s in the glove compartment of his truck. I tell him to go get it. As we are walking toward the passenger side of the truck, I see him glancing over his left shoulder as if he’s trying to see where I am. The warning bell just got louder.
He uses his keys to open the door and as he’s doing so, his attention is diverted and I shift my position to his right toward the front of his truck. When he opened the door I saw a shotgun lying on the front seat. He opened the glove compartment and the same time he looked to where he thought I was and was shocked that I wasn’t there.
I ordered him to step to the rear and put his hands on the tailgate and don’t move. He did. I checked the shotgun to see if it was loaded and it wasn’t. As I was walking back to my car I told him that it was in his best interest to tell me if he had a gun in the vehicle. I asked if he had any other weapons or anything he needed to tell me and he said no.
I went back to my car and ran my usual radio inquires and didn’t find any suspensions, warrants or prior criminal history. I wrote my ticket and walked back to where he was still standing. I started my usual speech “I need your signature on this citation, it’s not an admission of guilt,”. it’s a promise....and this is when he started with his prepared speech.
“You can’t issue me a citation, I have a second amendment right to keep and bear arms and I can carry an unloaded firearm to and from a range, I am carrying that gun legally”..........I stopped him there. I said “Hey! This hasn’t got dick to do with your second amendment rights or the shotgun, this is a speeding ticket!” He said “oh” in a much lower voice. He signed the ticket and I never saw or heard from him again.
This is when a warning bell goes off. It’s been my experience that the driver has something in the vehicle they don’t want to see and they think they can avoid this by meeting the officer halfway. Or, the person has been stopped by OHP, which at the time they would have the driver sit beside them in the Troopers car. I don’t know if that is still their policy or not.
I make contact and ask for his DL. He hands it to me. Then I ask for his Insurance Verification. He tells me it’s in the glove compartment of his truck. I tell him to go get it. As we are walking toward the passenger side of the truck, I see him glancing over his left shoulder as if he’s trying to see where I am. The warning bell just got louder.
He uses his keys to open the door and as he’s doing so, his attention is diverted and I shift my position to his right toward the front of his truck. When he opened the door I saw a shotgun lying on the front seat. He opened the glove compartment and the same time he looked to where he thought I was and was shocked that I wasn’t there.
I ordered him to step to the rear and put his hands on the tailgate and don’t move. He did. I checked the shotgun to see if it was loaded and it wasn’t. As I was walking back to my car I told him that it was in his best interest to tell me if he had a gun in the vehicle. I asked if he had any other weapons or anything he needed to tell me and he said no.
I went back to my car and ran my usual radio inquires and didn’t find any suspensions, warrants or prior criminal history. I wrote my ticket and walked back to where he was still standing. I started my usual speech “I need your signature on this citation, it’s not an admission of guilt,”. it’s a promise....and this is when he started with his prepared speech.
“You can’t issue me a citation, I have a second amendment right to keep and bear arms and I can carry an unloaded firearm to and from a range, I am carrying that gun legally”..........I stopped him there. I said “Hey! This hasn’t got dick to do with your second amendment rights or the shotgun, this is a speeding ticket!” He said “oh” in a much lower voice. He signed the ticket and I never saw or heard from him again.
