Conceal Carry and a Traffic Stop: What do you do?
I am a licensed conceal carry gun owner. In today's world the thought of getting pulled over while you are carrying your weapon on you or in your car can be a scary situation. Especially with some of the recent stories that point to the police shooting people for no reason (that is a different topic all together that I do not want to broach today). There are a few things you can do to try to minimize the risk to the police officer and yourself if you are ever pulled over while you are carrying your weapon. This has happened to me a couple times in the last year. Let me give you my suggestions on how to handle the situation.
As soon as you know you are getting pulled over, have your license, proof of insurance, and conceal carry license handy. I personally carry my ccw license with my phone so I have easy access to it if needed. By having this all ready, you are not moving around and putting your hands anywhere that might cause the officer to over react
Roll the window down before the officer gets to your car and keep your hands on the steering wheel in plain sight.
As soon as the officer comes to my window, I give them my license, insurance, and ccw license. At this point, I inform them I am armed or I have a gun in my car. I ask them if they would feel more comfortable disarming me before we proceed. I have never had an officer say yes they want to disarm me, but they appreciate me offering.
Keep your tone even and respectful.
Anyone else have any other tips or suggestions?
Nice approach. I feel any approach that's well thought out would be better than winging it. I've been pulled over carrying, and didn't say a word. He never asked, either. I keep my license on top of my CCL so he saw it when I pulled out my DL, though.
In KS, though so YMMV
I agree. I think far too many people get nervous and then they get fidgety which makes the police officer nervous. By taking a calm and rational approach it puts everyone at ease and is far less likely to escalate into something it shouldn't.
Check out my other post I made recently regarding parenting and gun ownership if you are interested.
https://steemit.com/gunsafety/@mikeoftulsa/gun-ownership-and-parenting