Concealed Carry Traffic Stop

[DadSmith]

What do you mean “if” they ask for your drivers license?

Has anybody ever in the history of everybody never been asked for their license at a stop?

I agree very much with the rest of your post ( hands on the wheel, politeness) and think your question about the dash gun is interesting.

My question for you (and others) is why wouldn’t you have the license and registration out already?

And ‘I don’t want the officer seeing me fiddling before he walks up’ is not a valid answer, as he walks up if your hands are empty and on the wheel and they stay there is probably what he wants to see.

From the officers point of view anyone that wants to do him harm will have that well planned out ahead of time, no fiddling needed.

I've been pulled over for a tail light out, and all the officer did was let me know, and I went on my way and fixed the problem which was corrosion on the bulb that lost contact.
No information was asked of me.

Imo you reaching around in the car may be misconstrued as you digging for a weapon. Or hiding something out of plain sight.

 

[DragonGunner]

Been at least 15 years since last pulled over. Have never informed and never asked. I already have all paperwork out, windows down and lights inside on before officer walks up and hands on wheel. Never been a problem. I have no reason to inform and they don’t seem to care. My daughter in law got pulled over by Warsaw police and informed and they took her out of car and took her gun away for “officer safety”. Was returned unloaded and put in her back seat. She was embarrassed by it all and my son the next day was in talking and setting the Warsaw chief of police straight and that it better not ever happen again. Chief wanted to debate it and my son said call the state police right now and find out how wrong you are. That ended it.

 

[ditcherman]

I've been pulled over for a tail light out, and all the officer did was let me know, and I went on my way and fixed the problem which was corrosion on the bulb that lost contact.
No information was asked of me.

Imo you reaching around in the car may be misconstrued as you digging for a weapon. Or hiding something out of plain sight.

Huh well I never would of guessed it but ok - on the info - but I still say it’s easy to have your license at the ready and he’ll see that’s what you have in your hands on the wheel.
But to each his own.

 

[DadSmith]

Huh well I never would of guessed it but ok - on the info - but I still say it’s easy to have your license at the ready and he’ll see that’s what you have in your hands on the wheel.
But to each his own.

It was about almost 28 years ago in rural Indiana. I imagine things are much different nowadays.

 

[Timjoebillybob]

What do you mean “if” they ask for your drivers license?

Has anybody ever in the history of everybody never been asked for their license at a stop?

I agree very much with the rest of your post ( hands on the wheel, politeness) and think your question about the dash gun is interesting.

My question for you (and others) is why wouldn’t you have the license and registration out already?

And ‘I don’t want the officer seeing me fiddling before he walks up’ is not a valid answer, as he walks up if your hands are empty and on the wheel and they stay there is probably what he wants to see.

From the officers point of view anyone that wants to do him harm will have that well planned out ahead of time, no fiddling needed.

My mom was stopped once and they didn't ask for her license. Officer walked up to the door looked at her and said sorry ma'am your car matched the description of a car I was looking for. Which was BS, he pulled her over because he thought she was too young to be driving. She was pretty short and it was a big car, her eyes were not much higher than the top of the steering wheel.

I got stopped one time and the officer didn't ask for my DL. I was delivering pizzas, he didn't even get out of his car. Pulled up next to me, rolled the window down and said "slow it down a bit" then drove off.

I generally have my DL out by the time the officer gets to the door, registration not so much. And not necessarily, they may have to retrieve a weapon to do the officer harm. There is also the matter of hiding drugs/guns/etc so moving around and fishing in places can/does look suspicious.

 

[Gabriel]

Not required to inform in Indiana.

Most cops don't care either way. It can be a little icebreaker with a cool cop, or it can get you disarmed by an uneducated one.

I DO recommend informing if your firearm is suddenly going to come into view. Say you are traveling with one in the glovebox and that's what you need to open to get your registration. Or maybe you have to reach past and expose your pistol holster to get your wallet.

Do, don't, it doesn't matter until it does.

This.

When you get pulled over, you never know what you're going to get. You might get a cop that's cool and is all about the 2A, but you might get some POS that's scared of his own shadow and make a big deal out of nothing... or anything in between.

 

[Compatriot G]

You should've refused the gun when he brought it back, and informed him that you want a receipt. There was no reason for him to take your gun. By chance, was this trooper down around Sellersburg?

No, this happened in Henry County. If I remember correctly, it occurred in 1994. This was before court rulings like Pinner vs. State.

 

[Christow19]

Not required in Indiana but I feel like if I have it on me where it could be seen then I will inform. If concealed, which mine always is, then I will only inform if asked or have to get out of the vehicle for whatever reason

 

[Angrysauce]

The only ritual I have when being pulled over is to respond to the question, "Know why I stopped you?" with "Cuz College Football didn't work out". Half the time it works everytime.

 

[Joniki]

The only ritual I have when being pulled over is to respond to the question, "Know why I stopped you?" with "Cuz College Football didn't work out". Half the time it works everytime.

Another good one is "because you didn't make it thru the fire academy".

 

[Angrysauce]

Another good one is "because you didn't make it thru the fire academy".

My best was when I was AD at Ft Lewis. As it turns out, "Because you did poorly on the ASVAB" results in a Command notification, a driving course, and extra duty. That guy was a bad sport and proved my point.

 

[nwebb01]

Been at least 15 years since last pulled over. Have never informed and never asked. I already have all paperwork out, windows down and lights inside on before officer walks up and hands on wheel. Never been a problem. I have no reason to inform and they don’t seem to care. My daughter in law got pulled over by Warsaw police and informed and they took her out of car and took her gun away for “officer safety”. Was returned unloaded and put in her back seat. She was embarrassed by it all and my son the next day was in talking and setting the Warsaw chief of police straight and that it better not ever happen again. Chief wanted to debate it and my son said call the state police right now and find out how wrong you are. That ended it.

Serious question. What was so wrong about it? Not defending the cop and not saying it wasn't embarrassing. I just wonder what I don't know?

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

[KLB]

Serious question. What was so wrong about it? Not defending the cop and not saying it wasn't embarrassing. I just wonder what I don't know?

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What was wrong with what? The officer disarming her?

 

[DragonGunner]

Serious question. What was so wrong about it? Not defending the cop and not saying it wasn't embarrassing. I just wonder what I don't know?

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

Indiana courts ruling an officer can’t take your gun because of “officer safety”. Unless they believe or know you committed a crime or believe you’re about to. If they can’t prove either keep your hands off.

 

[nwebb01]

Indiana courts ruling an officer can’t take your gun because of “officer safety”. Unless they believe or know you committed a crime or believe you’re about to. If they can’t prove either keep your hands off.

Thanks for the info. Heard Guy reference that before but didn't connect the dots.

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[Timjoebillybob]

Indiana courts ruling an officer can’t take your gun because of “officer safety”. Unless they believe or know you committed a crime or believe you’re about to. If they can’t prove either keep your hands off.

You wouldn't happen to know the name of that case would you?

 

[tnboy17]

From what I understand the officer is no longer allowed to ask if you have a weapon in the vehicle UNLESS you are a suspect in a crime.

See this article for reference:

https://apnews.com/article/police-i...lature-state-dfd0a6d5c6f057cb98084a5d45e7055a

This is an AP article from when the firearms law changed in IN last year.

 

[chipbennett]

From what I understand the officer is no longer allowed to ask if you have a weapon in the vehicle UNLESS you are a suspect in a crime.

See this article for reference:

https://apnews.com/article/police-i...lature-state-dfd0a6d5c6f057cb98084a5d45e7055a

This is an AP article from when the firearms law changed in IN last year.

IANAL, but I'm pretty sure that police officers can ask you anything that they want to ask you. Whether you are legally compelled to answer any given question, however, is another matter.

 

[gassprint1]

IANAL, but I'm pretty sure that police officers can ask you anything that they want to ask you. Whether you are legally compelled to answer any given question, however, is another matter.

I would suspect that if an officer was drilling you with many questions or bating you into an argument to give them cause to take your weapon, that a court would demonstrate that as entrapment along with law enforcement harassment. But thats another issue until case law is set.

 

[HoughMade]

I would suspect that if an officer was drilling you with many questions or bating you into an argument to give them cause to take your weapon, that a court would demonstrate that as entrapment along with law enforcement harassment. But thats another issue until case law is set.

That's not entrapment and having an argument doesn't meet the standard anyway. At least, not by itself.

Indiana courts ruling an officer can’t take your gun because of “officer safety”. Unless they believe or know you committed a crime or believe you’re about to. If they can’t prove either keep your hands off.

Not quite. Following a valid traffic stop, police have to have to have reason to believe that they are dealing with an armed and dangerous individual, regardless of whether they have probable cause to arrest the individual for a crime. If there is "reason to believe" that, then a search for "officer safety" is allowed. However, where the "reason to believe" comes from can be any number of things like criminal history (if they ran it), behavior at the time of the stop, environmental factors (where and when the stop takes place), etc. No one factor has to be enough, it is the cumulative effect.

Triblet v. State, 169 N.E.3d 430 (Ind. Ct. App. 2021). The Pinner case did not follow a valid traffic stop and was based solely on the report of someone with a gun. That, in and of itself, does not demonstrate that a person is "armed and dangerous".