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A friend of mine was stopped at a place where they were checking licenses, the officer was young , and when the friend of mine handed him both his licences, the officer wanted him (the friend on mine) to hand his gun to him (officer). My friend said his gun was in the console and would be happy to get out so the officer could retrieve it himself , he didnt want to get it and hand it to the officer , because several cars were behind him with another officer, and didnt want to give the wrong impression. My friend had gotten out so the officer could get the gun and eventually did, but the officer was very upset with my freind for not handing him the gun. The other officer had came up and wanted to know what the hold up was , the young man explained this man has a gun , my friend explained that he does but also has a CHL for it. Well the older officer told the young officer to give back his licence and let him go which he did.My question is ...if asked by an officer , to hand him your gun do you or is it better to have the officer get it himself ?

texas80 wrote:A friend of mine was stopped at a place where they were checking licenses, the officer was young , and when the friend of mine handed him both his licences, the officer wanted him (the friend on mine) to hand his gun to him (officer). My friend said his gun was in the console and would be happy to get out so the officer could retrieve it himself , he didnt want to get it and hand it to the officer , because several cars were behind him with another officer, and didnt want to give the wrong impression. My friend had gotten out so the officer could get the gun and eventually did, but the officer was very upset with my freind for not handing him the gun. The other officer had came up and wanted to know what the hold up was , the young man explained this man has a gun , my friend explained that he does but also has a CHL for it. Well the older officer told the young officer to give back his licence and let him go which he did.My question is ...if asked by an officer , to hand him your gun do you or is it better to have the officer get it himself ?

Conventional wisdom says to comply with the directions of the LEO, ask for clarification if needed.

Dragonfighter wrote:

texas80 wrote:A friend of mine was stopped at a place where they were checking licenses, the officer was young , and when the friend of mine handed him both his licences, the officer wanted him (the friend on mine) to hand his gun to him (officer). My friend said his gun was in the console and would be happy to get out so the officer could retrieve it himself , he didnt want to get it and hand it to the officer , because several cars were behind him with another officer, and didnt want to give the wrong impression. My friend had gotten out so the officer could get the gun and eventually did, but the officer was very upset with my freind for not handing him the gun. The other officer had came up and wanted to know what the hold up was , the young man explained this man has a gun , my friend explained that he does but also has a CHL for it. Well the older officer told the young officer to give back his licence and let him go which he did.My question is ...if asked by an officer , to hand him your gun do you or is it better to have the officer get it himself ?

Conventional wisdom says to comply with the directions of the LEO, ask for clarification if needed.

I would take the additional step of clearing it first, but always comply. The side of the road is not the place to argue with the officer.

Yep, clear it & hand it over as instructed. But FWIW this is a VERY unusual occurence. Unusual to the point of almost unicorn-like proportion. Most LEOs do not want you to handle a loaded weapon in their presence. If they want to disarm you, they will do it themselves. The incident as described sounds like a severe case of rookie-itis. And other than allowing the officer into the vehicle, the OP handled the situation well.

I thought license checks were not allowed any longer. To keep on OP I would very slowly take out the weapon after asking the officer if he wanted me to clear it or just hand it to him in a safe manner.

There's no way I'd "HAND" my pistol to an LEO - ever - and I sure as heck wouldn't be 'clearing it' either...

He'd either get it himself or it'd stay where it was.

I'm not getting shot because some 'other' LEO didn't know the particulars...

Sheesh!

Make sure you understand his instructions (ask him to clarify if needed), and comply as best you can.

Ha! that was already mentioned almost verbatim.

Were you present for this event or is it another case of my "friend" and nothing more then hearsay?

I would recommend doing what the officer says. I would also recommend against clearing a gun unless told to do so by the officer as manipulating the firearm is a good way to escalate the incident.

Wow! That's an uncomfortable situation-glad I wasn't put in your friends position. I'm also glad to hear that it's a very rare occurrence.

Uh-huh...

I don't care WHAT the officer says, I'm NOT handling my personal pistol during a stop.

If he/she gets annoyed because I'm not willing to pick up my pistol and hand it to them or clear it - so be it.

I'd be interested in seeing the charge for not complying...

TexasCajun wrote:
Yep, clear it & hand it over as instructed. But FWIW this is a VERY unusual occurence. Unusual to the point of almost unicorn-like proportion. Most LEOs do not want you to handle a loaded weapon in their presence. If they want to disarm you, they will do it themselves. The incident as described sounds like a severe case of rookie-itis. And other than allowing the officer into the vehicle, the OP handled the situation well.

Actually I know of several such incidents. Although not common does happen enough that I know several to whom it has. Some ask you to remove it with left hand, others ask you to take it, drop magazine, thumb bullets out and hand it to them. Stupid I know (as that would be the perfect chance to shoot them which is what they are concerned about). One such officer did it laughing to their buddies that they did it to pick on them. Sometimes it is rookies, other times someone with an authority complex who thinks only LEO's should have guns.

Holy moly....I don't know that I could hand him the gun. Knowing what the consequences of one wrong or misinterpreted move would be, I would be very rattled at that request!

wgoforth wrote:

TexasCajun wrote:
Yep, clear it & hand it over as instructed. But FWIW this is a VERY unusual occurence. Unusual to the point of almost unicorn-like proportion. Most LEOs do not want you to handle a loaded weapon in their presence. If they want to disarm you, they will do it themselves. The incident as described sounds like a severe case of rookie-itis. And other than allowing the officer into the vehicle, the OP handled the situation well.

Actually I know of several such incidents. Although not common does happen enough that I know several to whom it has. Some ask you to remove it with left hand, others ask you to take it, drop magazine, thumb bullets out and hand it to them. Stupid I know (as that would be the perfect chance to shoot them which is what they are concerned about). One such officer did it laughing to their buddies that they did it to pick on them. Sometimes it is rookies, other times someone with an authority complex who thinks only LEO's should have guns.

Ok so I got bit again by the hyperbole bug (again!). It's still a pretty rare occurance where an officer will elect to have someone disarm themself rather than do it. But I suppose each situation presents it's own unique set of circumstances and therefore creates a unique course of action.