Thank you for the excellent link.
One problem with people getting out of the car is that it makes it a lot easier for someone to sneak off. While the driver and other passengers are getting out, a fugitive passenger could easily slither out the other side of the car and sneak off and hide. Or someone can drop the contraband in the process of getting out. No officer, that’s not mine, I just happen to be standing next to it here on the public roadside.
If everyone stays put in the car, the officer can be sure that what was in the car when it was stopped stays there.
Poor cite, but a UK officer once told me that their clipboards contain kevlar and will stop a handgun bullet. Do US cops not use something like that?
Most of the time you hold a clipboard with one hand, although if you were expecting gunfire, you could hold it with two. Can most people hang onto and control a clipboard that is being hit with gunfire? Maybe it might slow down the first bullet, but would you still be hanging onto it when the second comes?
It also strikes me that the average clipboard isn’t much larger than a sheet of paper. I supposed something is better than nothing, but would that really protect a significant part of a person’s body?
But there are actually such things.
An officer expecting imminent gunfire will be 1)seeking cover and 2) going for their own gun. A bullet proof (or bullet resistant) clipboard could still provide some protection in a case where, for example, an officer is approaching a traffic offender and they decide to instantly spin around and take a shot. It is not meant to swat away bullets but it might just deflect one.
Yet if Captain America took a day job in an office…
Not true at all. Being a policeman doesn’t even rank in the top 10 dangerous jobs, in terms of injury or death. The popular perception, encouraged on many fronts, doesn’t match up with reality.
Having said that, it makes complete sense to stay in your car and keep your hands visible at all times, to put the cop at ease as much as possible. Not for his safety, mind you, but for your own.
As mentioned, it varies from state to state. If you legally carry, you better know the laws in the states you visit. In my state, there is no need to notify, and I wouldn’t unless I was asked to get out of the car for some reason. There is no need for either me or the cop to be touching or fooling with my gun.
In New Jersey the law doesn’t specifically say that you must (or must not) remain in your car when stopped. It does require you to obey lawful orders given by the officer. So, if you start to get out and the cop says “Stay in your car”, stay in your car. If he says, “Step out”, step out. If you disobey these lawful orders you are subject to arrest. At my academy we teach the handprint on the trunk technique. I don’t know that the officer’s prints on a car were ever a factor in tying the vehicle to a specific incident but it can’t hurt.
I think you rooting around in your car for your license, registration, and insurance card could spook an officer, I wouldn’t do that. Wait until if/when they ask for it.
Whether you have to volunteer that you are armed/concealed carry depends on the state.
I agree. My thinking on this has changed over the past couple of years, from reading posts on various forums. Apparently, digging around in your glove box and center console for your paperwork can look like you are hiding stuff (drugs, booze, firearms, etc.) or perhaps getting a gun, as the officer observes from his car behind you. I already have my insurance card and vehicle registration in a little plastic folder on my visor, but I’m waiting until instructed to dig in my back pocket for my wallet (drivers license), and will do so quite slowly and deliberately.
If I have my pistol with me, it will either be in my pocket or center console, and I’m not saying a word about it unless asked. And my answer will be very careful, calm and clear. If I’m asked if I have anything illegal or dangerous, I will answer “No, sir.”. If I am asked if there are any guns or weapons in the car, I will answer “I have a license to carry a firearm, officer, and there is a legal firearm in my console (or pocket), which I have no intention of reaching for”. I will try my best to not use the word “gun”.
I guess you are one of those people for whom every detail must be minutely spelled out.
FYI, whenever I drive, my license, registration and insurance card are always within such easy sight and reach that I can have them in my hands and out the window in 10-20 seconds.
And even if it takes considerably longer, as long as the the officer can see both my hands just sticking out the window with nothing but documents in them then the officer will not be at all that “spooked”.
Next time think a bit more before you post, then your posts won’t be so stupid.
Yeah, and it is complicated as hell.
If you are the type who feels the need to be armed at all times as a matter of principle then you would be well advised to abide by the information provided by the link in post #40 to this thread, because there are numerous finnicky but vital differences between state weapon carry requirements, and whining about 2nd Amendment rights is not going to be worth it to you, unless you enjoy 1000s$ upon 1000s$ legal fees, and no telling how many days sitting around in some out-of-state courtroom, far, far from home.
Moderator Note
Let’s keep it civil in General Questions. No warning issued.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator