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I finally got stopped for the first time with my chl today. Pulled over by a Williamson County sheriff who had a new deputy with him. I got stopped a year or so ago for not having a front plate and I've just been really lazy about putting one on, and it finally came back to bite me. To be honest I was shaking like a leaf as I pulled the car over and pulled out my CHL, license and insurance. Mrs. atxtj looked a bit nervous as well. He came up to the window and asked if I knew why I was stopped, I said "Yes, no front license plate. I want to let you know that I have my CHL and have a pistol on my right hip. What would you like me to do?" He said "No problem, you're one of the guys we don't really need to worry about", had me and the Mrs. get out of the car, and disarmed me(he was really nice & courteous the whole stop). He put my Kahr on the drivers seat and had us walk to the sidewalk, and instructed the rookie on running my DL and writing me a warning, I think I would have been cited if it had not been for the CHL honestly. He came back and handed my dl back with my warning. I told him that this was my first stop since having my CHL, and thanked him for being so cool about it. He said "Every LEO you encounter will be different, but like I said, we don't worry about you guys. I like to keep the gun out of it, just because I like to make sure I go home at night." All in all not a bad stop, although being disarmed in broad daylight was a little weird to say the least!

I wonder if he regularly disarms CHL's or if he was doing it in this instance to train the rookie on how to do so.

I find it a bit disturbing that he disarmed you after saying he isn't worried about you doing anything.

GC §411.207. AUTHORITY OF PEACE OFFICER TO DISARM.
(a) A peace officer who is acting in the lawful discharge of the
officer's official duties may disarm a license holder at any time the
officer reasonably believes it is necessary for the protection of the
license holder, officer, or another individual. The peace officer shall
return the handgun to the license holder before discharging the license
holder from the scene if the officer determines that the license holder
is not a threat to the officer, license holder, or another individual and if
the license holder has not violated any provision of this subchapter or
committed any other violation that results in the arrest of the license
holder.

I believe he does it as a measure to keep him save, and he implied that that is how he does every CHL stop. While I would much rather him just say "ok, thanks for letting me know", it is his prerogative to disarm CHL holders at his discretion.

No, it is not his prerogative. His authority to disarm is both defined and restricted by GC §411.207. That is why I quoted the relevant paragraph above.

That it obviously did not bother you is fine. It would bother me to no end. The officer needs a little more training, IMHO.

Funny, he is an FTO. I suppose I was misinformed during my class then.

Pawpaw wrote:No, it is not his prerogative. His authority to disarm is both defined and restricted by GC §411.207. That is why I quoted the relevant paragraph above.

That it obviously did not bother you is fine. It would bother me to no end. The officer needs a little more training, IMHO.

The next time you get stopped, quote the statute and inform the officer that he may not disarm you. Let us know how that works out.

Jumping Frog wrote:I wonder if he regularly disarms CHL's or if he was doing it in this instance to train the rookie on how to do so.

I can respect that even it I was inconvenienced. I'm not looking forward to my first LEO encounter. I think the OP's went ok, but obviously it would would have been better to not be disarmed.

I wonder if he also disarms off duty peace officers and federal LEO or if it's just CHL he doesn't trust.

atxtj wrote:I believe he does it as a measure to keep him save, and he implied that that is how he does every CHL stop. While I would much rather him just say "ok, thanks for letting me know", it is his prerogative to disarm CHL holders at his discretion.

I would not call that a good stop, just the opposite. There was no reason for him to disarm you. There were two of them, the other guy could have kept an eye on you while he ran your info. I was stopped shortly after receiving my CHL, by a lone female officer. Not only she did not disarm me, she did not even kept an eye on my when she went to run my info. I got the ticket, and it was still a better stop that yours.

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"No problem, you're one of the guys we don't really need to worry about",

hmm.... and LEO's pls correct me if i'm wrong, do you ever say that to someone that you need to disarm? but yeah i agree with the OP. If i get pulled over, i will be most cooperative law abiding citizen on the planet. I've seen too many COPS episode.

I know you are required to show your CHL, if armed, when asked for ID. However, in your automobile you are not carrying under the protection of your CHL--MPA covers you. Where in the law does it require you to:

1. Inform the officer you are armed?
2. Submit to a search and seizure?

Did the officer ask your wife for her ID? If it had been my wife, she would have been armed (she as a CHL) and it would have made no sense to have her standing on the side of the road.

Nope, He never asked my wife for ID, although he made it clear he didn't want anyone around my firearm. Just to clarify, I didn't say it was a good stop, I said it wasn't a bad stop. I've seen videos of what a bad stop looks like, and considering that this occurred in Williamson county, (remember that thread about the guy that unintentionally exposed his weapon and spent some time in the clink?) it could of gone far worse.

i8godzilla wrote:I know you are required to show your CHL, if armed, when asked for ID. However, in your automobile you are not carrying under the protection of your CHL--MPA covers you.

Perhaps. There is no case law yet on this, to my knowledge. Test at will.

While the penalty for displaying your CHL has been removed, how would you feel as the LEO if the driver stopped had a .45 strapped to his right hip and didn't offer a CHL or information of same?

Too, MPA certainly doesn't cover you once the officer asks you to step out of your vehicle, which he is certainly empowered by law to do. A traffic stop is technically an arrest. If you haven't been forthcoming with your CHL and/or information about your firearm, you could be stepping into a world of unnecessary explanation, backpedaling, and excuses.

GC §411.207. AUTHORITY OF PEACE OFFICER TO DISARM.
(a) A peace officer who is acting in the lawful discharge of the officer's official duties may disarm a license holder at any time the
officer reasonably believes it is necessary for the protection of the license holder, officer, or another individual. The peace officer shall return the handgun to the license holder before discharging the license holder from the scene if the officer determines that the license holder is not a threat to the officer, license holder, or another individual and if the license holder has not violated any provision of this subchapter or committed any other violation that results in the arrest of the license holder.

"...May disarm a license holder at any time the officer reasonably believes it is necessary for the protection of the license holder, officer, or another individual."

I wouldn't want to be the one standing before a judge trying to explain why I neither displayed my CHL to the officer, nor disclosed that I had a handgun on my person. My only argument would be that the officer could not have reasonably believed there was any necessity to disarm me.

But guess what? In any stop the very fact that you have a firearm establishes the "reasonable belief" criterion.

Especially considering there was a trainee in tow on this stop, I'd say the officer handled it very well.

I have encountered an LEO while carrying twice that I can recall (once when I deserved a ticket and once when I got rear-ended and called them).

The first officer (when I was screaming down the street in my Challenger SRT8) didn't even want to see any of my paper-work, and merely asked me to slow-down and walked off.

The second officer (way out in the boonies...a Deputy Sheriff) responded to my call after being rear-ended. I handed him my DL and CHL. There was absolutely no discussion of my weapon. It was simply a non-issue with him.

My practice is to never announce that I am carrying. I hand them the DL and CHL and leave it at that. My gut-feeling is that by making an announcement, the LEO probably felt that it was best to disarm you while training the newb.