glock27 wrote:also on a side note as to a lot of viral videos, focusing on the ones where people like to exercise their rights and open carry and draw attention. one of the most popular arguments these individuals have when initially approached by police is "Im not doing anything wrong, its legal to open carry a long gun, you have no reason to beleive i am a criminal, therefore i will not provide you with my ID".
what about fishing, its not illegal to fish, game wardens will ask to see fishing license/tags or whatever. should they be denied access to your ID? when they have no reason to beleive your doing anything wrong...
just food for thought,
I don't have an issue with showing ID..but I've never been asked to when I wasn't "doing anything" either. I CAN see a big difference between the two scenarios in your example though: Fishing for regulated species on public waters is NOT LEGAL for an adult without a license. A game warden will not ask to see your fishing license UNLESS you are fishing. The act of fishing itself is grounds for them to ask to see your license, because it IS illegal to do so without one. They don't stop people and check for licenses at random except when you are engaged the the regulated activity. In the "open carry" situations you refer to, the activity in question IS legal without any type of license requirement, so UNLESS there is some articulable reason...other than just the fact they are carrying a legal firearm...to stop the person and ask to see ID is not really justifiable.
I wasn't advocating going without a license by any means...I've had unexpected contacts with them many times as an avid hunter and fisherman...just saying that anyone worried about it enough to consider carrying a fake license would probably go ahead and just buy one. You were lucky to get out that light, because they will usually assess an additional penalty for each fish/bird/animal you have in possession at the time. Sounds like you were extraordinarily unlucky your first time out!
