SR beat me to it, but I leave my postdac1842 wrote:An officer that exercises his lawful authority needs no further burden to run your serial number.
If you have been stopped, probable cause has been established. Even prior to CHL, an officer had the legal right to a warrant less search of any part of your car within reach of the driver. If the officer found a weapon, he needed no further authority to run the serial number.
an officer does NOT have legal authority to search your vehicle unless there is probable cause and a traffic stop has been ruled by SCOTUS as NOT being grounds to search a vehicle in ANY form, he may search you but not your vehicle he may NOT search your phone either. so the part about being in reach of the driver is WRONG in any form/case or fantasy. if you are carrying a weapon legally that does NOT give probable cause to run the serial number anymore than it gives him the right to run your cell phone serial number nor to look just to see whats on it, nor are they allowed to use that little phone device to read the contents. He does need probable cause to run the SN of any item you are carrying and any item he may see in your vehicle. look it up