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Well, I knew it was going to happen at some point and last night it did. To keep the story short, my wife and I are getting a divorce and last night there was a pretty hefty argument going on at home with her making some threats to harm herself. In the interest of her own safety, I called 911 and explained the situation to the operator and asked for assistance. The local PD sent 5 or 6 officers to my house. When they arrived I was outside by her vehicle (after having taken her keys from her). Now, understandable they had absolutely NO idea of what they were walking into - as far as they knew, this could have been a domestic call. I was carrying, and due to the circumstances (her threats to harm herself) I was not comfortable opening the safe and putting my gun away, so it was still on my person.

When the first officer approached us (her in the car, me standing outside of it) he started to talk to her and I immediately put my hands away from my pockets and made the statement "Officer, I need to inform you that I have a firearm in my right front pocket, and I am licensed to carry it". The officer's eye got REAL wide, and he stopped talking to my soon to be ex and came around behind me and removed the gun from my pocket and quickly frisked me to ensure I was no longer armed. At that point, he thanked me for letting him know, walked away about 10' with my gun and advised me that he was going to clear it and place it in his squad car for now, but I would be getting it back. I thanked them for their understanding and advised them why I had not opened the safe to put the gun away, and they seemed OK with my explanation. When they asked later for my ID, I did give them both my DL and CHL.

After about 20 min of discussion between the officers, her and me they decided that things has calmed down and they would not be taking any further action and not filing any reports on call. At that point, the officer that disarmed me went back to his vehicle, came back and handed me my gun, magazine and round that he un-chambered and said "Here is your firearm, please do not reload it until we've left."

They were gone in a few minutes.

Bottom line:
The officer(s) thanked me for advising them I was armed and acted in a completely professional, courteous manner considering the circumstances.

Outstanding job on your part!(and their part) It is normal for a large response to that type of call

and your stepping up, even though you didn't have to, is commendable. I know I would have appreciated that and I know they did.

For those that say they won't imagine this scenario. Your wife says to the LEO you are in a divorce and threatened her AND you currently armed.....I'll leave the rest to imagination...

Yeah well done. Domestic disturbances are always lacking in info, and statistically the most dangerous call that LEOs handle. I would've done the same thing as this officer.

Good job all around. Sanity prevails.

Best wishes to you Race, for the best possible outcome to your family situation.

race4beer wrote:Bottom line:
The officer(s) thanked me for advising them I was armed and acted in a completely professional, courteous manner considering the circumstances.

I don't see how that could have gone better. Thanks for posting.

It sounds like prudent judgement from all parties involved. I also think it was great judgement on your part to inform the officer the way you did.

Prayers for you and your family.

Thanks for the feedback, I really looked at the situation from the officer's point of view and figured it was better to be safe than sorry. For all I know, she could have told them anything and it could have very quickly escalated, and I needed to be sure that I was in the best position possible not to be on the receiving end of a really bad situation.

I honestly can't stress enough how respectful and professional the officer's were during the call. I agree that it ended in the best way possible and I am thankful that they took a "diffuse the situation" approach rather than "let's arrest everyone and figure it out later". I understood the ramifications of her making false statements, and honestly was willing to accept that outcome if that was needed to ensure that she was safe.

We have our differences, but the bottom line is that she is the mother of my children, and that takes priority over all else.

I wasn't there, so I don't want to second-guess the OP...but I really, really would have made an effort to put my weapon in the safe prior to the Officers arrival.

Purplehood wrote:I wasn't there, so I don't want to second-guess the OP...but I really, really would have made an effort to put my weapon in the safe prior to the Officers arrival.

I agree that would have been the best solution to the situation of me being armed. At the time my thought process was that I was clearly in control of the firearm on my person, and with her in the state of mind that she was in and her proximity to the safe, I did not want to create an opportunity for her to get possession of any of the firearms in the safe.

Fortunately for me, I'm not posting this as a "blooper".

Robert*PPS wrote:It sounds like prudent judgement from all parties involved. I also think it was great judgement on your part to inform the officer the way you did.

Prayers for you and your family.

I don't know.......... and maybe our LEO members might chime in on what I'll say next.......but it seems to me that it isn't so much the gun that made the officer's eyes go wide, but the way the OP said it. This is what I would have done differently, and I have actually done this in other encounters with LEOs: Instead of announcing that "I have a gun," I would have quietly just handed both my TDL and CHL to the officer without comment, and let him ask, "are you armed?" He might have disarmed you anyway, but at least he would not be "startled" by your words. Or, he might have simply looked at the CHL, assumed you were armed, and been OK with it. But I think that by quietly informing him of your CHL status by simply handing him the CHL, it gives him the initiative and control, instead of requiring him to take the initiative and control. It just seems to me like that might slightly defuse the situation for him......at least with regard to you. Family disputes are always such unstable situations with the potential for so much violence that anything you can do to increase the officer's comfort with it seems like a good idea. At least that's my thought.

BTW, I am really sorry about your divorce.

The Annoyed Man wrote:

Robert*PPS wrote:It sounds like prudent judgement from all parties involved. I also think it was great judgement on your part to inform the officer the way you did.

Prayers for you and your family.

I don't know.......... and maybe our LEO members might chime in on what I'll say next.......but it seems to me that it isn't so much the gun that made the officer's eyes go wide, but the way the OP said it. This is what I would have done differently, and I have actually done this in other encounters with LEOs: Instead of announcing that "I have a gun," I would have quietly just handed both my TDL and CHL to the officer without comment, and let him ask, "are you armed?" He might have disarmed you anyway, but at least he would not be "startled" by your words. Or, he might have simply looked at the CHL, assumed you were armed, and been OK with it. But I think that by quietly informing him of your CHL status by simply handing him the CHL, it gives him the initiative and control, instead of requiring him to take the initiative and control. It just seems to me like that might slightly defuse the situation for him......at least with regard to you. Family disputes are always such unstable situations with the potential for so much violence that anything you can do to increase the officer's comfort with it seems like a good idea. At least that's my thought.

BTW, I am really sorry about your divorce.

Thanks, and I appreciate the feedback. I can see where you are coming from, and I very well may have startled him with the way it was presented.

Purplehood wrote:I wasn't there, so I don't want to second-guess the OP...but I really, really would have made an effort to put my weapon in the safe prior to the Officers arrival.

Yep, see texanjoker's comment above. What if.....

Please be aware moving forward that since you are going through a conflict-ridden divorce with an unstable woman, you are very, VERY, vulnerable to being falsely accused of domestic violence.

If that happens and you find yourself charged and then convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, you lose your firearm rights FOREVER.

A simple threat of any kind of force can be enough.

Since she is apparently unstable, you are going to need to be the responsible adult in the equation. You can NEVER afford to let a situation degenerate into a screaming match.

I'd suggest you think hard about how you get through this process in as peaceful a manner as possible. When carrying a gun, we cover the whole issue of deescalating conflict in training. Well, you are going to need to focus on this in a whole new way if you are going to protect yourself.

Good luck and God bless!

Jumping Frog wrote:Please be aware moving forward that since you are going through a conflict-ridden divorce with an unstable woman, you are very, VERY, vulnerable to being falsely accused of domestic violence.

If that happens and you find yourself charged and then convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, you lose your firearm rights FOREVER.

A simple threat of any kind of force can be enough.

Since she is apparently unstable, you are going to need to be the responsible adult in the equation. You can NEVER afford to let a situation degenerate into a screaming match.

I'd suggest you think hard about how you get through this process in as peaceful a manner as possible. When carrying a gun, we cover the whole issue of deescalating conflict in training. Well, you are going to need to focus on this in a whole new way if you are going to protect yourself.

Good luck and God bless!

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The Annoyed Man wrote: ...I would have quietly just handed both my TDL and CHL to the officer without comment...

...BTW, I am really sorry about your divorce.

+1 and +1.

And +1 to the comments about looking our for yourself. As the husband in a divorce case, you are already six points down. And you have guns, so that puts you in your own end zone. Tread carefully and make sure you have a good lawyer.

Best wishes.