TexasCHLforum.com

The thread about the buddy who's guns were taken & an offer to drop charges if they can keep the guns got me thinking (source).

I watched the video series on "Never Get Busted" as a curiosity. I haven't smoked in ages by the time this video came out, but it intrigued me in how to deal with police officers. Anyways . . . those 2 issues got me thinking . . .

If they ask you to step out of the vehicle & you lock it behind you. If they ask to search, do not consent. etc etc

Under MPA, do you have a duty to report that you are carrying a weapon? For CHL, do you have a duty to report you are carrying? I know you have to give identification when asked, but under the auspices of a traffic stop, are you obligated to report? I know he can disarm me "for safety", but again, is there a duty to report you are carrying?

I'm at the point now if I'm stopped, I don't answer questions or I give succinct answers:
"Where are you going?" "North"
"Where are you coming from?" "South"
"Where do you work?" "Work"

I've got the speeding ticket with place of employment listed as "work" to prove it! ;) (I've got a rebellious side that still comes to the surface!) I've got an HID headlight that is blinking in & out & I'm just feeling that I'm about to get pulled over for it. I've got replacement bulbs ordered & I've still gotta pull my whole front bumper off to replace them.

I'm going to go re-read the manual . . . when I've got free time . . . where I keep it stored next to the easter bunny & santa claus.

LAYGO wrote: Under MPA, do you have a duty to report that you are carrying a weapon? For CHL, do you have a duty to report you are carrying? I know you have to give identification when asked, but under the auspices of a traffic stop, are you obligated to report? I know he can disarm me "for safety", but again, is there a duty to report you are carrying?

I'm not sure what "duty" means in this context.
Under MPA there is no legal requirement to disclose. You can say that you are armed or you can say that you're not armed. No prosecutable consequence either way.
Under CHL, you are legally obligated to provide your CHL if you are armed. If you choose not to do so, you're breaking the law, but there is no consequence for choosing not to provide your CHL. That is, they can't ticket you or arrest you, even though you broke the law.

If you indicate you're not armed and an officer finds out that you are, they may not be able to successfully have you prosecuted, but they can make your life very difficult.

Be aware, officers have a lot of field latitude and digression. They can make "mistakes" that cost you some temporary freedom and a good deal of money, even if you're never prosecuted. It seems to me that the impact of making "mistakes" is often much lower for the officer than it would be for the other party.

LEOs have hard jobs. If you're not doing anything wrong, why not make their jobs easier?

cb1000rider wrote: You can say that you are armed or you can say that you're not armed.

Correct, more to the point of my question is . . . ARE YOU REQUIRED TO REPORT IF YOU ARE ARMED? Either under CHL or MPA . . .

I believe I covered the fact about ID in my post.

LAYGO wrote: ARE YOU REQUIRED TO REPORT IF YOU ARE ARMED? Either under CHL or MPA . . .

No.

Good grief, man. Just be respectful and courteous. Giving short, non responsive answers is neither.

I do not see you ever getting out of a ticket. But then again you are grown. Best of luck to you

jbarn wrote:Good grief, man. Just be respectful and courteous. Giving short, non responsive answers is neither.

I do not see you ever getting out of a ticket. But then again you are grown. Best of luck to you

Being courteous got him his guns taken. I'm not as trusting. (again, source)

LAYGO wrote:
Being courteous got him his guns taken. I'm not as trusting. (again, source)

Check the last post on page 7 of that thread.



Each LEO encounter is going to be different, there are too many variables in play. Hopefully you don't ever have to deal with that hypothetical.

LAYGO wrote:

jbarn wrote:Good grief, man. Just be respectful and courteous. Giving short, non responsive answers is neither.

I do not see you ever getting out of a ticket. But then again you are grown. Best of luck to you

Being courteous got him his guns taken. I'm not as trusting. (again, source)

Yeah, better check the last page. He was not forthcoming in his story and there were other things going on.

Bottom line if you are carrying a weapon as a CHL you were legally required to provide your CHL to the officer when asked for ID. However, failure to do so no longer has a penalty. However, you do not have to be proactive and tell them you are carrying unless they ask at that point.

And, I agree with jbarn, being polite when stopped will get you a lot farther and possibly a warning vs. a ticket. Several times people I stopped talked themselves into a ticket instead of the warning I had originally planned to give due to their poor attitude during their stop.

cb1000rider wrote:
Be aware, officers have a lot of field latitude and digression.

lol...but I digress...

Keith B wrote:

LAYGO wrote:

jbarn wrote:Good grief, man. Just be respectful and courteous. Giving short, non responsive answers is neither.

I do not see you ever getting out of a ticket. But then again you are grown. Best of luck to you

Being courteous got him his guns taken. I'm not as trusting. (again, source)

Yeah, better check the last page. He was not forthcoming in his story and there were other things going on.

Bottom line if you are carrying a weapon as a CHL you were legally required to provide your CHL to the officer when asked for ID. However, failure to do so no longer has a penalty. However, you do not have to be proactive and tell them you are carrying unless they ask at that point.

And, I agree with jbarn, being polite when stopped will get you a lot farther and possibly a warning vs. a ticket. Several times people I stopped talked themselves into a ticket instead of the warning I had originally planned to give due to their poor attitude during their stop.

spongeworthy wrote:

LAYGO wrote:
Being courteous got him his guns taken. I'm not as trusting. (again, source)

Check the last post on page 7 of that thread.



Each LEO encounter is going to be different, there are too many variables in play. Hopefully you don't ever have to deal with that hypothetical.

Ok, fine, but the incident still sparked this thread. Is there a requirement to tell the police officer you are carrying?

And again, I'm aware of the requirement to provide ID/CHL when asked, fine. I'm aware of the officer's right to disarm me "for safety" (some of the incidents of people being disarmed, weapons left on bumper/back seat . . . for a traffic violation).

I am not discounting the difficulty LEOs face, but I'm being really soured by incidents where you THINK you're being courteous/honest/forthcoming to them & you get tased (San Antonio incident) when you think you are free to go, harrassed/detained because he wouldn't roll down window all the way, etc. Even my own incident of being arrested because of expired inspection/registration (stupid I know, but I had much tighter finances back then) just so he could search my vehicle & then finds a real wooden police baton that was used by a friend for a halloween costume that was left in my vehicle (source).

The whole thing stinks either way. I'm arming myself because I do not want to have to rely on an LEO for my self protection, but beyond that, I've not had many favorable encounters with LEO.

At least one poster, possibly more, gave you the answer to your question.

Given that you seem to have had several less than fun encounters with presumably different LEOs have you considered that maybe it isn't the LEOs that are the problem?

I just deleted a very good explanation of the requirement to show ID.....then I too realized that the same answer has been given here already.

I guess my re-stating the question is rhetorical because people seem to be missing the point.

howdy wrote:I just deleted a very good explanation of the requirement to show ID.....then I too realized that the same answer has been given here already.

Again, I did not ask about ID. WHERE DID I ASK THAT?

He asks for identification.

I give the LEO my ID/CHL.

He asks if I am carrying a weapon.

DO I HAVE TO ANSWER IF I AM CARRYING A WEAPON?

LAYGO wrote:I guess my re-stating the question is rhetorical because people seem to be missing the point.

I don't think anyone is missing the point. You have been told that you do not have to proactivly disclose you are carrying, just present the CHL. If asked, then yes you should tell them you have a gun in the vehicle. You are legal and there is no reason for them to have an issue. And legally, you do not have to answer, but lying may purjure yourself if they do have grounds for search and they find you are carrying.

One thing we see is you seem to have a mistrust of law enforcement overall. You claim it is from your past interactions, which by your own admission were initiated by you being in the wrong on vehicle code violation or speeding, etc. An officer can tell if you are on the defensive when you address the person. If they approach your vehicle and you are immediately confrontational, then that puts them in a mood that you may be hiding something. Failure to be polite and cooperate will not do anything but escalate an already questionable stop and lead to a not so good outcome, even if nothing more than having an officer that won't cut you a break and writes you a ticket.

Bottom line, don't approach every situation with police as a 'this is gonna end badly' scenario and you may find that your 'distrust' is really nothing but an attitude adjustment that needed to be done on your part.