Vinton City Police, Louisiana (rating: 2.5/10)

[SteyrM40]

Hello everyone,

Though this didn't happen in Texas, it happened just outside of our borders. Seeing as anyone heading out of the state eastbound on I-10 might be nabbed in the same area, I felt it apporpriate to post this information in this forum. Vinton, LA is about 13 miles east of Orange, TX.

At 1:45AM this morning, I got stopped in Vinton, LA (Calcasieu Parish) by officer #0258 (his name is totally illegible on the ticket). I was traveling eastbound on I-10 and he alleges I was speeding 90 mph in a 70 zone.

I pulled over on the side of the highway, turned on my dome light, and rolled down my window. He asked me to step out of the vehicle and step around to the back. I met him there and he introduced himself. I acknowledged his introduction, and then interjected with “Okay, Officer. Before we get started, I’d first like to let you know that I am a Texas Concealed Handgun Licensee, and that I do have two weapons on my person� (as stipulated in RS 40:1379.3.I.2, I did have a duty to inform). I then handed him my TDL/CHL.

He thanked me for informing him and then said “For your safety and mine, I’d like to disarm you.� I told him that that would be fine, but to be careful with my weapons. He then proceeds to lift my shirt and take my Steyr from my IWB. You would have thought my gun had a communicable disease, because he held it by the grip with his thumb and index finger. In my opinion, this was totally unsafe.

He then asked me if I had any other guns in the car. I told him I didn’t have any in the car, but that I did have one on my ankle (a Kahr). He said “What line of work are you in?� I told him I was a teacher. He had a chuckle at that.

He asked to lift my pant leg to show him my BUG. With the awkward way he kept holding my Steyr, it was impossible for him to reach down and disarm my ankle rig. I offered him a solution: I would undo the ankle rig and leave the Kahr in the holster and hand it to him that way. He said that was fine.

He then told me that he was going to take my weapons back to his car and unload them. I stood in front of the cruiser and watched him fumble with my weapons. He unloaded the Steyr pretty painlessly, but he had a real hard time with the Kahr. At one point he had the slid back, stuck his finger in to get a round out of the pipe. While his finger was in there he accidentally hit the slide release and the gun bit him. Ouch! The whole time he was doing this, he was on a cell phone, with his head cocked to one side. All in all, this was – in my opinion – much less safe than just leaving the guns on my person. So much for “your safety and mine�.

He came back out (without my handguns) and gave me a citation, along with the customary (you can pay by mail, address on the back, etc.) information. He then said he was going back to get my guns, but he wanted to put them in my trunk and that he didn’t want me to rearm until he left. He went back to his car to get al my stuff. He put my mags and my two spare rounds in my hands. He then took my keys, opened my trunk, placed the weapons inside, shut it, and handed me back my keys.

He took off, and there I was. Alone on the side of the Louisiana interstate my two weapons locked in my trunk. Granted, once he left, it only took my about 15 seconds to have my Steyr loaded and back on my hip; but how long would it take for some random crime to take place? Oh well, so much for “my safety�.

All in all, I was pretty unhappy with the stop, since I hate the idea of being disarmed (this was the first time I was disarmed). The officer was very friendly, and only for that reason, I would rate this encounter 2.5 out of 10. I actually would be inclined to bump it to 3 out of 10 for the comedic value (watch out, that Kahr will bite you!).

Hope this information proves to be useful.

Stay safe…

SteyrM40

[No4Mk1]

Being a Louisiana native I feel entitled to say this.....


Louisiana, it's like a third world country!

[MoJo]

Vinton and Sulphur both have a reputation as speed traps - - - I'm glad you weren't arrested as happened to an acquaintance who was stopped for "speeding".

[SteyrM40]

Hey again,

If you have a membership to PDO, would you mind stopping over there and rating this post. Someone over there insists on rating good posts with a zero. I don't really care about that, but I just don't want my post to drop below the normal viewable threshhold.

I apprecaite it.

Stay safe...

SteyrM40

[KBCraig]

If an officer wanted to put my guns in my trunk, I'd tell him no. By giving him permission to open your trunk, you've effectively consented to a "plain sight" search of that area.

Kevin