Detention for Possession of a Legal Firearm

[elih]

I am not a gun toter, nor am I opposed to it. I am fairly conservative when it comes to constitutional rights. Recently I've seen volumes of video clips on the internet where LEO's are stopping people and detaining them for no reason other than they had a firearm. I've verified the vailidity of the issue by gingerly discussing with some folks I know that are LEO's. I don't understand how many of the laws we see today aren't considered an infringement on our right to keep and bear arms.

I've looked up the pathway in which the SCOTUS has brought us here and ot doesn't really answer my questions. How did we get from here?

A couple of other prefaces. I understand and accept the SCOTUS logic on limitiing other rights (Fighting words doctrine, etc...) I just haven't seen that logic trail with respect to this issue.

Eli

[jk]

are you talking about the yahoos that go around carrying open on their hip or such as a means to intentionally draw the attention of the police so they can expound on how knowledgeable they are about gun rights?


a cop can engage anybody in conversation. Only when the person is detained (such as he is not allowed to leave) is there a problem.

If you notice, the gun toters generally enjoy engaging the cops in discussion. It seems to make them feel powerful when they start citing case law that supports their right to carry and such. To me, they are idiots that are trying to make a problem.

and I am not anti-gun.

[cdwjava]

I am not a gun toter, nor am I opposed to it. I am fairly conservative when it comes to constitutional rights. Recently I've seen volumes of video clips on the internet where LEO's are stopping people and detaining them for no reason other than they had a firearm. I've verified the vailidity of the issue by gingerly discussing with some folks I know that are LEO's. I don't understand how many of the laws we see today aren't considered an infringement on our right to keep and bear arms.

The current status of SCOTUS decisions still permits state regulation of firearms. The videos you likely have viewed are from CA where we used to allow open carrying of sidearms provided they were unloaded and unconcealed. Under CA law, law enforcement is permitted to detain an individual and inspect the weapon to determine if it is loaded. However, a recent change to state law as of January 1st, 2012 has removed the ability to openly carry even if the firearm is unloaded.

Your state may have different laws.