Police Interactions While Carrying Concealed – One Officer’s Perspective

By Brandon Curtis

Republished with permission from SPFSolutions

Unless you’re new to conceal carrying you’ve no doubt discussed, or experienced first hand, how to interact with police when you’re strapped. The general consensus is, if you keep your hands in view at all times, relax, and respectfully comply, you’ll be fine. And coming from a Police Officer who routinely interacts with people carrying guns, that’s pretty much it. But what if things go differently?

“What was the Officer thinking?” “Why did they temporarily take my firearm?” “Why are they asking these questions?” “Why did the Officer act the way they did?” “I’m just a responsible law abiding citizen!”

I’m going to do my best to answer these kinds of questions. State laws, local 2A attitudes, and the Officer’s experience/training (or lack thereof) largely influence how a police interaction will go.

The Ideal Interaction

The majority of my interactions with citizens go something like this:

• Me: “How’s it going today?”
• You: “I’m fine thanks.”
• Me: [asks for id/other info pertinent to the legal encounter]
• You: “Okay. I just think you should know, I have a gun [insert location] and I’m a concealed carrier.”
• Me: “Thanks for letting me know. What are you carrying?”
• You: “[insert firearm make and model]”
• Me: “Cool. How you liking …Read the Rest

  Source:: Concealed Nation