What Should You Do When You Get Pulled Over And You Are Legally Carrying A Gun ?

What should you do when you are carrying a firearm and you get pulled over for a traffic stop ? Doesn’t this seem pretty simple ? Just use your commonsence as you would with any other traffic stop. At this point the cop probably already knows that you have a permit to conceal and carry a firearm. When he ran the plates on your car the dispatcher informed him that the owner had a CCW. After you have safely pulled over and turned off your vehicle. Roll the windows down and put your hands on the wheel at 10 and 2 and keep them there until instructed to move them. Take a breath. Take another. Go to your quiet place. You are going to be asked for your liscense, registration and proof of insurance. Just keep your mouth shut. Don’t ask stupid questions like,” what did I do ? ” If the officer does not ask about your gun then at this point inform him or her that you have a CCW and that you have a firearm on your person. He may then ask for your CCW permit. Inform him if the permit is near the firearm and ask if it is ok if you reach for it. The officer might ask you to slowly get out of the car and that he is going to take your firearm and secure it for everyone’s sake. Or, she might just say yes you can get it. It doesn’t matter what you think about police officers or why you are being pulled over, now is not the time to get nervous and mouthy. Save it for later if you must. For some stupid reason many people think that argueing with a cop will end well for them. Like the officer is ever going to say, “Well I see your point and I’m real sorry. You can go now.” Chances are that you are only going to get uncomfortably cuffed and put in the back of the cop car. It is common enough now in most states that a driver might be carrying a legal firearm and in most cases the officer is used to this. It’s part of thier job as a police officer today. If you are a law abiding citizen you have the right to carry a firearm. However not everyone that can legally carry a firearm has enough commonsense to do so. Please know your local laws and use your head.

3 Replies to “What Should You Do When You Get Pulled Over And You Are Legally Carrying A Gun ?”

  1. If I’m carrying and get pulled over, I’m always try put my ego aside and be polite and as a point of courteousness to the officer I keep both my hands on the steering wheel, unless asked to retrieve something. I generally don’t mention that I’m carrying, unless asked specifically.

    I’ve trained police officers and I know how tough their job is. Even if my libertarian tendencies make me incredibly weary of authority. But that doesn’t mean our interaction has to be uncivil or dangerous.

    As an interesting aside the laws (in South Africa) as civilian are always concealed carry. In other words, no open carry for handguns. If you open carry you will be arrested. Also when driving your firearm must be secured in a holster on your person and can’t be kept in the glove box for example.


    1. Hey Jo, What you doin round here? Sorry I had to reference Jimi H. All kidding aside, thanks for letting us know about the gun laws in South Africa. I for one would like to know more about your gun rights and laws. How many people carry down there? Do you need a registration and license? Does this apply to everyone?

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Gonna go shoot my old lady? I quite like that song, even if it’s quite dark.

        Yeah, you need a license. And a competency certificate, which states you’ve done a safety course and been to the range with an instructor at least once. The safety course also teaches you basic fire arm law. The license is valid for five years, after which you have to renew it. The competency is ten. You have to have a competency certificate for every… ‘type’ of firearm you have, ie handgun, shotgun, carbine, rifle. Also the police (theoretically) are supposed to come and do an inspection to make sure you have a gun safe.

        In South Africa the law is that as soon as you draw your weapon from your holster you have been deemed to have used it, ie they can charge you with assault and/or attempted murder if you aren’t using your weapon to save your life or the life of someone else.

        They also have these weird use of deadly force rules which means you can’t necessarily shoot someone who has a knife (for example) in their hand, you need to be able to prove that your life (or someone elses life) was in imminent danger and so had to use your weapon to kill the other combatant and that you likely would have died had you not done so. This obviously starts to get murky real quick. You also can’t necessarily shoot a house invader just for being in your abode, again you have to be able to prove that they meant to injure or kill you. Stealing your stuff doesn’t count as life threatening.

        You can own automatic weapons… but the licensing therefore is slightly trickier in so far as you have to apply for a ‘dedicated sportmans’ or ‘dedicated collectors’ status, or in the case of owning multiple rifles ‘dedicated hunter’ status.

        Weirdly, silencers are completely legal, no extra licensing required. As are all extended magazines and pretty much every type of ammunition.


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