The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - A Firearms Owner's Guide to Dealing with the Police

Skans · February 7, 2012, 08:47 AM

While I mostly agree with the OP's advice - I'd say its 100% dead on in 90% of the situations.

However, there are times (very limited) when telling the officer(s) exactly what happened will work to your advantage. There are times you may need to make a judgment call and let the officers search you.

I'm saying this at the risk of getting flamed by the lawyers on here who may have defended many cases that went bad because the defendant didn't follow the above advice, as well as from individuals who are speaking from their own experience. They are not wrong. Believe me, I am aware of all of this. BUT, a strict set of guidelines does not apply to every situation. They are good to keep in mind, but you still need to think, make judgment calls and occasionally the situation calls for deviating from that advice.

February 7, 2012, 08:47 AM	#13
Skans Senior Member Join Date: November 20, 2008 Posts: 11,132	While I mostly agree with the OP's advice - I'd say its 100% dead on in 90% of the situations. However, there are times (very limited) when telling the officer(s) exactly what happened will work to your advantage. There are times you may need to make a judgment call and let the officers search you. I'm saying this at the risk of getting flamed by the lawyers on here who may have defended many cases that went bad because the defendant didn't follow the above advice, as well as from individuals who are speaking from their own experience. They are not wrong. Believe me, I am aware of all of this. BUT, a strict set of guidelines does not apply to every situation. They are good to keep in mind, but you still need to think, make judgment calls and occasionally the situation calls for deviating from that advice.