Quote:
Originally Posted by MLeake
...But saying that possession of the firearm is necessarily a crime, and that possession of a permit is an affirmative defense? Seriously?...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aguila Blanca
...If the law doesn't apply to me, then there is no underlying "crime" for which I can/should/must raise any affirmative defense. I have a permit; carrying a concealed firearm is not a crime for me. Period.
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So how is this supposed to work? If the cop doesn't know who you are, or if you don't show him your permit, he has absolutely no way of knowing whether or not you have a permit, so he has absolutely no way of knowing whether or not you are committing a crime.
He does, however, have a reasonably articulable suspicion that you may be committing a crime because (1) he has reason to believe you are carrying a gun; and (2) he has no reason to believe that you have a permit.
Sorry, but that's how a court is most likely to see things in the real world. I know it irks you, but the alternative is that an LEO is effectively powerless to investigate the possibility that someone maybe carrying a gun illegally.