How did this happen?
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Pretty much as described. He was passing through and got pulled over. Routine stop, but the officer did a quick search of his vehicle (probably illegally) and found his Glock in the console. The officer told him he could retrieve if from the station. When he went to the station, they said he could have it back, but first he needed a valid FOID card, or he’d be in violation as soon as he left the station. When he asked how to get a FOID, they told him he had to be an Illinois resident. So because he wasn’t from Illinois, they basically just stole his pistol.
As I said, he probably could have fought and gotten it back with the right attorney, but it’s faster and cheaper to simply buy another Glock. Now he knows to avoid Illinois whenever possible.
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Before I go to Illinois I’m locking everything in the trunk. I’ll be going to Wisconsin. But damn that’s just not right.
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I was talking more to at-home storage. On a recent cross-country jaunt where I could not avoid anti-2A states I put my unloaded carry weapon in a secure lockbox under the seat (if you were to look under the seat with a flashlight you would not be able to see it). In my pocket I kept Sabre Pepper Gel (for when I was fueling up or getting food), and in the door storage compartment, along with a ball peen hammer, I had an 8oz. spray bottle of 50% ammonia for roadside and other use (hotel room). Not optimal by any means, but nevertheless functional. I have a friend who keeps a 3’ section of bicycle chain in his door compartment, and several others who carry a “trucker’s friend” tire checker. Sometimes you just have to improvise.
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In some states you have to be careful about having improvised weapons within reach if you can’t justify a none weapon related reason why you have them there. I remember a friend being given a very hard time for having a tire iron next to their seat and another being given a problem about a baseball bat in the backseat when they didn’t also have a ball and glove.
I have a sturdy ice scrapper and road flares within reach. They might prove useful as improvised defensive tools but I kept them there for utility and safety reasons long before I considered their possibility for use in a self defense situation.
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Good point. I think I will put a catchers mask next to my bat…could come in handy!
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What, no hockey mask?
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A hockey stick would be troublesome in a car.
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I used to have a hockey stick in my car when I was in high school. Both because I would occasionally play hockey out on the pond in the winter and because I could use the handle to reach through the exhaust header to rap on the starter when it would occasionally refuse to turn over. Worked every time until I finally got around to replacing the starter.
But cars were bigger back then and the stick easily fit in my trunk.
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My first car had a starter like that. I carried a hammer to give it the old tap tap to get it to go.
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I leave my piece in OR when visiting my sister in scary Bay Area CA, where I would otherwise INSIST on having it. Instead, I keep a can of OC spray in my pocket and a Sabre Compact stun gun in the door of the truck. Check the states you’re going to be driving through about the legality of everything before driving through, and don’t get pulled over.
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For the case of DE and MD, just store as appropriate for those states before you enter them. Or as someone mentioned, see if travelling through WV is a feasible alternate route.
Best of luck in your travel.
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BTW, this video was published recently and it covers some of your questions.
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Isn’t it ironic that the states you most need a gun in for self defense are the very states that make it very difficult for you to legally have a gun for self defense!
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Not ironic. How could you expect anything else?
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If your gun is in a locked case, you do not have to open that case unless a warrant is produced. An officer may try to intimidate you into opening it, but if you politely stand your ground, he cannot legally force you to open it. If he asks you if you are in possession of a firearm, refuse to answer. It may cast suspicion on you, but he cannot legally arrest you or detain you for refusing. Always be polite. When he lets you go, drive cautiously and safely so you don’t give anyone down the road a reason to stop you and cite you. I’m not an attorney, but this is my understanding from having read a lot legal material.
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I am not a lawyer either but know that many States either have a duty to inform or a duty to inform when asked by an LEO. Though I’m not sure how those laws handle carrying accessibly vs carrying in a locked case. So not answering might get you in legal trouble as well if LEOs decide to search illegally or come up with some potentially justifiable probable cause for searching. It’s hard to stay on the right side of the law when LEOs aren’t following the law.
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I believe that you only have to inform LEOs if you are carrying on your person or within reach. I may be wrong on that. However, refusing to be searched without a warrant is always your right. There is not much you can do about LEO doing an illegal search, except fight it in court. Unless you have done something egregious, most cops aren’t going to push it. The battle never ends.
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I always felt that these laws must be particularly hard on OTR truck drivers. They need to drive into some pretty nasty areas of some of the biggest cities in the country, wait long hours in their trucks for dispatch or load/unload (in God-knows what back alley or behind some warehouse), then sleep in sketchy rest areas night after night. I can’t think of many professions where being armed for security makes more sense, but they’re basically excluded from exercising their constitutional rights.
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Agreed, if there was ever any profession that needed some sort of nationwide CCP, it’d be OTR truckers.
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