CCW badge?

That would be another one of those novelty items that can get you in trouble.

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I do have a CCW badge. And when I carry I do have it on me. And I have a wallet that I keep both it and my carry permit in. And I’ve also talk to some LEO’s at my gun club and asked them about it. And they told me that the way that I’m carrying it that they didn’t see a problem with it. Because I’m not trying to be someone that I’m not. and that I’m showing my permit at the same time and not trying to pose as a LEO. And I’d only show it when I’m asked for my carry permit. Then both would be shown at the same time. But I also know that some don’t like the idea of a carry badge.

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I wouldn’t recommend carrying that at all, @Reloader54. The law enforcement might not say anything about it, but a prosecuting attorney will definitely use that against you if you ever have to legally defend your physical self-defense.

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Grateful for this community, it’s great to be able to ask questions freely & gain insight

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YAY! That’s what it’s here for, @Bruno! Learning from each other is so important!

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Generally it is heavily frowned upon as people view you as a “wannabe cop”, and potentially a police impersonator. Dawn is right on with this one as usual.

I do wish however where states issue carry permits they also issued something highly visible that we could wear in the event we are involved in a self defense shooting particularly in public to help alert police and other defenders that you are a “Good Guy With a Gun” rather than likely the perp.

There should be some way of accomplishing that without the “Wannabe Cop” baggage although I’m not sure what it is.

Detectives and undercover’s frequently wear a badge that is hidden on a neck chain that can quickly be yanked out and put o display for his purpose. I would not want to see anything resembling an LEO badge to avoid confusion and the wannabe cop impression but some sort of a state issued carry ID that is highly visible and recognizable I think could be of great value.

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I don’t have the letter with me, but Sheriff Carolyn B. Welsh in Chester County, PA who issued my current PA LTCF’s form letter very strongly informs that if it’s found that you use your LTCF to even IMPLY being a sworn LEO, conviction or not, they WILL revoke your LTCF.
This next part is conjecture, but if I were making the “shall-issue” decisions to make SURE that the applicant is of good character, that would be a super-strong red flag (pending further info: was it a 21 year old who made a mistake as a young person? Has it been some time, allowing for maturing into a more responsible adult? Or is this some “gun(g)-ho gun nut” with a death wish and a hero complex?

Tell me, is that worth the risk to make or buy some badge? Especially with the growing fear and hate of police officers, that may make a bad guy (or even a fearful victim) want to kill you more.

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WildRose, you hit the bulls eye on this one. My view is that you completely defeat the purpose of concealed carry by advertising that you are doing so. I believe that most bad guys are far more experienced than I am in violent confrontations; Therefore, stealth and surprise are my two biggest advantages. If you want to advertise that you are carrying, why not just open carry?

One of my concerns is that if I become involved in a public large scale incident law enforcement arriving on the scene could mistake me for one of the bad guys and put down me down with friendly fire. Something issued by the state that could quickly be displayed, is highly visible, and instantly recognizable by law enforcement identifying a person as a responsible armed citizen would be of great value in this scenario. My emphasis here is “issued by the state”, that way only people with valid concealed carry permits would have access to them.

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“One of my concerns is that if I become involved in a public large scale incident law enforcement arriving on the scene could mistake me for one of the bad guys and put down me down with friendly fire.”

Perhaps this why in the training I received, it was stressed that if you are involved in an incident where you felt the need to pull your firearm, you need to make sure your firearm is put away and hands in plain view when law enforcement arrives so that you are not seen as a threat, they see you with your gun in your hand, good luck!

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Or if it’s not possible to safely put down or holster your firearm, at least call 911 at the earliest possible moment and let the 911 operator know that you are holding the bad guys & what YOU are wearing, and ask them to IMMEDIATELY pass it along to dispatched law enforcement.

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Definitely not a good idea. First of all, Law Enforcement is going to have an issue with it. Secondly, if you are intending to carry concealed, why on earth would you want to advertise? Hence the word, “CONCEALED”. And third of all, public will have a misconception that could get you in more hot water than you want to deal with by thinking that you “imply” being some sort of official authorized to wear a badge. It just sets up the whole “police imposter” scenario even when you do not wish it implied that way. My suggestion is to talk to some LEOs about it before you waste your money to find out why many of us are telling you that it is not a good idea. Keep yourself safe by keeping concealed and have that element of surprise on your side.

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As a former LEO/SWAT guy, I would say not only no but heck no. It’s a bad, bad idea for a host of reasons.

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Exactly my thinking. People arguing to the contrary always point out incidents where LEO’s end up shooting plain clothes officers, detectives, or undercovers seem to ignore the fact that in all but a handful of those incidents the “good guy cop” that got shot was not displaying anything that could identify them as LEO’s.

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Exactly, this solves the problem pointed out in the prior post.

As we’ve seen all too often though you can’t always count on accurate information being delivered to the responding officers and even if it is, it may not be delivered in a timely manner.

If you are the good guy involved for example in an active shooter situation I don’t know about you but I’m not going to holster or put my weapon down if the shooter is still active and posing a real threat to me or those with me.

Most cops are very responsible but going into an active shooter scene is perhaps the most dangerous assinment an LEO can get and since Columbine their mandate in virtually every department is for the first officers arriving on scene to immediately enter the building/buildings and engage the shooters.

That has them wired about as tight as anyone can be and they know their lives can depend on split second reactions so they can get a bit trigger happy.

They have “qualified immunity” to protect them if they accidentally shoot you and that raises the likelihood even more.

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Just curious here. Since you are showing your CCW at the same time, then of what service is the badge?

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The Badge that I have says CONCEALED CARRY PERMIT on it only. I also had my name put on it as well. And it DOES NOT HAVE ANY SERVICE OR LEO ON IT AT ALL.

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Through many hours of training, repetition of all training, with all the fundamentals of a firearm, and worry of falseness and lies. Please note that that badge is false.
The companies that drag people through their incomplete training, misled people.
The USCCA training is a great place to start on a grand path and believe that if you give USCCA and research, a chance. You will see why. I want you to stay out of prison or worse. You can get better training out of a cereal box, but please give our USCCA or a company that is equal in making sure your prepared. The companies that try to make you believe that their training and that BADGE is going to give you a protective shield that will defend you is FALSE.

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A badge implies law enforcement. :frowning:

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Not necessarily. PI’s and and both Gov’t and Private Security wear badges as well ,.

The problem is with perception. At a distance no one can see if the badge says “Mickey Mouse Club” or bears a state or federal LEO seal.

Such badges are almost always guaranteed to rub LEO’s the wrong way so with all that being the case and so much working against you if you choose to get and wear one to me it’s not worth it.

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I ran a PI company for over a decade and never had a badge. Most of my security officers have cloth badges sewn on their uniform shirts, very few use metal badges—only when our clients request it, which is rare.

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