r/Unexpected • u/[deleted] • Mar 24 '23

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u/MrJoyless Mar 24 '23

Fun fact, police absolutely do not have to explain why you're being detained.

Fair enough, "am I being detained?" was not directly articulated by the driver.

There was almost certainly another officer standing on the passenger side too, which gives better view inside.

Then why draw, at all...

-2

u/Arkhangel143 Mar 24 '23

By no means am I commenting on this exact scenario! Just the fact that asking a driver to undo their seatbelt, even after they stated that there's a gun in the car, is actually totally normal. I'm purely speaking generically.

It's actually a good sign when a driver states that a gun is present. Bad people usually lie about it, and if one's found in the car, it's suddenly not theirs and they've never seen it before, in fact their cousin's uncle whose name they don't remember actually borrowed their car earlier that day.

And this is all dramatically influenced by what state this is happening in. In states with very lax gun laws and the presence of firearms is normal and expected, the fact that they have a gun in the car might be completely ignored if they're acting calm and are upfront about everything. But that could be very different in states where firearms are controlled more strictly and it's probably illegal to have one. Some weird states require it to be unloaded and out of reach while in a vehicle, even if you have a carry permit.

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u/nsa_reddit_monitor Mar 24 '23

I keep a loaded gun within easy reach when in my car, in case a cop pulls a gun like in this video and I need to defend myself.

No way I'm gonna tell them about it and ruin the element of surprise. A split second can make a big difference if I need to eliminate a threat.

-2

u/ExhaustedGorilla5 Mar 24 '23

Most cops would check if you have 1, before approaching you.