
Interactions with Law Enforcement Session 3: Carry a Gun Legally
Rob PincusDescription
Knowing and abiding by the law where you intend to use a gun for self-defense is critical to positive law enforcement interactions, and to avoiding potentially tragic unintended consequences. This Session provides information, suggestions and exercises to help students research, stay current, and comply with laws affecting their use of defensive firearms.
The first thing that we have to worry about if we're gonna be interacting with law enforcement while armed is of course, that we're legally armed. Now, carrying a firearm legally is something that's relatively easy to do in many places across the United States. And in fact, it's surprisingly easy in many places around the world. Of course, there are other places where around the world it's almost impossible and we're even here in the United States it can be difficult to get a permit to legally carry a firearm under certain conditions. Some States make it harder than others.
And that's something that you're gonna have to become aware of when you think about carrying legally. Now, let me just say very specifically that as a personal defense advocate, as a firearms educator as a defensive shooting instructor, as a second amendment advocate, as an activist when it comes to our gun rights, it's incredibly important for me to say to you very clearly that I do not believe you should carry a gun illegally. I don't think you should carry a gun when you don't legally have a permit in places where you're not legally able to carry or under circumstances under which you know that it is not legal for you to have a gun. Now, of course, that's gonna mean education. We're going to provide some overview here but you're going to have to do some research into specific laws in your state and any state that you may visit as you travel with a firearm.
There are those who will say that the second amendment makes it very clear that our right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. And of course, that is the letter of the constitution which theoretically is the highest law in the land. But we know that there are many restrictions that are placed on our rights to own guns, our rights to carry guns around the United States. And if you're watching this video, I get the idea that you're probably already very well aware that those laws exist and those laws should be followed. But I want to be very clear once again I do not advocate carrying illegally.
If you feel that there's someplace that is so dangerous for you to go, that you would only go if you were carrying a firearm, simply don't go don't violate the law in order to try to make yourself safer from some kind of evil that exists in an area that you don't need to go to. And if you absolutely need to go there and you feel like you would be threatened and you would need a firearm to defend yourself it's probably a good idea to talk to law enforcement about that area and why you have to go there. I see people make some really bad decisions and we've seen some tragedies happen to people legally where the aftermath of losing their jobs financial strain, maybe even jail time and conviction of crimes that caused them to lose their rights to keep and bear arms for the rest of their life because of a felony conviction have resulted from these bad decisions. Simply choosing to carry a gun where you're not legally able to do so is a poor choice. Make life choices that are going to keep you out of trouble, out of harm's way and keep you as safe as possible without violating the law.
Learning what those laws are in your area of course is part of the responsible armed citizens job. You want to make sure that you understand that yes while the second amendment says we can carry guns and we can own guns. The laws that govern how and when we can carry guns are pretty clearly defined all across the country and they do vary from state to state. There are some States, for example where constitutional carry is allowed. In other words, based on the constitution you can carry a gun and if you can legally own the gun in that state, you can carry the gun there.
And when I first started carrying a gun legally for personal defense, I was carrying a gun in Vermont. I went to college in Vermont and Vermont was a constitutional carry state. You didn't need a permit. And in fact, there was no state level permit system at that time when I was living there. However, there were municipalities inside of the state where they right to carry a gun was restricted.
And that causes problems for people that are gonna move in and out of those cities but live in another part of the state. These are the kinds of laws that you need to be aware of. If you live in one of the States where the freedom to carry a gun is branded without the need to go out and get the permit get extra permission from the state take advantage of it whenever you can. But remember, that's not gonna be true in all the States that you travel to. Now, because this video is going to be in existence for a long time I'm not gonna try to list the States that have constitutional carry.
This is part of your research that you're going to need to do. Currently, there are four States that allow constitutional carry and two of them have been added relatively recently. So it is important to keep up to date with the laws where you live and where you visit. In the States that don't have constitutional carry you're going to have to deal with some type of permitting system. There are generally two types of permitting systems.
One is called shall issue. One is called may issue. Now all of the States and even the district of Columbia now have a provision for some form of concealed carry of a handgun for personal defense in the United States. And this is due to the overwhelmingly positive federal court interpretations of the second amendment over the last two decades. And a lot of hard work by a lot of people that have your right to keep and bear arms in their minds and in their interests and have been lobbying, fighting and waging legal battles for quite some time to regain some of the rights we've lost and make it very clear that you should be able to carry a gun to defend yourself.
If you live in a shall issue state permit system you will have a situation where unless there is a reason to preclude you from firearms ownership, such as acts of violence maybe a felony conviction, or other compelling reasons such as mental health issues that would preclude you from being able to be perceived as a responsibly armed citizen you will be issued a permit. In a may issue permit system the state decides whether or not you have met the conditions that they set out where they believe you have a reasonable need to carry a firearm, to defend yourself to defend your property, defend your business or to defend others that you care about. Now, obviously the shall issue States it's gonna be a lot easier to get the permit. The may issue States, however, usually have some very clearly defined criteria clearly defined laws that you can look at and navigate so that you can have a legal permit to carry a firearm. One of the other things you wanna be aware of is that in some States, your permit will specifically name the firearms that you are allowed to carry.
In other States, you'll be able to carry any firearm that you could legally possess whether you own it or borrow it from someone else. There are a lot of different nuances to this idea of what the permit allows you to do. And that's something that you're going to need to make very clearly aware in your minds that you are going through an everyday practice that allows you to be responsibly and legally armed. I want you to think about going now to your downloads and look at worksheet one. So interacting with law enforcement while armed worksheet number one, there's a series of questions on that worksheet that I want you to do the research either right now, hit the pause, go take a look at that and do the work or after this video session concludes.
At some point before you can consider yourself to have successfully completed this class you wanna make sure that you have accurate answers for all the questions on worksheet number one, because they're going to allow you to be more confident in the fact that you are carrying legally and that you're complying with law. And of course, that's the first step to a positive interaction with law enforcement is that you are actually following the law. Keep in mind that your answers to worksheet number one are best found at government websites. Now there are a lot of private sector websites that will give you some really good information but these laws change constantly. And again, they do vary from state to state and even some cities have specific restrictions or specific opportunities for legal carry that don't exist on a statewide basis.
You wanna make sure that your research is up to date and again, getting the information from a government website is the best source that you can have. And checking back every once in a while maybe every six months, maybe every year joining your state level, right to keep and bear arms or second amendment organizations that they keep you aware of the updates, or maybe joining social media groups or paying attention to certain Facebook pages in your state for second amendment activism where you'll be made aware of any changes in the law that could affect your legal status while armed for the purposes of personal defense. Now, once you've completed worksheet number one you're gonna have a really good idea where and when you can legally carry a firearm. In some States you're gonna find that there are a lot of restrictions about where you can carry the firearm in terms of the type of property, the location you are within a certain distance of certain types of property or the activity that's going on on certain properties. For example, we know that a lot of people are concerned about the interactions of someone who's been drinking with a firearm.
We know that alcohol can affect your decision-making. We know that alcohol can affect your fine motor skills both of which are a bad idea to have huge negative effects on when you have a gun in your hand or even when you're carrying a gun. And you might be deciding whether or not it's appropriate for you to use it to defend yourself or to get involved in a certain situation. We know that if your judgment is impaired you might even make some bad decisions that put you in harm's way. And then put you in a situation where going to that firearm is maybe an appropriate thing to do without the bad judgment, having set that circumstance up.
And then you're not able to the firearm as well because of the alcohol that you've put into your body. So there are a lot of issues about where, and when in regard to alcohol, for example, some States restrict you from being able to carry a firearm where alcohol is sold. Other States might restrict your opportunities to carry a firearm where alcohol is consumed. Some States allow you to carry a firearm where alcohol is being served, sold, or consumed but not when you're drinking and then believe it or not there are actually some States where it is perfectly legal for you to carry a firearm while drinking in a bar. So knowing the laws, knowing where and when is incredibly important and can be somewhat complicated.
And that's why those answers on worksheet number one are going to be really important for you. Now, if you don't drink you still have to worry about these laws. Because again, it may just simply be that there is alcohol served on the property or there's alcohol sold at the property. So think about that grocery store that also has a liquor store in it. You may not think of it ahead of time but when you research the law, you may find out in some States carrying a firearm into that grocery store because liquor is sold or wine is sold, or beer is sold on those properties could make you in violation of the law without really doing anything and anything to do with you and drinking.
Other issues like government buildings, most federal buildings are going to be areas where you cannot carry a firearm. Most courthouses are going to be areas where you cannot carry a firearm. Of course if you think about it if you're going to go to the police department they're probably not gonna want you to be carrying a firearm. And you're probably going to see signs and postings that all of these types of buildings, but again understanding the federal laws and understanding the state laws are incredibly important. Some federal property it's perfectly okay to carry firearms on.
For example, most national forest properties. It's fine for you to not only carry a firearm but you can actually shoot on the public lands controlled by the national forest. National parks, however, a little bit different. We recently had a law change under the Obama administration where you are now allowed to carry firearms in national parks but there are still going to be some restricted areas. And you're probably not gonna be able to shoot outside of designated shooting ranges inside a lot of those spaces, but carrying the firearm is different obviously from recreational shooting.
And again, this is an important facet of understanding of law. Where is it legal for you to carry a firearm versus where is it legal for you to practice your firearm skills? In other words, discharging a firearm outside of an emergency situation. Again, when and where can you carry a firearm? Schools are another area of concern.
Some States allow carry if you legally have a permit on school property whether that's a college or even a elementary school some States allow you to keep a firearm inside of your car if you're going into a meeting maybe a parent teacher meeting. Some States require you to not take a firearm not only on the premises of a school property but even within a certain distance of school property whether you're legally armed or not. And that simply means driving by a school, getting out of your car and going for a walk around the block could put you in violation of the law in terms of when or where you are legally allowed to carry a firearm. And that could lead to an interaction with law enforcement. that's unwanted.
Let's say that you're walking your dog and you're walking around your neighborhood and you happen to be on the sidewalk right in front of your school property. Perhaps you're actually on the school property because your dog gets off its leash, or it decides that it really likes the looks of that tree over there. And you don't think much of it. You're carrying a gun underneath of a shirt or a jacket and you go over there to walk your dog and let your dog do its business. While your dog is there, perhaps the wind blows your jacket open or perhaps when you bend over to pet your dog, your firearm becomes exposed.
Now you've got someone calling the police saying, Hey there's a guy with a gun on school property. Now, whether it's legal or not that could lead to an interaction with law enforcement. If it's legal for you to be carrying on that school property in that state, if you have a permit if open carry the display of a firearm when you don't need to display it for defensive use is legal. You're not violating any law, but that interaction with law enforcement could still become tense if that police officer happens to think that you potentially pose a threat to the children or other people in the area. On the other hand if you're not allowed to carry a gun on school property or within a certain distance of school property if open carry the open display of a firearm is illegal in your state.
And if you don't have a permit for some reason and are carrying a gun illegally to begin with you've got a lot of problems heading your way. When you start compounding violations of law, bad decision-making and then poor forms of carry and an interaction with law enforcement you can expect that it's probably gonna be pretty intense and it could very well lead to legal ramifications. What you don't want to do is let your violation of the law or misunderstanding of the law escalate to the point where you are perceived as a threat and the officer needs to hurt you because they feel like you are going to hurt them or other people in the public space, understanding the law and being aware that the laws can change and that you may have misinterpreted or misunderstood them is an important precursor to any interaction with law enforcement. Ultimately, when you're standing in a public space and a police officer is telling you that you're violating the law it's probably not a great idea to get engaged in a debate with them about your rights, about the constitution or about your understanding of the legal situation. Always remember that when there is a lethal tool in the situation that firearm that you're carrying and remember the police officer has at least one firearm as well.
And there may be other officers in the environment that you don't even know about who are also watching you to see if you're a threat. If you escalate that situation to where violence occurs it's on you, even if you're right, you can deal with that in the aftermath of the interaction with law enforcement. When law enforcement comes up to you and brings up a legal issue about your access to a firearm or you're carrying a firearm, cooperate, comply and be reasonable. Even if it means you're going to get arrested. We have lawyers, we have court systems and justice will prevail.
Don't escalate a situation to where you're not only disobeying the officer and causing a problem for yourself there, but you also potentially escalate it to the point where you are perceived as a threat. Understanding the law can be complicated. Carrying legally is a responsibility that you have. Of course, we expect our law enforcement officers to be polite, professional and well-educated about the law as well. If there's a misunderstanding on the street, in a car, in a public space, on private property, on government property, yield to their understanding of the law and their interpretation.
I promise you, I have a great deal of confidence that it will all work out in the end as long as you don't escalate and as long as you and the officers can get out of that situation unhurt.
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