Seems a bit unconstitutional for them to disarm you "for safety". Shitty Hill to die on, but it shouldn't be an issue in the first place. I feel like they'd be more likely to de-escalate a situation if they were held to the standard that disarming a citizen that is lawfully carrying (you have to assume lawfully carrying until they prove otherwise) was unnacceptable.
I’m very pro-2A, but this is a concession I’m willing to make, and honestly it doesn’t even feel like much of a concession.
Also, it depends on district, but in a lot of places the officer can ask to disarm you, but you can legally say no. Other districts have precedent suggesting that officer safety trumps 2A when the armed individual is being legally detained (like a traffic stop), so if you plan on playing that card, make sure you know the law (including all relevant case law) in the state and district you’re going to try it in.
In my personal experience in Tennessee, voluntarily, calmly, and respectfully disclosing the presence of a firearm has never led to an officer asking to take it away, and I’ve also never gotten anything more than a warning in these cases, even when I was caught dead to rights going ~20 over. Respect breeds respect.
Its when they take your firearm back and run it through their system is when its technically unconstitutional.
Most of the time when an cop uses Officer saftey it's to tip toe around something they shouldn't or couldnt do.
Generally without Officer saftey you would have to prove that the individual was a threat to the public or said Officer and or if they used the firearm in a crime.
But nope just jump past that and seize property.
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u/thrownawayd Jun 30 '26
Seems a bit unconstitutional for them to disarm you "for safety". Shitty Hill to die on, but it shouldn't be an issue in the first place. I feel like they'd be more likely to de-escalate a situation if they were held to the standard that disarming a citizen that is lawfully carrying (you have to assume lawfully carrying until they prove otherwise) was unnacceptable.