Concealed Weapon!!!! HA!

Joined
Mar 17, 2001
Messages
83
You will never beleave this! I got pulled over by a cop in the middle of main street, here in hickville VA. I had an expired inspection sticker (Tottaly my fault btw, 1.5 months out!). I drive an 84 Ford Ranger. When I reach to get my registration, the cop notices my old Jaguar in the "hole" thing right above the glove box. "Can a see that butterfly knife too?" sure I said, and gave it to him. Then he tells me that it is illegal due to the fact that it is considered a concealed weapon because "You can't see the blade when the knife is closed" :eek: !!!!!! I had my 42A and 42AS on me, so at that point my heart spacked the floor board! I told him that I had never heard that before, and that I tried finding every law I could on them, and quoted the gravity knife law in VA. End result, I still have all my knives! :p And their is at least one enlightened cop in this Three cop town. No really, we don't have but 2 officers and the Cheif of Police! Other than that, he was really nice and polite to me, very profesional. Unlike the other cop, who is a total A**hole, that pulled me for having my tailgate down (bed empty), and then gave me several smart-a** remarks.

What do we do to protect ourselves from cops making honest mistakes? Even if found not guilty, you don't get the knife back in Va w/out a good lawer, which would cost way more than the two knives.

It all goes back to the Golden Rule: Those Who Have The Gold, Rule.
 
"You can't see the blade when the knife is closed"

I thought that was the point of folding knives. :p Sounded like he was making up the rules as he went along. Good thing he was open minded and listened to what you had to say.
 
Now thats a silly rule. Thats good to hear that you didnt lose any of your knies.
 
Actually, I remember hearing that law years ago in Wisconsin. I was told that solid handled balisongs were illegal, but skeletonized handles were just fine. That may be some silly urban legand-law used believed cops yet today.
 
You did precisely what one should do in these situations: you quoted the actual law to him.

The fact is that the average cop is ignorant of, at the very least, the letter of the law -- and sometimes the spirit of the law, as well. You can't trust them to tell you anything that isn't utter fiction, particularly when it comes to knife laws (which often are so vague that nobody's sure how to interpret them, even when they know the words contained in them).

It seems to me, given the body of stories told by forumites who've had run-ins with LEOs, that the single greatest source of myth and misinformation regarding knife laws are the cops themselves.
 
I applaud the fact that you enlightened the LEO instead of just handing over the knife. Most LEO’s are decent people. At least the guys I work with are. If you don’t come across as a smart ass, they are far more inclined to be lenient.
 
When I was stationed in VA I carried a copy of the Penal code concerning concealed weapons in my wallet (it wasn't 14 pages like here in TX). I only had one guy hassle me about it and he was in no way apart of law enforcement but I corrected him and showed him the way.
 
Originally posted by Mykl Clark
When I was stationed in VA I carried a copy of the Penal code concerning concealed weapons in my wallet (it wasn't 14 pages like here in TX).

Mykle, will you email me a copy of the Texas code?:D Or a link? Thanks to a fellow Texan.
 
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