Firearms violations

[jaymz]

A suggestion was brought up in another thread (post #16). Have you ever been stopped for whatever reason, and been found to be in violation of a firearms law, and let go without a citation and/or arrest? Tell the story. I'll tell mine in a bit. Don't have time to type it at the moment.

EDIT:
My brothers and I got a mild tongue lashing from CHP 5 or 6 years ago in the Mammoth Lakes area. I got pulled over for speeding on the way to the campground we were going to stay in while we were in the area hunting. None of our firearms were in locked cases (we weren't going to/from actual hunting at the time). Long story short, Chippie told us to make sure we lock up our cases next time.

[alfred1222]

Mine isnt a violation of firearms law persay, but a police officer stopped me when my family and i were moving houses. My brother and i were driving with the bed of the trunk filled with pelican cases, and the backseat with pistol cases. A cop pulled us over outside the gate to the property for not signalling a turn or something minor, and of course wanted to know what was under the tarp. My guns are all legal, no weird mods or mag magnets or other stupid crap, so i told him that the car has my gun collection, and that they were all legal. He basically asked if he could take a look, and i said sure, if he was willing to look at them in my house, not on the street. He agreed, so he helped my brother and i install our new safes and fill them, had a drink, gave me his card, and went on his way. I still shoot shotguns with the guy when im back in california. Probably one of my best experiences with a police officer

[d33pt]

If they were unloaded long guns, they didn't have to be locked up.

[jaymz]

A couple of them were loaded (magazines in place, empty chamber) and there were a few unlocked handguns as well.

[Divernhunter]

While hunting pronghorns in Wy I shot one way out in the scrub. We walked out to it and was dragging it back to my truch and the warden walked out to meet us. He said I had to tag it before moving it to the truck. I told him my pen was in the truck and I had planned to tag it when we got there. He wrote me a warning then loaned me his pen. After filling out the tag he co-signed it and helped us carry out the pronghorn. He was nice about the whole thing and it was nice to be able to carry and not drag the animal back to the truck.

[BCDavis]

I have two stories.

One time, when I was in my teenage years, me and some friends were shooting way out in the hills, far away from anything, with a good backdrop, etc. We kept hearing this odd sound, but couldn't tell what it was. Then suddenly, over the hill came a sheriff's helicopter. They yelled at us on the megaphone that we could not shoot in that area. We packed up and left, with just that warning. This was in the mid 80's.

A group of friends used to go way out towards China Lake, past Barstow, way out in the middle of the desert, and shoot. I used to go every year. The one year I did not go, one of the guys apparently had some full-auto sears, and was firing his AR full-auto. A military chopper landed, and a bunch of guys with guns jumped out and made everyone get down on the ground. They called the local PD, and everyone got arrested, and ALL the firearms were confiscated. ALL of them. So I was very glad/lucky I did not go with them that year. So be careful about who you go shooting in the desert with, and don't assume because you are in the middle of nowhere, that a chopper can't land and ruin your day very quickly. The other guys eventually got their guns back, but it took several years to do so. This was also in the 90's, so I think the consequences could have been worse if it had happened post 9/11.

Overall, I'd say that law enforcement in CA is not really 100% pro-gun, except for themselves, and their friends. Most cops I know, when they are out in the field, they look at most guns as a threat. Even with people out target shooting in the desert, they assume that the people may be up to no good, and many times, they may be right. So it sucks that you can get caught up in the legal problems, just because our state has such draconian gun laws...