Is this "steering wheel lock" legal?

[RickD427]

Why not try asking a trucker to demonstrate one for you? Pretty easy to see the benefit of a tire-stick when you have a dozen + tires to check *every day* before you can start work. The stick bounces off a full tire & kinda thuds on an empty one. It's not going to be useful to your average Kia driver for telling if there's 20 or 40 psi in a car tire though.

If all your charges get pled down, perhaps the problem is on the other side of the badge.

Thanks for the trucker's explanation.

Keep in mind that my arrests have been for folks driving passenger cars ("gangster sleds"). I seriously doubt that any of those drivers used their "tire checker" in the manner that describe. It seems like even you doubt the utility of the "tire checker" on that type of vehicle.

The problem with the "plea negotiation" is really with the system. Except for murder and DUI arrests, I've had fewer than than 10 cases go to a jury trial and that's pretty common in L.A. County. In L.A. County, the D.A.'s office has made the plea process so favorable, that it's hard for a defendant to pass up and because the public defenders are pretty well integrated into the process. Unfortunately, there have been reports of some factually innocent folks taking pleas deals only because the terms were so good. That concerns me a lot more than the trucker with a tire checker. The DUI cases are unique, they're often represented by private counsel. There's more billable hours in a jury trial and the defendants are less experienced with the plea-negotiation process.

[Victor Cachat]

I harvest vegetables at my relatives' homes and carry a 6" serrated knife in a belt sheath in the back seat area of my truck.
That is all it is intended and used for.
The same goes for my flat fixer tool that has a "T" handle and a pointy end.

But, should the need arise, I will improvise.

[e90bmw]

Easier method:

Bolt cutter to steering wheel. Lock slides off.

Hacksaw works pretty well also.
Steering wheel locks don't stop the real criminal.

[BKinzey]

Even though RickD427 quoted the ad it bears repeating:

Wheel lock is made of heavy Duty Steel, it will work for your personal protection as well

It's not just a wheel lock, it has another purpose as well.

[pluke the 2]

Lol a billy

[bohoki]

yea someone told me if you hit someone with an axe handle its a felony but hit them with an axe and its ok i wonder what happens if you have a guard on the axe

[UnknownShooter]

Well.. the best known of these types of devices is "the club" - often peddled on Paul Harvey to suburban housewives, along with Bose "wave" radios... If you've not seen one before - "the club" would make a fantastic... club.

I wouldn't doubt some overzealous cop & prosecutor have "successfully" prosecuted an otherwise law-abiding citizen for posessing a "club", no doubt primarily because they were in a "gangsta sled" and "looked like a criminal", although I haven't heard of it myself.

If it were me, I'd carry the more popular "club" version, rather than this "bat" version, and if cited/arrested demand a trial by jury, where my attorney might have an opportunity to explain that the device is in widespread/lawful use amongst those who wish to prevent their cars from being stolen.

I used one of the "real" clubs on my well-thrashed pickup back in the Detroit suburbs for a couple of years without problems - this was on a pickup that had been stolen & recovered so many times that the door-locks would no longer mount & the steering column was completely peeled off. (I wasn't going to waste a bunch of money on a "pretty" truck to steal, since I'd watched my neighbors get their new Dodge stolen three times a year on average, though it did get recovered less wheels/radio every time.

[MaHoTex]

It is so ridiculous that this state creates felons by carrying a baseball bat in your car. I remember as a kid, my dad would carry a 18"-24" 1"dia solid piece of steel on the floorboard next to the drivers seat. That was there even after I started driving his truck.

If I were so inclined, I would not think twice about carrying a hunk of iron next to my seat either.

[Jimi Jah]

Because the average auto thief looking for a quick score always carries a "can of freeze".

They sure did in LA back in the 1980's when those things were seen everywhere. Now that no one uses them, no need to carry freeze anymore.