Komonews.com:
PHOENIX (AP) — Gun-friendly Arizona is trying to avoid deadly encounters between police and people behind the wheel by teaching armed drivers how they should handle themselves when they are pulled over.
Arizona, which allows residents to carry weapons without permits, recently changed its rule book for the road in a bid to avoid confrontations such as the one that killed Philando Castile. The Minnesota man, who had a gun permit, was fatally shot during a 2016 traffic stop after telling an officer he was armed.
Arizona is among a small number of states instructing drivers on what to expect during traffic stops. It appears to be the first to use its driving rules to address situations in which motorists are armed.
Democratic state Rep. Reginald Bolding said Castile’s death inspired him to seek changes to the state’s driver’s manual. He said the revisions were necessary because Arizona does not require gun permits and some owners have not been trained to handle firearms.
“The goal was to create a set of standards,” Bolding said.
The new edition of the driver’s manual, published about a month ago, advises drivers with guns to keep their hands on the steering wheel during traffic stops and tell officers right away that there’s a firearm in the car.
It also tells drivers not to reach for anything inside the vehicle without getting permission first. And officers can take possession of guns, for safety reasons, until the stop is completed. The firearms would be returned if no crime has been committed.
“For safety reasons.” And lawmakers and judges are just stupid enough to think there is something to that. Safety first, we are all taught to believe. But if that’s true, if this was all being done for safety, LEOs would never, ever actually touch another person’s gun.
That is the stupidest thing I can possibly imagine. It risks negligent discharges, as well as misunderstandings. A LEO cannot possibly know what he’s attempting to pick up – a semi-automatic, a pistol caliber carbine, a revolver, a double action semi-automatic, a round chambered or not, a 1911 with a traditional safety, safety on, safety off, a grip (beaver tail) safety, no safety at all, pistols with owner modifications, pistols with light trigger pull modifications, and on and on the list goes.
The author of this policy decision is an idiot. This does nothing to ameliorate risk, it only increases it, and for no good reason. If a gun owner informs a LEO that he has a firearm because that’s what the law stipulates, he isn’t the kind of person who will harm the officer with a firearm in contravention of an even greater law against murder. A criminal will wait until there is no other option, and he won’t inform the LEO that he has a firearm.
This is simply myth-making on the part of LEOs. Here is some advice for gun owners and LEOs as well. Leave the gun alone. Don’t handle the gun. Don’t touch the gun. Not anyone. Don’t touch the gun. Don’t touch the gun. Don’t handle the gun. Don’t touch the gun.
Understand?
