Dealing with the Police

[tallgeese]

Now seeing beast's post pop up, I'll second that. The trunk is safer even than a bag up front due to what's called "arm's reach". It's easier to justify the search of a vehicles cab than the trunk.

Still, you should be fine either way. Just make sure they aren't prohibited weapons and don't give cops and excuse to searh your car if you can help it. If they do, don't lie about what's in it. It only makes things worse when they find qustionable items.

[Traymond]

Yeah, the real problem is when you have to move from state to state for tournaments, like I have to go to Ohio once a year, and then I have to go to Florida twice a year, those are just the mandatories that I go to...there are other small ones in Wisconsin and Alabama as well, not to mention I'm gonna try to go to canada this year for a tournament as well...but I dont think I have seen anyone from Canada on here yet.

[Ozpunker]

I heard a story from one of our Senseis that a few years ago on the way home from a grading where they performed a weapons demonstration they got pulled over by the police.. I forget what the reason was but the cop was giving them a hard time and asked to look in the trunk. They opened it up to show, sais, kamas, swords and nunchuku.... The cop just shut the trunk and told them that they could go.... I think he may actually have been a little scarred. lol.

[Rateh]

Surprisingly I asked a similar question to a police officer last wednesday. I had gotten a ticket (for something completely unrelated, and did not have any martial arts weapons in the car) and was at traffic school.

The issue of conceled weapons and whether or not you have to tell the officer you have them, came up. (specifically people were talking about guns).

I asked what if I got pulled over and had my nunchuku in the back seat, would I have to tell the officer? (I just chose a weapon at random that I might actually have).

He said no, I didn't have to, and I didn't need to. Because, he said, I would have to be very close to him with it to use it....as compared to a gun. He said that if I had to get out of my car for some reason, and I had them tucked in the back of my pants, that I should tell, but didn't have to. Should because as he put it "I might get a gun in my ear" when a cop saw it.

I also found out that in my state/county/city it is legal to carry around a gun, so long as it isn't conceled or loaded. He said that walking around with a gun in a holster in the grocery store, while legal, would probably get a lot of 911 calls, so he didn't advice it.

[Traymond]

Thanks for all the replies. I will try and look more deeper into all the clauses and laws that my state and county have. Im sure I can move some stuff around with a cunning tongue, haha.

[Daisho]

due to NY's laws regarding weapons, my dojo was forced to move into NJ, as you might know katana is a major part of our training.

I've had conversations with police before regarding the issue, and did not hold back how ridiculous I thought it was that they bothered to enforce those laws.

Most armed robberies take place with knives and guns, not people who've spent $800+ on a katana. We use them every class, we know how extremely deadly they can be, and we know the level of danger we must be in to ever think of unsheathing it outside the dojo.

The reason the law drives me so crazy is that there is no law stopping people from carrying torque wrenches, or pipes in public. Someone wielding a torque wrench with the intent to injure is going to do every bit as much damage as he would if he was armed with a katana or any other weapon for that matter.

I had spent a year in Italy back in 2003 and spoke with my cousin who is Carebineri (the armed police you see on the street), and he talked about how someone would have to be nuts to mug someone in the neighborhood I was staying in, considering there is three dojo's all on the strip that heavily train with weapons. There's always people on the street going to train, or leaving, or even grabbing a bite to eat after class. He also said he couldn't remember a single incident in a MA having to be prosecuted for assault.

I was on the subway about 3 years back when a group of youths mugged a guy a few seats away from me. Now, I wasn't on my way to the dojo, and was outnumbered 4 to 1, but had I been sitting there with a katana in my lap, I seriously doubt anyone would've gotten out of line at all.

[Traymond]

Even if you had just a jo with you, I doubt it would have gotten to far out of line.

But not to sound like a bakka, or to make you feel like a bakka...just for clarity. Isn't a concept of Aikido to think of all your opponents as one no matter the number?.

And I once trained in a brand new school in Columbia South Carolina, but the school had to move to charleston South Carolina, because of the Kama law, or so we called it. Its a law stating that in Columbia you cannot have hand sickles on your person. So little to say that would not work out, since My teacher specialized in the Kama and the Sai only. So we had to move.

[Kuma]

I think the best thing to do would be to transport them in your trunk, they can't search without probable cause.

If you do have them in your backseat keep them out in the open where if you do get pulled over the officer can see them ( they are no longer concealed ) then when he asks about them you can explain the situation.

I'm by no means an expert on law but this just sounds logical to me.

Speaking from my own law enforcement background (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania), I'd say this is the best bet. On average, I rarely go into the trunk of anyone's vehicle during a traffic stop. If you don't have a trunk (i.e. SUV-type vehicle), just keep them in a bag.