Unfettered Might
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Actually, I've stopped not one but two LEOs on a power trip by KNOWING the laws. It works more in your favor when you can recite them from memory and not read them from a piece of paper.
First one was a Sheriff's deputy during a traffic stop for speeding, he tried to tell me OC wasn't legal in my state and that carrying a firearm in my glove box was concealed carry, on both points he was very wrong. I told him that he had better contact his CO because he was getting real close to legal and financial trouble. He looked at me for a second, radioed in and I went home that night with my speeding citation.
Second time was a police officer that tried to perform a terry stop on me simply for carrying a firearm. See in my state, some courthouses you can OC in and some you cannot. I walked up to poke my head in and ask (gun is still outside the building so no law broken), well two sheriff's deputies and one police officer walked out side and told me I had to take it back to my car. They even tried to say I couldn't even bring it on the property. It doesn't work that way, the law plainly states "building". But since this was the type of courthouse I couldn't carry in, I took it back to my car.
Well on my way back, the police officer stops me and immediately starts putting his hands in my pockets. Well I immediately told him to get his hand out of my pocket now, that he cannot search me.
He says, "I'll take you in front of a judge right now that will tell you I can."
To which I responded, "What your trying to do is a Terry stop which only allows you to frisk the outside of my clothes for things that feel like a weapon, then and only then can you reach into the pocket to see if it is a weapon. Further, the Supreme Court ruled that the simple carrying of a firearm, without other evidence that I have committed or am about to commit a crime, does not provide you the authority to even perform the stop." The look on his face was PRICELESS.
Why? Because I sounded like a lawyer and he didn't know the specifics of the law, most of them don't.
At that point he let me go in. After I walked through the metal detector I asked him, "Why were you even trying to search me?" His reply, "I didn't know if you had stuck it back into your pocket(Taurus PT92 in jeans...right) or had other weapons." I pointed to the metal detector and said, "I still had to pass through this didn't I?" He really felt foolish then, but obviously did not bother me further.
If you remind a LEO that the Supreme court has ruled that they themselves are responsible for deprivation of rights under color of law, they will listen. Because they know that they can continue if they want, but if your right, all that power means nothing in front of a judge compelled by law to rule in your favor and the money's coming out of the LEOs pocket. People listen when you subtly threaten their pocketbook.
If you cannot take the time to educate yourself on your local laws and the Federal laws that could potentially apply to a situation, then you set yourself up to be railroaded and bullied. Sad to say, but it's true.
So yes, knowing the law and knowing what your doing and saying the right thing at the right time makes all the difference in the world.
