Traffic Stop while carrying a firearm.

I get questions about this allot from newbies who just got their LTC or from curious friends/family who don't carry but know I do:

If I am carrying and I get pulled over, am I obligated to tell the cop that I am carrying a gun?

Not in my state (MA). Being pulled over for a traffic violation has nothing to do with carrying and there is no law requiring me to tell the officer that I have a weapon.

Some states may require you to tell the officer. Check your state laws if you live outside of MA.

What about as a courtesy to the officer?

I have been carrying for over 10 years. In that time I have been pulled over a few times. I have never told the officer that I was carrying and he never asked or "found out". Its not that I want to hide anything from the officer, I just feel that telling the cop that I have a gun could unnecessarily escalate the situation. My own personal policy is that I will not tell the officer I have a gun unless I am asked to exit my vehicle or if the officer decides that he has some probable cause to search my vehicle. Neither situation has ever happened to me while I was carrying a weapon. As for courtesy to the officer, I turn on my interior lights if its night and I don't reach for my registration or license until the officer asks for it so that he can watch me (and can see that I am not reaching for a weapon). I also speak to the officer in a respectful tone (as I would anyone). Thats it.

In Massachusetts I am REQUIRED to carry concealed (ie, no "open" carry) in my vehicle. Concealed means that no one should be able to see your weapon or be able to figure out that you have one in any way. This also means that I should not have a firearm "in plain sight" anywhere in my vehicle. Since the cop can't see that I have a gun, I don't tell him.

I should mention that I have recently read about this topic on the masscops forum. There were cops there that stated that they appreciate it when the person they pull over tells them if they are carrying. They say that they see it as a good jesture. But, some of those same cops mentioned that if you do disclose that you are carrying, that you should be prepared for the possibility that some officers may be more stern or even take your firearm for the duration of the stop. It was also mentioned that the firearm may be unloaded by the officer and put in your trunk! This is exactly the "escalation" that I want to avoid.

A sticky Rear Takedown Pin

I have found the Rear Takedown Pin (RTP) on my new AR15 lower receiver to be a bit hard to engage and disengage. It seemed to “stick” at either the fully engaged or fully disengaged positions. One day recently, I disengaged the RTP and removed the upper receiver. When I tried to push the RTP back into the detached lower receiver, it would not budge. Hmmmm.

The RTP has a slot along its shaft. A small spring loaded retainer pin that keeps the RTP from coming completely out of the lower receiver rides in the slot. At either end of the slot there is a small shallow hole with a smaller diameter than the retainer pin. The slightly rounded end of the retainer pin conveniently helps hold the Takedown Pin in position when in contact with the holes.



I removed the stock to retrieve the retainer pin spring and the retainer pin itself. I found that the retainer pin had a stub at the end instead of a smooth rounded surface (see photo). It was almost like the pin came on a “tree” (think how plastic model parts come) and each one is snapped off the tree before its installed. This may not be the case; it just describes what the abnormality looked like.



I used my Dremel tool to grind off the “tree stub”. Then I put the pin in the Dremel to spin it against a fine polishing stone to smooth a slightly rounded end on the pin. Once satisfied, I reinstalled the Retaining Pin and found that the takedown pin no longer stuck at the ends of its travel. Whalla!

What IS Ham Radio?

Ham Radio is the slang term for the Amateur Radio Service. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says "The amateur [radio] services are for qualified persons of any age who are interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest."

Here is my own brief explanation:

Ham radio operators are known for helping in emergencies. They bridge the communication gaps when catastrophe strikes. When a hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, terrorist attack or whatever disrupts the communications of the authorities, ham radio operators step-up to keep the lifesaving communications going in times of disaster. When hams are not helping with emergencies, they communicate with each other just for the fun of it!

Many people that I have met on the air (radio) have become life-long friends. I can talk to ham radio operators in my own town or all around the world. One of the coolest things that I have ever done on the radio is talk to Astronauts and Cosmonauts in the International Space Station (ISS). Hams are the only people authorized to make contact with the space station besides NASA!

HOW TO BE A HAM:
To be a Amateur "Ham" Radio Operator, you have to obtain a license from the FCC. The license will give you a unique letter/number sequence called a "call sign" to use to identify your radio station. My call sign is NX1Z. To get the license, you have to take a test. There are 3 license levels and each one has a progressively harder test. The entry level license is the "Technician Class" license. The intermediate license is called "general Class" and the highest license in the Amateur Radio Service is the "Extra Class". Each test consists of questions about the rules of operating radio , some basic electronics theory and some radio theory. You should know that there are elementary school students that have passed all of these tests.

I may edit this post in the future to be a bit more informative.
For now, if you are interested go to the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) website at www.arrl.org

The ARRL is like the NRA of Ham Radio.