This scenario happened a few weeks ago, I am only now getting around to sharing it.I live in a somewhat large city in South Florida. As I’m sure you are aware most of Florida was effected by Hurricane Irma. Although it could have been a lot worse, my area was without power for several days, there were a lot of power lines, trees, and other hazards down. For these reasons a county wide curfew was put into effect from sun up to sun down. Unfortunately, my wife and I were unaware of this curfew on the first night it went into effect. So here’s what happened:After being without power for close to 24 hours we started to go a little stir-crazy. At this point the storm had passed and we received word that a few restaurants had opened up downtown. We decided we would go. I should mention that we live extremely close to the downtown, touristy area (about a 15-minute walk). If you’ve spent any time in South Florida, you are aware that you can be in a great neighborhood one minute and then find yourself in a not so great neighborhood moments later. We live in a safe, desirable neighborhood but in order to get downtown you have to walk through a somewhat questionable area (not the best but far from the worst). Anyways, we walked into town later in the afternoon, had a bite to eat, met with some friends, and lost track of time. It wasn’t until the sun was already setting that we learned about the curfew. The curfew forced the businesses to close so we started our walk home. We make this walk almost daily and have never had a problem. This area I’m am talking about really isn’t so bad, there is just some riffraff that drifts in once in a while.So we are walking home and it is dark at this point. We enter the so-so area and we see several cop cars with lights on ahead. We continue to walk. As we get closer to the officers we see that they are talking with a younger guy who appeared to be pretty cracked out, possibly homeless. I still don’t know what happened, but the conversation between the police and said homeless guy ended with an officer yelling “Get the hell out of here!” he complied. As my wife and I witness this, we also come to the realization that the street ahead of us (the only way home) is pitch black since all of the street lights are out. Not a great feeling. At this point I’m kicking myself for putting us in this situation. Like always I am carrying, but of course I don’t want to have to use my weapon.. ever, if I can avoid it. We decide our best option is to approach the officers. We simply said “Hey there, we live right down the street and are just wondering if it is safe to continue walking this way. We didn’t know about the curfew until it was too late.”They looked around at each other for a minute probably thinking “these idiots” and then one of them spoke up saying “I’d feel a lot better if we just gave you a ride home.” Awesome. At this point I am relieved but also realize it wouldn’t be the best idea to get into the back of a cop car with a loaded firearm. I say “Thank you so much. I have to be up front with you, I have a concealed carry permit. How would you like to proceed?”. I had decided in the past that those are the exact words I would use if ever encountered by a police officer while carrying. I personally think it is wise NOT to use the words weapon, gun, or any other trigger word that could set an officer on edge if he does not properly hear me due to road noise, ect. I should also note that I made it a point to make my hands very visible and nowhere near my weapon as I told the officer this news.The officer simply responded with “That’s fine, are you carrying now?” I told him yes I was. He said “Ok, I’m just going to take the weapon off of you for this ride” I said not a problem and immediately put my arms up higher. He patted my down, asked where my weapon was, I told him it was on my right appendix with a chambered round. He upholstered the weapon and unarmed it. My wife and I climbed into the back on the cop car and off we went, on our way home. We started conversation with the officers and they were as cool as can be. They never asked to see my permit or anything. We pulled into our place, they handed my Glock 43 back and this is the part: the officer says “Thank you for letting us know you were carrying, you handled that situation perfectly. How do you like this Glock? I was thinking of getting one myself.”I’ve always respected the men in blue, but they definitely went up a few notches in my book after that.Next time I will handle the situation “more perfectly” by not allowing myself to get in the situation to begin with.Anything you would have done different? via /r/CCW http://ift.tt/2k9OxkL
