MY OPINION ONLY: THE HILLSBOROUGH SO. WAS RIGHT & WRONG. THE GUY WITH 3 PISTOLS & ONE LONG GUN WAS/IS DUMB!!
BEING A LIFE TIME NRA MEMBER, IF YOU HAVE NO ISSUES WITH BACKGROUND, THEN JUST GET A CCW. BUT STILL WHY IN THE HELL WOULD YOU PUT YOURSELF IN SUCH A STUPID POSITION??? HSO WAS RIGHT TO WHEN IN DOUBT HOOKUP UNTIL PROVEN NOT NECESSARY. HOW STUPID WOULD ANYONE DRIVE AROUND IN TRAFFIC WITH LOADED LONG GUN KNOWING THAT IF YOUR IN A ACCIDENT THAT GUN WILL NO LONGER BE ON THE BACK SEAT FOR SURE, AND IF YOUR KNOCKED OUT SOMEONE OF THE CRIMINAL NATURE WILL AT LEAST STEAL THAT RIFLE/SHOTGUN, INSTANTLY AND WHEN IF YOU WAKE UP NOW YOUR GUN IS GONE YOUR POSSIBLY IN BIG TROUBLE AND ALL FOR WHAT STUPID REASON???? I WAS TAUGHT AT 9 YRS OLD; ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED, NEVER POINT AT ANYTHING YOUR NOT TRYING TO SHOOT, NEVER SHOOT UNLESS YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT & WHERE YOUR BULLET IS GOING STOP, ALWAYS BE CONSIDERATE OF OTHER SHOOTERS, HUNTERS, LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, NICE GOES MUCH FARTHER THAN JACK ASS, NEVER EVER KEEP ANY WEAPON IN SUCH A STATE THAT WILL CAUSE PAUSE TO THE OFFICERS WHO ARE THERE TO HELP YOU. YES THERE ARE SOME COP ASS HATS BUT SAME GOES WITH PREACHERS, TEACHERS, DRIVERS PILOTS YADDA YADDA………DON’T YOU BE ONE……
I HAVE BEEN STOPPED SEVERAL TIMES, EQUIPMENT ISSUES, EVEN TO FAST, BUT WHEN THE OFFICER COMES TO MY WINDOW I HAND HIM MY DL, MY CCW, INS, AND TAG INFO, KEEPING MY HANDS ON THE WHEEL……….ALWAYS ENDED WITH KIND WORDS, LOOKING AT EACH OTHERS WEAPONS, LIES WAR STORIES, AND OF COURSE BEING A FORMER USMC PILOT, OFFICER, DISABLED VETERAN, IT ALWAYS GOES EXTREMELY WELL, NO CUFFS, NO WORRIES, NO ONE UPSET, PUT YOURSELF IN THE OTHER PERSONS POSITION, THE ALL ARE PEOPLE SHOW KINDNESS ALWAYS……….FLORIDA CARRY IS A GREAT GROUP AND WILL ALWAYS TEACH IF YOU ARE WILLING TO LEARN, ALL THIS IN MY HUMBLE OPINION…….SEMPER FI

Hey Andy, lost all your friends on HCSO a while ago, huh? At least that’s my guess. Or never had any? Ask yourself why and this post could be very short. But I digress…as they say.

After watching the video my first thought (after hearing your first comment (“gimme the anger face.”) Really Andy? Where I come from (Albany, N.Y. area) Most gun store owners were great friends of the local police for many reasons. Among them…cops need a dependable place to buy their Off Duty firearms as well as someone to service them. Also, if as an LEO. you buy something that needs to be sent to an FFL holder, this is handy. The other side of the coin…the cops pay particular attention during operating hours and afterward as gun stores are a common target of burglaries. And whatever other little “favors” they can do for the business owner.
As far as the post, I agree with Capt. August USMC (Retired). It was kind of a dumb thing to do. He was in violation of Florida gun laws, so agree with them or have them changed, Andy. No sissy-like “angry faces.” The Tweet was premature, inaccurate and unnecessary made by a PIO for political clout. Get over it. It’s gone.

Yes, I was in LE for 35 years and can state unequivocally, that most LEO’s (certainly not ALL-every profession has it’s black sheep) always weigh gun possession charges carefully before making it an arrest situation. They will look at the “technical” statutes and whether the “carry” was legal or illegal by FSS. Then they would talk with the offender and see what his reasons were and get a general idea of what he was thinking that caused him to clearly violate the law. Then they talk and make a decison. Is this a good arrest, or a situation that has a better resolution that does not involve physical arrest. Also, if the guy was a “dick”, no question, its handcuff time. If the guy offered no good reason or lied, it’s handcuff time. If he was honest, any reasonable story would have had him on his way, or at the worst, had his guns confiscated until whatever needed substantiation, could be dealt with.

The bottom line, most cops I ever worked with and knew are pro-guns and 2nd Amendment. That doesn’t mean they will give a pass to some knucklehead who can’t explain why he knowingly broke the law. Or…unknowingly, which is still the responsibility of the possessor of the firearm.

So Andy, please. Talk to the officers if you can, or their supervisor, or the PIO who put the tweet out. Or the fucking Sheriff! Someone in charge. And see if you can’t get a good reason from any of them why this happened. If you get the runaround or jerked around, then we can begin with the “angry faces.” Stop putting cops on the wrong side of private gun ownership. That is just very untrue, and unfair.