Walk It Through: The Stop on the Highway
A night stop with a license on a phone, an insurance card left at home, and a handgun in the console.
At night on a highway, a trooper's lights come on behind a driver with a taillight out. The trooper asks for a license.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
A highway stop with a lawful handgun in the console. A search after an arrest, a stop that turns into an impaired driving case, and a driver barred from having firearms are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Carrying without a licenseThe exemption that lets someone not barred from a class 2 license, holding a valid driver's license or ID, carry a firearm concealed.
- Noncriminal offenseAn offense answered with a fee rather than a criminal sentence, as for not telling an asking officer about a concealed firearm, with a $20 fee.
- Class 2 firearm and dangerous weapon licenseThe license for those 18 and older that takes the open book test of the class 1 license.