Re: are you required to exit vehicle if asked by cops
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Jethro3898</div><div class="ubbcode-body">For what it's worth, I rode a long with a deputy sheriff in Florida maybe 7 or 8 years ago and he was performing what he called drug interdiction along I-10. It was very interesting to do the ride-along and I learned a lot about what our men in uniform go through.
One thing I found interesting was that he said that he had to ask permission to search a person's vehicle. He could pull them over for just about any legitimate reason, but they had to agree to a search. He said that if they told him no that he had to let them go. I don't know if the law was changed since since then, but he said that was the rules he had to abide by. I asked him if there were ever reasons when he could search without permission and he said that there was, but that it had to be blatant (i.e. visible drugs or drug paraphernalia, <span style="color: #FF0000">visible weapons</span>, open container, etc.), or there had to be a notification out to law enforcement to look for a certain vehicle make/model for some reason or another.
I know this is a little different from the specific question you asked, but I would think that if the law hasn't been changed, that it would be similar to the situation in question.
That being said, I've always looked at it like: I'm doing nothing wrong, so I have nothing to hide. The last thing I would want to do is make an officer believe I'm giving him crap. Their jobs are hard enough as it is. </div></div>
Having a weapon visible in the vehicle justify a search based on probable cause?
That seems a little invasive being that it is legal to own firearms here in the states. But I understand that officers make assessments and act accordingly for their own safety.
This happened to me a while back:
I was pulled over for "cheating" (about 9 mph over give or take) on my speed while coming back from the range with a sks, along with other rifles in cases, clearly visible sitting in the back seat. The officer saw them and asked me to exit the vehicle, then proceeded asked me about the weapons. I explained where I was coming from and that was it. Oddly enough, he didn't ask to search my vehicle. But would he have needed permission being that the weapons were visible? He told me to stay to the rear of my vehicle until he issued me a warning on my speed and I was on my way. Maybe I was just lucky that day.