Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

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OHBandit
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Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by OHBandit »

I fish Lake Erie often and was up for 4 days this past weekend. To set the stage I own my boat it's a 22 foot open center console fishing boat and fully rigged with all the bells and whistles for walleye fishing Lake Erie.

On Friday afternoon my dad and I set out for some afternoon walleye fishing. Like always we were both carrying Glock 43's IWB. While 5 miles into our run to the fishing spot we were running up the east side of Kellys Island. I happen to look over my right shoulder and noticed the Coast Guard boat. Upon another look I noticed their blue lights were on. Seeing as we were the only boat in sight I figured we were getting stopped for a routine inspection. I throttle back and turn my engine off. Coasties pull up along side us and ask if I have ever been boarded by CG and I reply no sir. He instructed that they were going to board us. At this point I notify them that we have conceal carry permits and that we both are carrying. They ask where the guns were and we tell them. They next say to keep our hand away from our weapons and that they would need to disarm us while doing the inspection.

They proceed to take our guns off our persons, unload them and hold them on the CG boat. They asked to see my drivers license and I show them. I asked if he wanted my CCW and he said no but I showed him anyway. The rest was just making sure I had all the required safety equipment as I did. He gave me a copy of the report that stated No Violations and said to hold on to it in case I was stopped in the near future where as I could just present the document and not have to go thru another inspection. At the end they placed our Glocks back on my baot and ask that we not handle them until they were away from us.
Overall they were very friendly and pleasant to deal with. My only problem and question is with the fact that they disarmed us during the inspection. I have been stopped in the past by local LE and several times by ODNR (game warden) and never been asked to have my gun removed. Would like to hear your thoughts and comments in regards to this.
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Mr. Glock
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by Mr. Glock »

That is perfectly legal.
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Bama.45
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by Bama.45 »

Yep, Coast Guard has a lot of legal leeway.
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OHBandit
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by OHBandit »

Don't get me wrong, it was a very pleasant experience with the CG.
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by tbrew85 »

OHBandit wrote:Don't get me wrong, it was a very pleasant experience with the CG.
Don't know that I would call being randomly stopped and boarded a "pleasant experience" but it is good to hear that they (and you and your crew) were professional and courteous about it.
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by TJW815 »

i have a buddy that patrols Lake Erie with the coast Guard. As I always tell him. Gots to be careful of those invading Canadians and that delicious Canadian brew.

He actually has caught quite a bit of contraband going back and forth. Mostly drugs. Some guns. LOTS of beer.
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by Brian D. »

I don't go along with this whole disarm/unload/take custody of guns thing because it involves lots of (arguably) needless handling of same. Boys and girls, what do ALL negligent discharge incidents have in common? Answer: The firearms were being handled when they went BANG.

Do Coast Guard personnel, or the law enforcement community in general, know the manual of arms for safely handling and unloading the wide variety of guns they might encounter ? My experience says a big fat heck no. Not in a detainment or arrest situation but rather over a long time as a shooter/range officer/match director I've put this to the test on occasion, my big fat no isn't just a guess.

But that lack of knowledge wouldn't deter an LEO whose ego superceded his education. And the older I get the worse any "but it's for officer safety" bullpuckey sounds to my ears.
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by WestonDon »

^^Agree with everything you said Brian. Add to that there is absolutely NO legitimate purpose served by doing so. None. Zip. Nada. Zilch.
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by Brian D. »

Don, Jedi and I exchanged PMs on this topic which further bolstered my admittedly sour take on the matter. After my retirement from emergency service work I will share more with the entire OFCC class.
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wkdravenna
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by wkdravenna »

If you ever need a deck hand I am in Toledo / Port Clinton and Sandusky. :D
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by JediSkipdogg »

Brian D. wrote:Don, Jedi and I exchanged PMs on this topic which further bolstered my admittedly sour take on the matter. After my retirement from emergency service work I will share more with the entire OFCC class.
Ditto....me too. I just have about 22 more years if I stick with Ohio. So it may be a while for all of my stories. Come to a meet and greet, or one of our events that I'll be at and I'll gladly tell more stories in person.
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by Javelin Man »

I would ask him to point my Keltec in a safe direction and that he has to decock the hammer. Careful as you pull the trigger while you are reaching for the hammer!
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by steves 50de »

Javelin Man wrote:I would ask him to point my Keltec in a safe direction and that he has to decock the hammer. Careful as you pull the trigger while you are reaching for the hammer!
I wonder how it would go over if you refused to let them touch the gun and pointed out why you have concerns.
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by JediSkipdogg »

steves 50de wrote:
Javelin Man wrote:I would ask him to point my Keltec in a safe direction and that he has to decock the hammer. Careful as you pull the trigger while you are reaching for the hammer!
I wonder how it would go over if you refused to let them touch the gun and pointed out why you have concerns.
Probably the same way as a police officer. Sir, put your hands in the air while I remove your gun. If you refuse, you will be arrested for obstructing official business and the handgun will be removed then.

The best one can do is ask if they can remove the gun without a full grip and hand it to them pointed in a safe direction.
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Re: Lake Erie Coast Guard Encounter

Post by Mr. Glock »

JediSkipdogg wrote:
steves 50de wrote:
Javelin Man wrote:I would ask him to point my Keltec in a safe direction and that he has to decock the hammer. Careful as you pull the trigger while you are reaching for the hammer!
I wonder how it would go over if you refused to let them touch the gun and pointed out why you have concerns.
Probably the same way as a police officer. Sir, put your hands in the air while I remove your gun. If you refuse, you will be arrested for obstructing official business and the handgun will be removed then.

The best one can do is ask if they can remove the gun without a full grip and hand it to them pointed in a safe direction.
I have notified twice in the last ten years, but never has an LEO asked to take my gun. In the case where they ask to take/hold the gun, I plan to say "Absolutely, it is (wherever it is). Would you like to remove it or would you like me to hand it to you in some fashion? After the answer, Officer, are you familiar with a Glock etc and how the safeties operate? I just want to be sure we handle firearms safely.

And, all, feel free to tear that approach apart if it is stupid or incomplete (although we are alongside the road and this is thus not a law school class).

Frankly, any LEO who takes a CHL gun takes an ND risk. I don't want to be the one who gets shot though.
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