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My wife gets pulled over by a LEO for speeding and is driving. I am in the passenger seat and am carrying. Should I let the LEO know? I know I would if I were driving, but I hate to drive and my wife likes to, so probem solved. Problem is she is prone to lead foot syndrome so this is a realistic scenario for me.

Only if you're ID'ed.

My wife drives the same way in her little sports car, but I'm rarely a passenger. If that scenario were to occur, she has her CHL and she would present it along with her DL. When asked, she will respond that she is not carrying since she never does (someday she will), and leave it at that. There's no reason to bring up the status of the passenger (me) who is carrying. I see no point in brining up an issue if its not germane to the incident.

Would be interesting to hear from a LEO on this, but, if I'm in this situation, I'm likely to volunteer my CHL. It depends on the tone of the stop though.... If the officer is relaxed and it all seems routine, vs. getting stopped by someone who's "having a bad day"...

3 reasons to volunteer it..

1. It avoids possible problems later.... Officer sees it or decides to ask you later, whatever
2. A CHL is proof of a clean criminal record. Maybe does nothing in a traffic stop, but, doesn't hurt.
3. Courtesy... Cops have a thankless enough job... "Officer, I have a CHL and I'm carrying a weapon". If I'm a LEO, I'd appreciate knowing...

RoyGBiv wrote:Would be interesting to hear from a LEO on this

the 1st respondent is a LEO

gigag04 wrote:Only if you're ID'ed.

and gives the right answer.
by law, you only have to divulge that if asked for an ID
If you are not asked, why 'scare' the cop, if he is not thrilled with the fact that a passenger in the car has a weapon.
All that does, in my mind, is says "ok, you get out of the car, let me see your ID's and where is your gun BUT DONT TOUCH IT, I WILL GET IT OUT" from the cop.
No reason to cause issues
If you are thinking "let me show him/her my ID, maybe my wife won't get a ticket", while that possibly (but not likely in my mind) be true, it would probably cause more grief than good

If the LEO wants to know he'll ask. Why distract him by answering questions he didn't ask?

Teamless wrote:

RoyGBiv wrote:Would be interesting to hear from a LEO on this

the 1st respondent is a LEO

gigag04 wrote:Only if you're ID'ed.

and gives the right answer.
by law, you only have to divulge that if asked for an ID
If you are not asked, why 'scare' the cop, if he is not thrilled with the fact that a passenger in the car has a weapon.
All that does, in my mind, is says "ok, you get out of the car, let me see your ID's and where is your gun BUT DONT TOUCH IT, I WILL GET IT OUT" from the cop.
No reason to cause issues
If you are thinking "let me show him/her my ID, maybe my wife won't get a ticket", while that possibly (but not likely in my mind) be true, it would probably cause more grief than good

Don't want to highjack the thread, but when and why would a passenger be required to show ID. I may be under the false impression that I am not required to provide ID unless I am under some sort of suspicion of violating a law which I wouldn't be doing sitting in a car stopped for the driver speeding.???

puma guy wrote:Don't want to highjack the thread, but when and why would a passenger be required to show ID. I may be under the false impression that I am not required to provide ID unless I am under some sort of suspicion of violating a law which I wouldn't be doing sitting in a car stopped for the driver speeding.???

If you don't have a CHL, you're not required to show ID, but I believe you do have to give your name and some other information if a cop asks. You're right that a cop is not likely to ask passengers for ID. I haven't ever seen it as a driver or passenger, but it could happen if there's suspicion of some other crime, like you said. I think there was a story a while back about a passenger getting busted for PI, for example.

puma guy wrote:I may be under the false impression that I am not required to provide ID unless I am under some sort of suspicion of violating a law which I wouldn't be doing sitting in a car stopped for the driver speeding.???

This is mostly true, but depends on the officer having an articulable reason to suspect that you are party to some greater offense than violation of the traffic code (ie drug offenses, weapons in the back seat, burglary tools, commonly stolen property, suspicious clothing like masks, gloves...

I know someone will chime in with "I have many of those things in my vehicle." It doesn't take too much rocket science to discern a hard working man from a car/bldg burglar. We recover lots of stolen property and return it to the owners from traffic stops like this.

But...the short answer...usually a passenger is not required to ID themselves. It does make things easier though. Whatever you do, don't give a false name because you will get caught and get arrested (Class B Misdemeanor).

Tamie wrote:If the LEO wants to know he'll ask. Why distract him by answering questions he didn't ask?

This. In a traffic situation, you're not the primary. The officer isn't interested in you, beyond keeping an eye on you for safety. If he asks for ID, you are compelled to give him your CHL if you're carrying.
So if he asks either for ID, or if you've got a weapon, sure.
Even if he just asks you questions without asking for ID, telling him you're a CHL holder will just muddy the waters. He's the cop, let him ask the questions.

How about if the officer asks the question "do you have any weapons in the vehicle?"

If the driver doesn't know the passenger is carrying, does the passenger speak up and offer the CHL?

What about if the driver does know the passenger is carrying?

{since we're waxing theoretical here :) }

Waco Kid wrote:does the passenger speak up and offer the CHL?

if the CHL holder hears the question, in that case, then if I am him, I will answer, "I am a CHL holder and carrying"

Can I throw some more wax
it seems that more and more troopers are pulling off the road and approaching the passenger side in the name of safety for him/he as well as the occupants of the vehicle.
So if he comes to the passenger side and your the passenger with a concealed item.
one would think in the name of safety he would ask the passenger if the have a firearm or chl as he is now very close proximity to the passenger as the driver hands over their dl and insurance card


me myself and I, as the passenger in this situation, would feel better letting the officer know i was carrying
it makes me feel safer
and i am sure it would the trooper as well as he is standing right next to me....and my firearm would be close to the passenger door out of sight in its holster.

They have a thankless job and there are rotten ones out there, but on the side of the road is not the place IMO to be weeding out the bad ones

gigag04 wrote:

puma guy wrote:I may be under the false impression that I am not required to provide ID unless I am under some sort of suspicion of violating a law which I wouldn't be doing sitting in a car stopped for the driver speeding.???

This is mostly true, but depends on the officer having an articulable reason to suspect that you are party to some greater offense than violation of the traffic code (ie drug offenses, weapons in the back seat, burglary tools, commonly stolen property, suspicious clothing like masks, gloves...

I know someone will chime in with "I have many of those things in my vehicle." It doesn't take too much rocket science to discern a hard working man from a car/bldg burglar. We recover lots of stolen property and return it to the owners from traffic stops like this.

But...the short answer...usually a passenger is not required to ID themselves. It does make things easier though. Whatever you do, don't give a false name because you will get caught and get arrested (Class B Misdemeanor).

I'm with (LEO) GigAg on this one. You are not required to identify yourself unless you (not the driver) are "detained". In order to "detain" you the LEO must have a Reasonable Articulable Suspicion ("RAS") that you are "party to some ... offense". You are generally not detained just because the person you're riding with was pulled over, unless the RAS exists with respect to you. If you are carrying and have a CHL and the LEO asks you for ID, you are required by law to produce your ID and CHL. There is no penalty for failing to do so. However, if LEO asked you for ID and had RAS that you were carrying (bulge...or whatever), he may then detain you...his RAS is that you are UCW (46.02) because you didn't produce CHL. At that point you still have the right to remain silent. You may be arrested for UCW. If you had your CHL on you, and the State couldn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you didn't, then you wouldn't be convicted, but you would take the proverbial "ride".

As GigAg points out, if you are not carrying and asked for ID you are under no obligation to produce or verbally (...yeah...yeah..ORALLY) provide one. However, if you are lawfully detained or arrested, and you provide a false name, you may be guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

I think a small percentage of CHLers are just dying to be asked for I.D. by an LEO and if not asked, they'll go out of their way to proudly volunteer it - that's kinda lame...

Relax - If an LEO asked you for I.D. show them - if not, chill, you won't get in trouble later for not volunteering your CHL status.

Police are stressed enough keeping up with that they choose to look into without Bubba interrupting them to proudly display his CHL status.