having said that I think it's a dumb law. I don't see what purpose it serves.
The duty to inform came about fairly recently; I think it was thrown into the state laws when a lot of the more recent shall-issue laws were being considered (remember the Florida headlines: "There will be blood in the streets!" - like there wasn't already, given the South Florida cocaine wars that preceded Florida's shall-issue law).
The clause was written in the laws as kind of an appeasement to the nervous nellies in the legislatures (read that however you want) and the media -- "Look, the citizens will have to inform cops they are carrying!" "That way there will be no misunderstandings!" -- as though it makes a difference, as any bad guy or someone otherwise illegally packing, would never volunteer the information.
Washington and Indiana, by far the oldest and original "shall-issue" states, never had a duty to inform.
I understand how the clause got written into the laws. Does it serve a purpose now?
Probably 99% of the time, no. Has it (
rarely) created drama where none should have occurred? Quite possibly (the partner who only hears the word "Gun!" and escalates the encounter, or the rookie who has not yet learned to read a situation and says or does something stupid).
Yes, there will always be the tiny minority of control freaks in the business of policing who may make the encounter far more painful for both sides than need be.
But really, guys, at the end of the day, it's still a fairly benign thing, requiring a citizen to simply state that they are legally carrying a firearm. Some of y'all object solely on principle ("I'm a free 'Merican, dammit, the government doesn't need to know my business") and that's all well and good. But that posture sometimes gets what should be an uneventful encounter turned into a negative, possibly even fatal, situation.
As noted by some members, even in a state with no duty to inform, calmly volunteering the information that you are legally carrying might even make your encounter with your local gendarmerie a bit more pleasant, almost like an unexpected social interaction (the best part would be no citation forthcoming). I get that it's annoying to be pulled over. But I submit that, if everyone is being honest, few among us have ever been pulled over for no reason. I'm accountable. Every single time I've been stopped for a traffic violation (speeding, California stop), I deserved it. I got pulled over once for a headlight out, another time for not having current tabs -- both times, I knew about it, but had procrastinated fixing things.
I dunno. Just another topic in which we're all guilty of way overthinking.
I know, it's our Constitutional right to bear arms, but is having to disclose that fact in the middle of the night to a nervous lone deputy on a country road in the dark woods truly infringing on your rights?