I got a visit from local police department

[scrat]

Just like the thread says. My parents were over tonight. Then we were about to eat when there was a knock at the door. A police officer was at the door. Asked if i was Scott. Said yep. he asked if i can come outside. Said ok

Then i went outside outside he said that someone made a complaint at the station and the sgt told him to go check it out. Said that someone said that i make ammuniton on weekends. I looked at him and said ok. SO

I said i do make ammo for myself. WHY

he said because someone complained that it smells when i make ammo. I looked at him and said thats impossible. He asked me if i kept the stuff here. i said yes. i have i think 4 or 5 bottles of powder. He asked how big. i said a pound. OR less now. I said come on inside i will show you.

he came in i went to the hall closet. opened it up pulled a bottle out. opened it. Said does this smell to you. He laughed and said. No. he said he was just doing his job. He had to see. He asked if that was all i had. I said yes. then he asked me for my id so he can do his paperwork.


Now by that time my mom was ready to flip seeing a police officer in the house.
When he left i had to reassure her that it was totally legal to load ammunition.

So now my question.
1st who told him. Both my neighbors know i reload. I even went shooting with one of them.

2nd What is the legal limits of how much powder or ammo you can have at your place of residence. i live in Southern California los angeles county.

 

[Geno]

Officer: Can you come outside?

You: No, I'm eating. Come back when you have a warrant. Have a nice evening.

Me: In all due respect, you messed up. Don't let LEO status rattle you. Check the fire department Re: local storage laws & quantities allowed, etc.

Doc2005

 

[brentn]

I can't inform you of your state laws on powder storage requirements, but I can mention that what you went through is totall BS.

It should be a CRIME to falsley report a problem with a civillian in which there is no problem. The hassle that you went through was marginal, but it could have been alot worse.
Here in canada, if someone, ANYONE, reports that you are crazy and have guns swat will knock down your door and your firearms are siezed. Keep in mind that i've seen it happen to perfectly legal people with completley legal storage of their firearms. The person to call the police is usually an angry spouse.
So here you are, a year without your firearms because your ex girlfriend or spouse doesn't like you and made up a false story about how you are plotting to kill her/somebody.
In the end when you go to court, have several people back you up that you are perfectly sane, they give your firearms back. Nothing is done about the spouse that reported you, and nothing is done for compensation considering your personal items were siezed for a whole year...
sorry, not trying to hijack this thread, just had to mention how retarded things are legally when it comes to firearms. Don't know if its the same in the states.

With this post however, I think its best to just keep anything firearm related that you do, to yourself. A sad state of affairs that we have to do this, but its just not worth the trouble.

 

[-C4-]

What doc2005 said.

 

[tasco 74]

WOW!! it sucks to be canadian!! an doc was right no leo is comeing into my house to look for anything without a proper search warrant...

 

[scrat]

Now that i think about it i could have not let him in but i didnt really care about what i had as i knew it was not much. Its just sad to think that they could have been doing something else with there time.

 

[magsnubby]

You're a much nicer person than i am. My first question would have been :
"Is it illegal to reload?"
"No?" "
You have a warrant?"
"No?"
"Have a nice day" as i'm shutting the door.

No way i would let an LEO that's on a fishing expedition into my house without a warrant. Especially over some bull squat reason like a someone reported a "smell".

Do i have something to hide? No. But i consider it an invasion of my privacy.

 

[yesit'sloaded]

I bet a neighbor was just being a jerk. I had something similar happen to me. "Anonymous" told the cops I had a junk car in my yard. In truth it is a non street legal autocross car that has never been outside of the garage overnight. Cop comes over and takes one look at the car. $9000 of custom work is hard to mistake for junk. He asked me to crank it up and rev it for him just so he could "be sure" that it was "running". Neighbor loved that, whichever one it was.

 

[Richmond]

vampires

Much like a vampire, an officer cannot come in without an invitation - or a warrant. Hence, the invitation to "step outside".

Although a citizen may be arrested in public without a warrant (there are exceptions), a warrant-less home arrest must pass a higher degree of scrutiny.
A warrant-less arrest is limited to situations where there is consent to enter the home, or where exigent circumstances exist. Even where the interaction begins as a inquiry, the officer wants to control you and remove you from the protection of the home.

This certainly sounds odd, as well as intrusive.

 

[Deavis]

Check with your FD and look up your local statutes. Sounds like it went well all and all. You should call and commend the officer for being professional and courteous to his superior. Write a letter saying the same, include the copies of the regulations you find, and ask that they keep those in mind for future calls.

As far as a warrant and all the big talk, what for? He came by, you let him in, he did his job, and no issues were found. So, nothing to see here people, move along. Flexing is not necessary.

 

[Ed Ames]

Educated guess: The "smell" report was your neighbor trying to set you up as running a meth lab.

 

[joab]

I said come on inside i will show you.

Oh No No No

I like cops I usually defends cops my BIL is a cop, but I never ever never allow them into my house on official business without official paperwork

This worked out well for you and 90% of the time it will work out well, but
what if this was an anti gun cop
What if this was one of those that believe that if there is a complaint there is something to find

You have already stated that yo are unsure of the legal amount of powder that can be stored in a private home, what if you were wrong ?
A 1/4" on a shotgun barrel gets you federal time, what does a 1/4 pound or so of bomb making material get you these days?

I spent 25 years going into peoples homes and can tell you that in the majority of them I could find, without looking, many things that I could turn into probable cause if I was a bad cop

 

[jeepmor]

That's odd, your neighbor is a spineless so and so IMO. I've never been able to call the police with a clean conscience if I haven't made a personal effort to resolve or bring the issue to light person to person first. That said, I've never called the police on anyone.

As for the meth comment, that's pretty valid. No one really wants to confront anyone who is cooking meth. When they are at that level of addiction, volatility and psychosis is well set in.

Seeing a current or former LEO like joab chiming in though, how do you think they would respond if you made them come back with a warrant. They would probably suspect the meth lab and you might be dealing with a SWAT team instead of a polite officer. Tough call on this one considering the meth comment made by another poster. I live in the PNW and meth is a real and big problem here. I think I would have showed them my reloading station, but mine is in the garage, not the interior of the house.

 

[scrat]

my back ground is this. i am no cop. i reload my own ammo and am planning on learning how to load for shotgun. 410 and 12 guage. i shoot at our local range and am trying to really hone in my skills on shooting. i am planning on trying to go competition shooting this summer if i can get good enough. just sillouette shooting and trap shooting. If i can get good enough. it really looks like fun. i want to try it out. So how and why someone would tell the police department i load ammo. What were they thinking that i have 10000 rounds ready to go and 50 lbs of powder. if anything right now i have about 300 empty 30-30 cases and about 5 bottles of powder 2 of which are half full.

 

[Brigrat]

to post #5...monrovia is in California, not Canada...

 

[.38 Special]

To the best of my knowledge, you need a permit to store more than 50 pounds of powder at a private residence. I am not aware of any modifications to that law for California or Los Angeles.

I have no comment about inviting LEOs into your home, etc., but hard experience has taught me to keep my cards very close to my chest when it comes to letting neighbors know about my guns and reloading. Exactly none of my neighbors know I am involved in the game, and I've gone so far as to lie out loud to a fellow who saw my reloading equipment through my open garage door:

"Oh, you're into guns?"

"Used to be, but I don't own any any more. Just haven't gotten around to unbolting this old junk from my workbench."

It's a sad state of affairs, but that's the modern reality.

 

[Roswell 1847]

I had about half a pound of military powder salvaged from some corroded case South American 7.62 NATO cartridges. The powder looked fine, it was a square flake powder.
I stored it in an old IMR powder can sealed with tape.

About a year later An awfull reek flooded the room. I traced it to the drawer where the forgotten can of powder was stored. When I picked up the can the bottom half dissolved into a cloud of fluffy rust. I flushed the mixture of rust and powder down the toilet.
Several steel items in the drawer were deeply rusted as well.
Near as I can remember the odor was much like full strength Ammonia, like old style smelling salts or those med kit poppers they use to revive an unconcious victim.

I've no idea what caused this powder to breakdown like that, it couldn't have been that old. I had to discard the pulled bullets also because the cladding had peeled of the steel jackets.

Thats the only time I've ever encountered an unpleasant smell associated with reloading.

 

[50caliber123]

I think that maybe, just maybe the officer didn't quite know. Gunpowder at the range does smell. I think it sounds like he learned a lesson, maybe he was a fence-sitter of a gun-owner politically. Coming across as cooperative and helpful could be a good thing in this case. Needless to say, I do understand why everyone is concerned that you let him in

 

[scrat]

well im not too sure either. i have nothing to hide. Guns are all locked up. All of them have trigger locks on them. My hand guns are locked in a safe in a locked box with a trigger lock on them. In my living room is just basic. have nothing illegal. i dont do anything illegal. heck thats why i legally own guns

 

[jrobb45]

I'm always surprised when I read this kind of thread of the people who say what they do when police come to their house. I've lived in the same house for 28 years and a police officer has stopped once. He said" the dispatcher(MRS. XXX) wants you to call her, no emergency." I thanked him and he told me to have a good night. I know her and she wanted to talk about the cost of digging a new well. I didn't ask him to get a warrant to talk to me or come on my property.

jr

 

[Crimp]

That sucks. Isn't it possible to find out who filed the complaint? Freedom of information?

If it isn't, it makes me think (uh-oh!). If the complainer can "hide behind" an ability to remain anonymous, then I feel it would be OK to tell the policeman to get a warrant if he wanted to investigate. Otherwise, the best you can end up with is status quo. The worst could be getting arrested for something. Menawhile, the complainer sits back and laughs in any case.

 

[joab]

Seeing a current or former LEO like joab chiming in though

Just to clarify
I am not now nor have I ever been voluntarily associated with any law enforcement agency

jrobb45
Your situation is not the same as a cop showing up to investigate a report of suspicious activity at your home, but it does show a possible misuse of official resources
I also notice that you didn't mention inviting him into your home to discuss well prices

 

[jrobb45]

joab,
He wasn't interested in well prices, the dispatcher was.

jr

 

[Crunker1337]

I think you did fine. As was mentioned already it's a good idea to check with the local FD on how much powder you can keep.
I personally don't know if I'd invite the officer in, but if he seemed like a good guy why not. Just because someone is an LEO doesn't mean that one should assume they want to make trouble for you.

 

[joab]

He wasn't interested in well prices, the dispatcher was.

Did you miss the point?
You didn't invite him in, he didn't ask to come in
On your property is not the same thing as being in

Did you also miss the point about misuse of his position
In this case it was just to run a personal errand for a coworker