Run in with the cops today...

[confed sailor]

guns at El Cid

Here in sunny Charleston SC for a cadet to have a gun he must go to the public Safety office and register the weapon and/or ammo with the glorified, gun totin' meter maids we call campus police. then, with a police escort, we take the registered weapons and such over to the armory, where they sit and get played with and dry fired by bored master sergeants.

to get these guns back you have to go through the process in reverse.

now granted we have a damn M14 in our rooms, sans firing pin, but thats a 5 min fix.

its frustrating esp trying to keep a musket around for reenacting.


and to ttbadboy, and liquidtension

when my daddy went to clemson (1971) not only did they have their M14's he had a pistol, two rifles and two shotguns. sophomore christmas, he topped a fir with his .308 and got the christmas tree, (ah yes tree hunting)

hell of a note aint it

 

[4v50 Gary]

Gotta find a cadet who will swap a Polytech for a forged M-14. Honest, I'll cut off the full auto shaft. But first, who's got a Polytech cheap?

The campus cops at the Citadel are fully sworn peace officers. I managed to get a patch for a buddy of mine when I was there. The library was terrific too. Too bad I missed out on Friday's Parade of Cadets.

 

[thefitzvh]

"First of all I dang sure wouldn't have allowed ammo in my vehicle with a "welcome' or 'notice me big time' sign on it. There's no reason the ammo couldn't have been placed under the seat, in the trunk (if it's not a truck), etc. You put something like ammo in plain sight you're inviting problems.

Some good ol' common sense needs to be employed at times."


Yes... heaven forbid I should have items that are perfectly legal to own in plain sight...


I already said, I FORGOT it was there.

I was on a dirt parking lot that the campus is using for overflow parking. It's being loaned to the school by the city. It's not even their property.

Not to mention the fact that they were about to conduct an illegal search...


But I guess it's ok, since they were just trying to keep us all safe .

 

[thefitzvh]

Update:


Talked to the cop. He called me to ask me if anyone would play a prank on me for some reason.

Apparently Someone called them and told them of a car with "explosives" in it... Given the school I go to, and the inordinate amount of Liberal Studies and Womens Studies majors, I'd say that's not a stretch. They got there, saw nothing but ammo... toyed with the idea of busting in, and that's about when I showed up. I suppose it would have been legal if they got the info about explosives, although I don't know if I would have had any recourse about the damages.

He said he was sorry, and that if I'd like, I can come make a complaint. I said it wasn't necessary. Far as I'm concerned, if ya come clean and apologize, no harm, no foul.

He also advised me to leave the ammo under the seat as well, so that no one steals it. LOL. Didn't say anything about not being able to have it.

I'm still a little miffed about the slim jim thing, but I guess I understand b/c of the call they got. I don't know if I would react the same or not.

At least he had the balls to apologize. Kudos to him.


Thanks for the info guys. Not sure yet if i'm gonna call the chief. On the one hand, I want to make sure the campus police don't just go around busting into peoples cars. On the other hand, I think the guy felt bad, and I don't think he needs his balls busted any... I don't know. What do you all think?


James

 

[confed sailor]

m14s and cops

Welllllllllllllllllllll stealing a '14 is a Federal Offense, so i think ill pass.

AS for our Campus police, i know they are SCDPS,
im just describing how they act.

 

[Hkmp5sd]

"What do you need all that ammo for"

That's amusing. A few years back, my alarm system went off and my wife met the deputy sheriff at the house. She asked him to go ahead and clear the house. She had opened the garage door and the deputy saw my reloading bench, supplies and a few thousand empty brass in plastic bags. He asked my wife if there were any guns in the house. Duh.

He decided he didn't want to enter by himself, so he called for backup. When the backup arrived, 6 deputies entered the house only to find nothing wrong. During the process of clearing the house, they opened the closet where I store my ammo. At the time, there was around 15,000 rounds of assorted calibers.

Did the deputies freak and want to know why I had all that ammunition? NOPE. One deputy commented that if they ever ran out of bullets, they knew where to come to borrow some more.

 

[Andrew Rothman]

Apparently Someone called them and told them of a car with "explosives" in it...

Suuuuuuure they did.

Ex-post-facto posterior covering. Surely they wouldn't mind playing the 911 call for you?

 

[Amish_Bill]

Sorry guy - I doubt the campus cops have a full blown 911 dispatch. Probably just a bored desk jockey & a 5 line phone.

 

[kbr80]

Burglar with badge; police uniform has always been optimum perfect disguise for criminals.

Can we all say: "the "POLICE STATE" is here, and has been here for a while."

 

[JitsuGuy]

kbr80 has caught the correct.

J

 

[ny32182]

The "campus cops" at Clemson are full blown, 100% real police officers, and I know for a fact that they have jurisdiction not only all over Clemson, but in all the neighboring towns as well. I've heard they have statewide jurisdiction just like a State Trooper. Not sure if thats true.

If you were not actually on campus though, it wouldn't be illegal to have ammo in your car. At least, thats how it is here. Still, I don't see what positives could come from pitching a fit. Doing so would likely make you a marked man and nothing else, unless you are going to spend tens of thousands of dollars sueing them in court.

They know you are a college student, most likely broke, and probably can't fight back. Welcome to college. Myself and one of my current roommates have been decently harrassed (for totally different reasons, and before we lived together) by Clemson cops, outside of Clemson city limits.

You won't get any respect until they think you might have the money to put them in a world of hurt if they step too far out of line, plain and simple. Just think of it as motivation to graduate.

Just because you're a student doesn't mean you don't have civil rights.

The Constitution/BOR of the United States DOES NOT APPLY on school grounds. Period. Its very unfortunate, but its the sad truth.

Confed Sailor, the process for owning a gun while on campus here is very, very similar to what you described. Yes, things have definitely changed.

Please don't extrapolate any of this to assume I have no respect for cops. I certainly do respect them, and the job they do, and I appreciate it. But you know what they say absolute power does to people. Cops are just people, like anyone else. No more, no less.

 

[Zundfolge]

Apparently Someone called them and told them of a car with "explosives" in it...

Suuuuuuure they did.

Ex-post-facto posterior covering. Surely they wouldn't mind playing the 911 call for you?

I agree ... had someone called and told them of a car with "explosives" in it your rent-a-cops wouldn't have been anywhere near it ... it would have been the local PD's bomb squad ... maybe even SWAT ... and your rent-a-cop buddies would be WAY far away diverting traffic.

 

[Bill Hook]

Let's not forget another reason not to make too much stink, which is things could happen to your car - bad things and nobody ain't seen nuttin'.

 

[4v50 Gary]

confed sailor: Rest assured confed sailor that I would not conspire to appropriate illegally Fed. property. In my younger days, I had access to a safe full of M-14s. Anyway, why bother with an M-14 when you have that M-4 Sherman to ride around in? You won't even need a working cannon as you simply overrun or knock down anything in your way.

theFitzvh - glad the cops were classy enough to call & apologize. That shows some smartz on their part and avoids an IA beef too.

 

[Kilrain]

Although I don't agree with it, it is the law in the California:

California Penal Code Section 12316(c):

"Unless it is with the written permission of the school
district superintendent, his or her designee, or equivalent school
authority, no person shall carry ammunition or reloaded ammunition
onto school grounds, except sworn law enforcement officers acting
within the scope of their duties or persons exempted under
subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section
12027. This subdivision shall not apply to a duly appointed peace
officer as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of
Title 3 of Part 2, a full-time paid peace officer of another state or
the federal government who is carrying out official duties while in
California, any person summoned by any of these officers to assist in
making an arrest or preserving the peace while he or she is actually
engaged in assisting the officer, a member of the military forces of
this state or of the United States who is engaged in the performance
of his or her duties, a person holding a valid license to carry the
firearm pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 12050) of
Chapter 1 of Title 2 of Part 4, or an armored vehicle guard, who is
engaged in the performance of his or her duties, as defined in
subdivision (e) of Section 7521 of the Business and Professions Code.
A violation of this subdivision is punishable by imprisonment in a
county jail for a term not to exceed six months, a fine not to exceed
one thousand dollars ($1,000), or both the imprisonment and fine."

Since CSU(California State University) San Marcos is in California, you may have been in violation of the law.

 

[ny32182]

Bill Hook: Yeah, thats another reason. I had one ex-roommate who made a big deal about an un-warranted $15 parking ticket. Two days later, his CBR-600 was somehow dropped on both sides while being towed for being parked in a faculty spot before 4:30... an offence that normally only rates a $15 ticket. At no other time have I heard of a vehicle being towed for said offense. My point was simply to make absolutely 100% damn sure you are in the right with every move you make, and even then, it might cause more harm than good.

 

[thefitzvh]

Well, at least i'm not in jail! hehe

It's a sad day when, just by doing that... i actually DID break the law. Or at least that's what it looks like.

Oh well. Live and learn

James

 

[Kilrain]

You think that is bad, check this out:

California Penal Code Section 626.10(b):

Any person, except a duly appointed peace officer as defined
in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2, a
full-time paid peace officer of another state or the federal
government who is carrying out official duties while in this state, a
person summoned by any officer to assist in making arrests or
preserving the peace while the person is actually engaged in
assisting any officer, or a member of the military forces of this
state or the United States who is engaged in the performance of his
or her duties, who brings or possesses any dirk, dagger, ice pick, or
knife having a fixed blade longer than 2 1/2 inches upon the grounds
of, or within, any private university, the University of California,
the California State University, or the California Community Colleges
is guilty of a public offense, punishable by imprisonment in a
county jail not exceeding one year, or by imprisonment in the state
prison.

It is a FELONY(!!!!! ) to bring a FILET KNIFE to your college! I hope you don't forget your fishing gear in your car.....

 

[thefitzvh]

:banghead:

Countdown to texas: 5 semesters

James

 

[tyme]

A few notes:

Private universities and public universities alike almost always have real police.

The Constitutions, State and Federal, (mostly) apply to public universities. Private universities can do whatever they want, in terms of speech and privacy and contraband, based on the idea that the university's rules and regulations are a contract.

Rules of criminal procedure apply at both public and private institutions. However, you might give up various rights (notably 4th Amendment rights) through contract at private institutions... particularly if you live in university-controlled housing or park on campus. Public institutions aren't much better. University housing and campus parking lots are 4th Amendment danger zones.

[rant]
The judicial/disciplinary system at colleges, public and private, is usually a sick joke. Avoid it if at all possible. Go to extreme lengths not to break laws (or, if you must break a law, don't get caught) on a college campus if you're a student. It's like a black hole, and there's no easy way to appeal to higher authority without taking the issue to real courts with a lawsuit.

 

[xenophon]

Ok, I actually believe that the campus cops went out there because of a call they got. Reasoning is 1) you said it was in an off campus lot 2) I don't think cops go looking on car seats in their spare time and 3) they were debating on opening up the car because of the nature of what they believed to be in there. (ok, i concede that if it was for explosives they wouldn't just break in, but call a bomb squad, but maybe they wanted to investigate first before looking like idiots)

I'm sure once they saw just the ammo that they figured the caller was just mistaken and it wasn't anything that serious. I think the cops went out of their way to go look at the inside of the car so something caused them to go out there. More likely scenario is someone who parked out there also walked by, saw ammo and thought "OMG, there's bullets in that car" and freaked and called the cops who then went out to investigage. But to use the word "explosives" is a bit fishy. I wouldn't break into a car to investigate explosives.

Also, I wonder if the search would have been legal under the Patriot Act?

"Section 213 of the USA Patriot Act,11 enacted on Oct. 26, 2001, contains the first express statutory authorization for the issuance of sneak and peek search warrants in American history." 1

1. http://www.law.uga.edu/academics/profiles/dwilkes_more/37patriot.html

x

 

[clubsoda22]

Campus police you say? Hmmph

My thoughts exactly steve. If i saw a few campus cops standing next to my car with a slim jim, i would have called real cops and reported a robbery in progress. Two guys impersonating police officers breaking into a white sedan in abc parking lot on xyz street.

There was a guy at another local college who kept getting parking tickets despite having his parking permit displayed properly. It was simply hard to see because of the tint. He told the campus cops a bunch of times and they took care of the tickets. one time he came out and there was a boot on his car with a notice to pay back owed parking fines to have it removed. He took some power tools to it in the middle of the night and dropped the hacked up boot on the lawn infront of the campus safety office. They stopped ticketing him.

 

[tcdrennen]

Cal State and UC police are full sworn LEOs in CA, under 830 PC - same section as CHP, in fact. And unless a law specifies a college or university as being subject to it, "school" in the CA codes almost always means K-12, not colleges.

Interestingly, almost all firearms prohibitions in CA specifically exempt CCW holders, including the laws banning guns on school (and college) campuses.

Oh, and yes, while most firearms prohibitions are misdemeanors (for 1st offense, at least) just about any other weapon (edged, impact, projectile) is a felony to possess anywhere, not just at schools.

 

[ScottsGT]

To quote LiquidTension:
"ttbadboy - good thing I never left ammo on my seat when I was at Clemson. REAL good thing they never found my SKS in my closet in McCabe!"

It's a good thing they never caught ME hiding in my wifes closet in the shoeboxes!! Spent many nights in that womens dorm. Good thing the wifes best friend was the RA!

 

[Terminus]

Wow! There are a bunch of Clemson folk here. Class of 1990 and former resident of Johnstone E, F, and a quad houses.

You'd think having an SKS in your dorm was ok based on the fact that (at least when I was there) some rooms still had the rifle racks in the closets left over from the old cadet corps days.

Ah, the days of sleeping over in the shoeboxes, the towers, J'stone A...8^)