Machette found in car during traffic stop

[Teegate]

If you have a machette in your car so that you can hack your way through the brush in the pines, you should read this article.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/112-03042005-458417.html


Guy

 

[BEHR655]

Hmmmm.......... I do have a machette in the back of my car. I wonder what the cops would do if they found I also have an axe and hatchet.
As far as a machette being a controled weapon goes, I'm not so sure about that. I bought mine off the rack at Walmart. That's not much control.

Steve

 

[woodjin]

That sounds crazy that they charged this guy. I frequently have a machette in my car as well (Steve). I know they do sell them at Wal mart and classifyiing it as a controlled weapon seems a stretch. It is clearly a tool designed for clearing brush and scaring the Hell out of the occasional hitch hiker.

That being said, I can see how the context of having a tool of this nature could be brought into question. I have one in my truck when I'm in the woods. I don't have one in my car for work. The problem is the law does not make this distinction, and few police feel obligated to.

Jeff

 

[Stu]

Supposedly if the weapon is beyond your reach (trunk, hatchback), they can't do anything about it, unless it's something illegal of course. I got pulled over with half a dozen swords in the back of my truck and they just asked what they were for.

 

[BEHR655]

I got pulled over with half a dozen swords in the back of my truck and they just asked what they were for.

What were they for???

 

[JerseyJim]

buttering toast?

 

[Gerania]

Good thing he didn't have a saw, a baseball bat and trash bags back there as well or he'd still be in the lockup.

Gillian

 

[Teegate]

Good thing he didn't have a saw, a baseball bat and trash bags back there as well or he'd still be in the lockup.

Gillian

At times they get a little out of hand. Next it will be tire irons they ban from cars, and you won't be able to change your own tire.

Guy

 

[Stu]

They were from a Renaissance Faire we went to a few days earlier. I told the cop that and he simply said "Oh." Guess the NY Faire bumper sticker helped a bit with that one too.

 

[Bobbleton]

Supposedly if the weapon is beyond your reach (trunk, hatchback), they can't do anything about it, unless it's something illegal of course.

Historically I've encountered the same response from police . . . which is why I keep my machete zipped up in my equipment bag, in the trunk. I'd imagine if the cop has my trunk open and is actively searching through it---by that point something has already gone terribly wrong.

-Bob

 

[Teegate]

Supposedly if the weapon is beyond your reach (trunk, hatchback), they can't do anything about it, unless it's something illegal of course. I got pulled over with half a dozen swords in the back of my truck and they just asked what they were for.

Stu,

Were you in Medford recently?

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/112-03122005-462114.html

Guy

 

[Boyd]

Heh, I'd better warn our props person about this the next time she comes out for a party

Like that other story, this makes me suspect that something is missing in the telling. Like the cops suspected something else, but this was the only thing they could easily pin on the guy. Or maybe it's like a situation where they give you a ticket for a no-points offense (like a burned out tail light or unfastened seat belt) instead of a bigger one, like speeding.

 

[Stu]

If it was in plain sight, in the guy's backseat, or anywhere else within his reach they could go after him. But how does one find a car "suspicious?" It does sound like they needed to nail him for something.