What Laws Enable Police To Carry Guns

N

ninjatoth

Moderator
This will probably seem like a 5th grade question to most,but I don't have a clue to the answer so i'll ask.What permits and laws do police have?Do they have to get a ccw just like everyone else in order to carry off duty?Or do they have some other type of permit or immunity?
 
I never would have pondered a question like that in 5th grade. Too busy collecting marbles and baseball cards. But anyway, I believe the requirements are going to be different from location to location. Generally speaking though, they would have different regulations and training requirements for packing heat on or off duty because of their unique position and responsibility. I'm sure an LEO will weigh in on this question pretty soon.
 
Given that most police are creations of the localities/states, I'd say that the search for laws should begin there.

As for Feds., I don't know specifically, but I do know that for the first several years of its existence the FBI had no mandate or authority to carry firearms. I believe it took an act of Congress in 1934 to change that.
 
There are laws in every jurisdiction governing who falls in the category of LEO and is authorized to carry weapons. All gun control laws also have exceptions for law enforcement, which is a back door grant. Even in the absence of both sets of laws, the states retain the police power, which implicitly carries with it the authoirty for those agents excercising said power to have the tools necessary to do so. So, I guess you could toss "common law" into the pile as well.
 
The USC 2nd Amendment and PA Const Article.21, enables officers to carry guns just like the rest of us. Any other restrictions or exemptions is on the state level.

In PA, LEO's are exempted from the prohibition against carrying concealed handguns, carrying/transporting handguns in vehicles, and loaded long guns in vehicles under Title 18, Chapter 61, Subsection 6106.
 
It's funny, because if you read many of the original state's

"2nd ammendments" to their constitutions... they are specifically there to protect the citizens from the governments 'standing armies'... which by todays standards would surely include local law enforcement.
 
I don't know the specific wording of the Alabama law, but in a nutshell all Peace Officer's are exempted from firearms possession laws when in the course of their legal duties. I would assume this extends to off duty carry when it is required by their employeer. Otherwise, I presume, though I have no factual knowledge to back up this statement, that they are bound by the same laws as everyone else in the state.
 
States like New York and New Jersey effectively don't have rule of law other than anything goes for LE, "I am the law" stuff.
 
Each state, jurisdiction, have laws to define what a law enforcement officer is, what he/she can and cannot do. It covers their ability/duty to carry a firearm.

In Texas, it is Texas penal code sec.46.02, Texas Government Code - Section 76.0051. Authorization To Carry Weapon, and probably a few other statues.

Louisiana is the same.
 
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