Something to think about!

I have customers that search EVERY truck entering their property. Not only did my company tell me this when I started, but the customers I have that require TWIC cards all have big signs at the front gate giving you notice and you will sign paperwork consenting to a search or be turned away. My job cannot be done picking and choosing which customers I'll visit. BTW, try asking your boss, at the company that prohibits firearms, about whether your truck will be searched at this new customer without alerting him to you carrying a gun.

Flying with a firearm is possible but almost zero truck drivers carrying a firearm travel with locks and lock boxes that meet TSA regulations for air travel. This is what I was hinting about with the "accurate crystal ball" comment. The surprise problems a gun is going to get you into are mostly a problem of being surprised.

If you make gun issues your full-time job with some trucking on the side you can be prepared for several of the surprise cases, but you cannot be fully prepared for the opposite direction Megafleet driver that veers into your lane and sends you to the hospital for 8 weeks and keeping your gun's presence hidden from the people that recover/return your truck to your company. Guns solve some problems and create other problems even if the people that chant "better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6" think that phrase is a solution to every situation and argument. There are plenty of situation where the gun turns a very minor problem into a job loss or jail time, even if it's NEVER fired and you never even see a criminal.

 

Unfortunately, that's the main reason I dont keep one on the truck.... besides, the Marine Corps taught me all about weapons of opportunity.... winch bars are great head thumpers

 

My tire thumper is basically a nightstick, so yeah.

 

The next customer any of us go to is just one "employee goes on a shooting spree" SOMEWHERE in the country away from being a place that searches your truck next time you are there. It doesn't have to be an employee at that customer, in that city, or in that state.

Think of all of the unstable employees and security guards you have ever dealt with while you've been trucking. Think of all of the unstable rage-prone truck drivers you have ever met in trucking. You have no idea of knowing when one of them flips out and causes a huge increase in security at any customer you've gone to or will go to. Even if you carry a gun for that reason, and it's very unlikely you ever are present when the event goes down, your being discovered with a gun that's never harmed anyone is possible. Having your friends tell you you shouldn't have been fired or arrested will not pay your bills or bail you out of jail if it happens.

 

Does any agency train K-9s to search for guns? Who is willing to bet their career or a few weeks of jail time that a driver lying his way past the the guards will work out OK?

 

What would you say if a driver said he was going to plan on every other driver on the road behaving exactly as they should? You can sit in jail, or be unemployed, a lot longer than you would plan if one of the other 320 million people in this country don't behave as you expect. That's the point I keep making. Unless you have a perfectly accurate crystal ball telling you exactly how every future event will happen you cannot expect carrying a gun will ONLY keep you out of trouble.

Not every truck driver is an O-O selecting his customers, or working for a small pro-2A company that only selects customers based on the customer's 2A policies. Not every delivery is preceded by a thorough analysis of the customer entry procedures with enough time to prepare for that entry. Customers change procedures. Truck break. Crashes happen. Trucks burn. Drivers get sick or injured. Saying how things should happen has no effect on how things happen.

 

Help me understand your moral framework. If I drive past the sign at the shipper that states no firearms, and also gives notice that they can search my truck... Then I'm morally entitled to refuse them entry to search if they demand it?
Didn't I agree to allow them a search when I voluntarily entered the premises? Does my right of privacy or sovereignty or whatever override their right to their own business rules?

I'm struggling here, help me understand

 

The MPs didn't just make up their response. They called the police because after 40 meetings and 300 memos someone gave them orders to call the police. None of those meetings, memos, or orders were made known to the truck drivers entering the gate before they arrived. SURPRISE, you're going to jail. "But officer, you can't arrest me, I didn't know the MPs were going to call the cops."

 

Remember, public domain & private domain are both quite different. If a business, advises you either verbally or in writing, sign, etc that they allow no firearms on their premises, then that must be respected.

No civilian has the "right" to search you or your possessions without your consent period. Can they refuse you service or ask you to leave if you are armed, yes they can. Can they call the police on you, yes. If you chose to remain, you are considered to be trespassing on private property.

Law enforcement (excluding federal border search) has only four methods available to them to search you or your possession, they include: 1. consent, 2. warrant, 3. exigent circumstances, 4. probable cause (K9 alert)

 

my phrasing was not accidental when I said morally because my intention was not to Pick-a-Part the law but rather to suggest that in the course of conducting business if we agree to the property owners stated business rules and enter the premises but have the gun they say we are not allowed to have haven't we morally already consented to a search because we didn't turn around?