One to keep an eye on

[Duck Tape]

Protection of our resources is a two way street. WE, the public also have a responsibility.



Most of us would never shine a deer with an improperly stored gun. Most would not shoot from a car. We also have some that will. How does a warden know your intent?


All a LEO can do is react to suspicious behavior. We can make their job easier by not blurring the lines.

WE have all grown up traveling with our gun inside the vehicle generally with bullets in the magazine and uncased. You can still enjoy a look at deer with binocs without fear of a ticket if you safely store your gun.

[FLS]

The giddy enthusiasm is what bothers me most. Those douchebags were more interested in self aggrandizement, than law enforcement. Unfortunately this seems to be the prevailing mindset in too many elected officials and law enforcement. Getting an easy win while looking good doing it is the goal, even if it means trampling individual liberty.

[3 1/2" MAGUM]

Protection of our resources is a two way street. WE, the public also have a responsibility.



Most of us would never shine a deer with an improperly stored gun. Most would not shoot from a car. We also have some that will. How does a warden know your intent?


All a LEO can do is react to suspicious behavior. We can make their job easier by not blurring the lines.

WE have all grown up traveling with our gun inside the vehicle generally with bullets in the magazine and uncased. You can still enjoy a look at deer with binocs without fear of a ticket if you safely store your gun.

Uh maybe? Seems to me that this line of thought opens the door to even more overreach. Stop and question anyone that has headlights on deer, whether in a field or on the side of a road?

I know this is a crazy thought, but if you're gonna setup a sting operation why not let the suspect actually pull the trigger. Just seems logical to me.

If I stop and talk to a hooker with a pocket full of money and a boner should I get arrested?

[charlie horse]

Boner..

[ecu1984]

there was zero probable cause in anyone with an unbiased perception

[charlie horse]

Yeah that pesky 4th amendment can be a burden on career maker cases like this.

[JABIII]

Based on the replies here, and people I have spoken with in the wild, this is a loser for the DNR legal team if it gets anywhere near a jury. I appreciate them standing behind their officers and all, but...

[fuzzy]

"Suspicious" is not a crime. The perspective of someone being "suspicious" is based on someone's else's feelings and opinion. As my dad always said, opinions are a lot like assholes. Everybody has one, and just about all of them smell like shit.

[charlie horse]

[Highstrung]

Based on the replies here, and people I have spoken with in the wild, this is a loser for the DNR legal team if it gets anywhere near a jury. I appreciate them standing behind their officers and all, but...

Speaking of poaching and scdnr, I walked out of grouchos in Camden picking up dinner two days ago.. 5ish, just the wife and me, I left her in the truck, and as I walked out I heard someone yell my name. That's not abnormal, but I knew the voice.. It was BS, the all time great offender. I was not quite close enough to get to my truck without walking very briskly, but I could see my wife's face. Second, I knew he's been unstable so I didn't want to begin or agitate the situation. I stood their for a solid five minutes listening to rants while he was holding a 32oz likker drink that I could smell five feet away.

[JABIII]

Ohhh yeah, you don't need any of that smoke...

[Palmetto Duck]

Protection of our resources is a two way street. WE, the public also have a responsibility.



Most of us would never shine a deer with an improperly stored gun. Most would not shoot from a car. We also have some that will. How does a warden know your intent?


All a LEO can do is react to suspicious behavior. We can make their job easier by not blurring the lines.

WE have all grown up traveling with our gun inside the vehicle generally with bullets in the magazine and uncased. You can still enjoy a look at deer with binocs without fear of a ticket if you safely store your gun.

DT that is precisely the point. Have you not been reading all the posts. I’d venture most all in here are stewards of the resource. Has nothing to do with LE over reach. And LE generally does NOT know your intent if you’re simply sitting in your car looking at a deer. Make it illegal to shine deer period but don’t have the bullshit ambiguous rules that are there now concerning it. I could conceivably forget to unload my gun, not likely never have but just say I did. If I see a large buck chances are good I’d stop and look at it, maybe even back up and look through binos. THAT IS NOT HUNTING NOR TRYING TO SHOOT THE DEER IF I DONT HAVE THE GUN IN MY HANDS OR LAP!! But I’m NEVER going to pick up the gun and try to shoot it at night out if the car or the roadway, even if my gun has one chambered in the back floorboard or not. Make the rules work fir the people not LEO in this case. In the end it’s a deer not life or death and we’re locking people up and taking their shit over it in this case based on probable cause. Do you want to get charged with a felony of robbing a bank if you toward the front door of a bank while carrying concealed and the cop notices you’re carrying? No stop and ask just arrest your and then go take your truck and all your shit that’s in the parking lot. It’s bullshit and you knkw it. Quit sitting the fence

[Sasha and Abby]

Uh maybe? Seems to me that this line of thought opens the door to even more overreach. Stop and question anyone that has headlights on deer, whether in a field or on the side of a road?

I know this is a crazy thought, but if you're gonna setup a sting operation why not let the suspect actually pull the trigger. Just seems logical to me.

If I stop and talk to a hooker with a pocket full of money and a boner should I get arrested?

Bwwwwaaaaa. he said "boner"

[tprice]

Protection of our resources is a two way street. WE, the public also have a responsibility.



Most of us would never shine a deer with an improperly stored gun. Most would not shoot from a car. We also have some that will. How does a warden know your intent?


All a LEO can do is react to suspicious behavior. We can make their job easier by not blurring the lines.

WE have all grown up traveling with our gun inside the vehicle generally with bullets in the magazine and uncased. You can still enjoy a look at deer with binocs without fear of a ticket if you safely store your gun.

Not disputing some of what you say in this HOWEVER this entire situation was WAY OUT OF LINE . THIS is what causes folks (ALL RACES) have distrust of LEO's of all branches and how can anyone argue with this Had it NOT been on video guys ass would have been fried


Part that is really sad is them almost to the point of "high fiving" each other over taking a guys TRUCK Honestly DT that is sickening behavior and when there was actually NO action done by suspect it is even worse

SCDNR is gonna suffer credibility with this one bad, it ain't going away

[Coastal Woodie]

An innocent person was thrown in jail and DT is worried about his rifle not being “safely stored”. Last I checked we are not required by law to unload and case a rifle unless on a WMA. Defending DNR’s actions in this case is disgusting. Those two game wardens and anyone defending their actions have no place in law enforcement.

[Saltydog235]

Protection of our resources is a two way street. WE, the public also have a responsibility.



Most of us would never shine a deer with an improperly stored gun. Most would not shoot from a car. We also have some that will. How does a warden know your intent?


All a LEO can do is react to suspicious behavior. We can make their job easier by not blurring the lines.

WE have all grown up traveling with our gun inside the vehicle generally with bullets in the magazine and uncased. You can still enjoy a look at deer with binocs without fear of a ticket if you safely store your gun.

If the state isn't hiring wardens with enough common sense to determine if an actual crime is being committed, then you need to relook at the qualification standards and training for the wardens. You also need to clarify this law and make is less ambiguous. Heck, if I'm on a county road headed home from hunting and a buck jumps out and stands in the road and I stop, the game warden behind me could conceivably arrest me for night hunting/shining when in reality I'm trying not to kill the deer or damage my truck.

[SilverFox]

It's a fucking shame we are represented by someone who is that big of an idiot.

[AnythingFeathers]

The Illinois example of how the law can be written. They are very specific about it. You have to even have a bow- in a case, unstrung or otherwise made inoperable, in any type of conveyance. This includes golf carts, side by sides, bicycles, etc..
It’s a little stringent, but it is clear.

DT, you need to define what “safely” is exactly. The old 2 gun rack in the back window ( the only cool way to transport your gun in the 70-80’s)- would you consider that safely? It’s still accessible.
The law excluding a travelling vehicle for being accessible, seems to be to be very purposefully written. It shows that our legislators thinks we should be able to have loaded weapons in our vehicles without being harassed for it. And the fact that it is a Title 50 law shows what it applies to.

[whitty]

I think that any law telling me how I need to store my firearm in my truck is bullshit. This is supposed to the land of the free. We can’t make a law for every possible scenario so catch them in the act or don’t.

[jwmetz]

This is from the open carry guidance issued in 2024 issued by the Governor.

There are no restrictions of guns inside vehicles. Guns can be stored anywhere inside
the vehicle openly or concealed.
• Possession of a firearm alone is NOT a reason to stop an individual. To make a stop,
there must be reasonable and articulable suspicion a crime has occurred. Law
enforcement officers cannot conduct a stop solely because a firearm is visible.

https://www.sled.sc.gov/forms/regula...20Guidance.pdf