Philando Castile, a black man in Minnesota who was shot and killed by a 28-year-old police officer named Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop, was about my age. We might have had plenty in common, or not much at all.
But when details of his killing emerged, I learned of one potential similarity between us that also set us a world apart: Like Castile, I have a permit to carry a gun.
I, too, have been pulled over by police. The difference is that Castile was black and I am white. When he got pulled over with his gun permit, he was shot and killed. When I’m pulled over and show my permit, it gets me out of traffic fines.
According to Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who posted a live video to Facebook of her boyfriend bleeding in the driver’s seat while the officer’s gun is still drawn, Castile had a permit to carry a weapon. She says he told the officer he had a firearm and was reaching for his ID when the officer shot and killed him.
“He had a permit to carry,” Castile’s mother said on CNN.
In discussing the killing, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, has pointed to Castile’s race as a factor.
“Would this have happened if the driver were white, if the passengers were white?” the governor asked. “I don’t think it would have.”
This is not abstract for me.
I have been pulled over with my own gun permit several times, but I’m a white guy driving a Volkswagen. And since I got my concealed carry permit, I’ve been treated very differently by officers each time they’ve pulled me over. Instead of tickets that lead to fines, I’ve gotten off with warnings. The permit has saved me hundreds of dollars since I got it.
Why? The answer is an anecdote I used to tell at parties. I don’t feel so hot about it now.
In 2009, as a journalist in South Carolina, I took a weekend class and got a concealed weapons permit for a story about the rise in permit applications and firearms sales following the election of Democratic President Barack Obama.
My instructor was a liberal New York transplant who previously taught college English. At the end of our two-day training, he told us— all of us white— about one of the perks of having a concealed weapons permit: We would likely never get another traffic ticket again.
The next time you get pulled over, our instructor said, hand over your permit with your license and insurance card. Tell the officer whether you are armed and if there’s a gun in the car. When the officer sees the permit, the instructor said, his “whole demeanor will change.” We will likely get off with just a warning.
The instructor was right. For me, anyway.
Since I got my permit in 2009, I’ve been pulled over by police multiple times. I have yet to get a ticket.
The first time was in a small South Carolina town where I was clocked at 16 miles over the limit. The officer chided me for not having a gun on me at the time. Getting a written warning, he said, doesn’t happen much in this town, as he handed me one that saved me around $200.
The next time was more egregious. It came in the early morning hours at a DUI checkpoint on a major road in a mid-sized city. My destination was just before the checkpoint, on a side street, and when I turned onto that street two officers chased me down on foot and pounded on my car, yelling for me to stop. They might have thought I was trying to evade the checkpoint. It sure looked that way.
When I handed over my license, gun permit and insurance card, I’ll never forget what the officer said. “All right, brother, concealed weapons permit, you’re good.”
The officer did not ask me— a guy in his 20s who just made a left turn immediately before a flashing DUI checkpoint after midnight— if I had been drinking. Just, “All right, brother, concealed weapons permit, you’re good.” That was it.
The last time I got pulled over was about a year and a half ago in Colorado after making a U-turn in an intersection. I didn’t see the officer in an SUV in a nearby parking lot, but he saw me. I handed him my license, my permit and my insurance card, and thought this is the time I finally get a ticket. The officer let me off with a warning.
There are a few reasons why this happens, my weapons instructor explained seven years ago.
For one, to get a concealed weapons permit, you have to pass a background check, which means if you have a permit you have no serious priors. Your fingerprints are on file, you’re already in the system, you have no outstanding warrants for your arrest.
Another reason is that in some states, if you rack up enough traffic violations, you can lose your gun permit. An officer might appreciate having more well-trained civilians carrying concealed weapons in their communities, and so you might get a warning instead of a ticket that could lead to losing your permit.
But there’s another aspect that went unsaid, perhaps made more clear in light of Castile’s death: It probably helps if you look like me.
Ever since Governor Reagan and the NRA teamed up to outlaw open carry in California in the face of Black Panthers toting around unloaded long guns, it has been very clear that guns are for white folks. Lately, the NRA has been promoting gun ownership for everyone to protect themselves or their property. But when a black man is armed, suddenly, permit or not, he’s the bad guy. Geez, when will we start seeing each other as people?
White privilege is expecting to be treated fairly by cops.
But in Colorado, your background check and permit are only on file in the jurisdiction in which you applied.
By law, it can’t be shared with other jurisdictions.
Yep, it must be because you are white.
HE DIDN’T HAVE A PERMIT.
I REPEAT HE DIDN’T NOT HAVE A PERMIT.
Where did you confirm that Philando Castile had a carry permit? No one in the Minnesota media can say either way right now.
There has been absolutely no confirmation of the claim that Castile had a carry permit. But, hey…no need to worry about the facts when you’re in a rush to push a narrative, right?
It wasn’t a white cop. It’s also been revealed he may not have had a permit to carry after all (distinct from a MN permit to purchase a gun), that the gun was clearly visible on his thigh in the video and that he never informed the cop of having a permit.
Narrative collapse. You have no credibility and nobody but racists such as Terry C take you seriously. Ha, how sad your life must be as a laughingstock.
This is a poorly written, poorly associated article. I would have expected an independent journalist source like the Indy to have been far more objective in their content being posted. Leave the race-flame fanning to the larger media outlets and report on something that provides some actual insight and value.
““Would this have happened if the driver were white, if the passengers were white?” the governor asked. “I don’t think it would have.”
The narrative that is going around is not accurate though. Because the cop pulled over the car because he matched the description of someone who had robbed a store the day before. So, would it happen if the drivers where white? ABsolutely it woudl (The pulling over of the car).
Please do not accept the narrative as 100% true and then immediatel assingn a racial motivation to everything. I’m not even sure if he actually had a permit for his gun.
There is some doubt about that. (Not saying whether its true or not, I’ve heard conflicting stories at this point)
I call BS. Once again everyone is jumping to conclusions about an incident without waiting for all the facts to come in. For the most part all we have heard so far is one side of the story, on a video which doesn’t actually show the incident, only the aftermath. It indeed may turn out to be the case that the officer overreacted, but if we actually care about the truth, we should reserve our judgement until the facts and both sides are presented to us.
Ok first I thought a permit applied only to the state you apply in? Second if the stop happened in three different cities and/or three different states, that wouldn’t be to surprizing to be given a warning and they are not on alert. I think this read is misguided, I ain’t saying anything as far as what has happened the last days just that the story teller brings up colorado, “another big city”, and South Carolina in what appears to be over a long period of time. Do the same thing in one town within a week, I bet no matter who you are, it’s not so please the third time.
Mr. Sears,
Excellent comment! Dead on!!!
The title of this article could easily have been: Got Guilt? The Colorado Independent’s motto should be Poor Journalism Is Us.
Of course, at the Colorado Independent, no guilt, no job.
Plus, if you think OJ was guilty or you believe everything you have in life you’ve earned, well, there’s no room for you at the Colorado Independent.
What an amazing piece of journalism. Young man you have a gift! I mean the part where you reference the cops calling you “bro” is nothing short of sensational! Just gripping I tell ya, GRIPPING!!
Hey Corey, just an idea… with all that money you have saved on getting out of tickets. Maybe you could assuage some of that white privileged guilt and donate to the numerous gofundme accounts set up by the inner family of these “victims”. Nothing wrong with a little profit for the kin folk right?