Over a month ago I was pulled over for passing a stop bar in a left turn lane, would have been no big thing except that a friend I was driving with was drinking a beer. I didn't really sweat it, I hadn't been drinking and haven't been pulled over in about five years so I figured maybe he'd be chill about it. Unfortunately, I have the worst luck in the planet when dealing with police and this day was no exception. After noticing my friend was in fact drinking, he asked if I had weapons on me, I decided to be honest and admit I had several. He has me step out of the vehicle to remove some knives from my person and proceeds to ear fuck me about having more than one despite the fact they are all texas legal and there's no law saying I can't have more than one. He then decides to call four more, that's right four more officers to cuff and detain my friend and I and search my vehicle.
Normally this wouldn't be a big deal as we had nothing in there we shouldn't have had, but once again, I reiterate how I have the worst luck on the planet when dealing with cops, and on this particular day we happened to be coming back from an XSF invitational in Houston and I had several high end impact weapons as well as high end knives in the backseat and trunk. For those that are not aware, Texas is a yes/no state when it comes to prohibited knives and clubs, meaning they're legal to own but not legal to carry outside your house or vehicle. Unfortunately despite being payed to enforce the law, he didn't seem to know this law. I referenced Texas Penal Code 46.02 which states since they're in my vehicle I'm in the clear, only to be met with every cops favorite little comeback when you show them you know the law, "Oh so you know the law better than I do ? You a lawyer or something ?". Being the blunt and matter of fact person I am when dealing with police, I responded by saying that apparently I did. In typical ignorant cop fashion he takes my comments all personally and tells me he's going to confiscate ALL of the weapons and say I won't get them back until he verified the statute I referenced and so far has prolonged me getting my stuff back for almost a month. Oh, and he cited my friend for his open container in case you all are wondering what became of that.
Needless to say, I find what he did absurd, unreasonable, and frankly, unconstitutional. Not all the weapons I had are clubs or illegal knives under Texas law and he could have just taken the weapons in question but instead took them all. They were all in locked carry cases and I even provided the officer with video footage of me and my pal in action at above mentioned invitational to show him why we had them and what we used them for. This happened in a neighboring county almost an hour away from me so constant trips out there are a waste of time and gas. Today marks the seventh time I had to drive all the way out there just to be told that the officer who took my stuff STILL hasn't given it to some other guys who are supposed to give it back. These weapons are my second income. I teach stick and knife defense and I do youtube videos consisting of reviews, demonstrations, freestyling as well as self defense applications (monetizing the videos enables me to essentially get paid by the view). With all that being said, why is this bozo cop playing games with me and what can I do to just get my stuff back ?